This has been a semester of good news for senior Natalya Foreman of Garden Street Academy who, after receiving her acceptance letter to UC Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science, has been awarded the Cottage Hospital Student Incentive Award. After spending her high school career volunteering at Cottage Hospital as an intern, she was able to prove to Cottage that she had “Evidence of potential for [a] successful career in health care.” The selection process for this scholarship, available only to those who have accrued many volunteer hours, involved an interview as well as a written personal statement in which Natalya put forth her vision for how she will contribute to the future of medicine. “In the future I want to study human biology because I want to learn more about not only anatomy and biology, but also humanities. I think that having this interdisciplinary background will give me a thorough foundation that I can use to participate in research. I think that the future of medicine is no longer solely based in the realm of scientific knowledge but requires exploration of the boundaries between sciences and other disciplines.”
Earning this scholarship also meant that Natalya had the opportunity to give a speech at a Cottage Hospital awards luncheon. The event involved a delicious meal among recipients of other prestigious awards at the hospital and presenting her speech in front of doctors, administrators and volunteers. “I am so grateful for my experience at Cottage for providing me an outlet for helping people. This experience has helped me find the intersection of some of my greatest passions: medicine, serving my community, and helping those in need. I am extremely thankful for the volunteers and donors who have made this scholarship possible.”
Natalya will walk with the rest of her class at the Garden Street Academy Graduation Ceremony on June 9th at 4:00 p.m. She will be attending the University of California, Berkeley starting next fall. She intends to pursue a major in Integrative Biology with a minor in French.
