Support Public Health Terps on Scholarship Day, Dec. 11!

For 24 hours on Dec. 11, the University of Maryland is hosting Scholarship Day, our first-ever, 24-hour giving challenge to support student scholarships.
The School of Public Health is calling on all alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends to give any amount they can to support undergraduate student scholarships for public health students. Each school and college can qualify for matching scholarship funds by getting the most donors.


Any amount you can give will go to help students in need. 

Scholarships are critical to recruiting the best and most diverse student body to Maryland. They change lives. And the public health students and alumni who received them are changing lives everyday. Your contribution to the School of Public Health scholarship fund can help support students like these.

Spread the word and help the School of Public Health win the Scholarship Day challenge!

Ana Martinez, junior
Family Science

Ana Martinez with Dean Jane Clark and Dr. Elaine Anderson.

The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Ana is the first in her family to go to college. She is pursuing her degree in Family Science and is interested in a career helping Latino families, and specifically women, who have abusive partners.

She wants to eliminate the negative effects of machismo and patriarchy in families. Ana also wants her work to support parents in creating safe and loving environments for children as well as alternative coping/support systems for stress.

Ana is a recipient of the Noel Myricks Scholarship from the Department of Family Science, which helped supplement her financial aid and offset the financial burden on her parents.

She said the scholarship makes it easier for her parents to know they don’t have to struggle or work harder for her to achieve her goals. Ana hopes to eventually pursue a master’s degree in counseling.

Tawanna Sawyer, '12 
Behavioral and Community Health

Tawanna Sawyer was named the Anne Arundel County 
Health Dept's "Person of the Year" in 2013. 
She is pictured here with her supervisor, HIV/STD Prevention
 and Care Program Administrator James Leber.

After 17 years, Tawanna Sawyer, ’12, decided she wanted to go back to school. And the mother of seven had a very specific goal in mind: 

“I wanted to be on the forefront of health issues – to be able to go out and speak with minority, underserved communities,” she says. 

A first generation college student, Tawanna felt it was important to connect with her community, particularly the underserved members. 

She worked with the University of Maryland Prevention Research Center to research the effect of HIV on minorities, an experience that helped her secure a position at the Anne Arundel County Department of Health. She was recognized as an outstanding undergraduate student and awarded the David Hyde scholarship from the Department of Behavioral and Community Health.

In 2013, Tawanna was named the Anne Arundel Health Department’s Person of the Year for her involvement in the community. She hopes to pursue a graduate degree in social work to further her impact on community health.

Isaiah Bell, sophomore

Behavioral and Community Health

Isaiah Bell knew even before he got to Maryland that he wanted to spend his life educating others about health.

A beneficiary of the Incentive Awards Program, geared toward helping outstanding young people faced with adversities in their personal lives, Isaiah set out to make the most of his college experience, for himself and those around him.

The sophomore Behavioral and Community Health major is known throughout the department as hardworking and personable, and for his campus-wide commitment to improving the health and well being of his peers.

He serves as a University Peer Educator with the Sexual Health and Reproductive Education (SHARE) Program and a peer counselor with the UMD Help Center

“SHARE was pretty much the reason I wanted to come to Maryland,” said Isaiah, whose interest in peer education started in high school when he volunteered at Planned Parenthood doing community health outreach.

Isaiah is now leaning toward a career in occupational therapy.

As the Community Chair representative for the Incentive Awards Program, Isaiah is in charge of putting together community service events.

“This semester I hosted KEEN, which is Kids Engaged in Exercise Now, where you work with kids with special needs. And I tell you those kids touched my life. It was a really humbling experience that made me want to continue working with kids with disabilities and help them develop motor skills.” 

Chris Day, '12 (right), with Kinesology instructor Susan Kogut

Chris Day, '12
Kinesiology

Chris Day, ’12, entered the Army just out of high school. After four years of service with 27 months in Afghanistan under his belt, Chris came back from active duty and immediately enrolled in the University of Maryland.

“When I was in Afghanistan, the two things I missed most were sports and kids, and so when I got back I merged those two and decided to get my degree in physical education,” he says.

Making the shift from active duty in Afghanistan to living in a freshman dorm was quite a change of scenery for Chris, but he excelled in his program and was recognized as the Physical Education “major of the year” in 2010.

Chris benefitted from scholarship support including the Alice Morgan Love Scholarship and the Quinn Scholarship from the Department of Kinesiology. He was also named a Merrill Presidential Scholar in 2012.

“As a student, you have so many stressors going on, and any scholarship you can get brings a little peace of mind,” Chris recalls.

Since graduating, Chris is working as the physical education teacher and assistant athletic director at Springbrook High school in Montgomery County. He says that he loves to work with students that really benefit from the extra attention that he can give. “Whenever the light appears at the end of the tunnel that I have been trying to direct them towards, it’s a beautiful thing.”