HELEN HAMILTON SCHOLARSHIP

Award Recipients

The 2015 (and first) award recipient of the Helen Hamilton Scholarship is Julie Stasiowski. Julie is a graduate of Chicopee High School and Elms College where she was co-valedictorian. She studied Social Work and Psychology while at the Elms and received a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Social Work upon graduation. While there, she interned at the Mercy Life PACE program which is a program of all-inclusive care for the elderly. She credits her 98 year old grandmother as a reason for her pursuit of social work: “because the elderly population needs the best care we can provide, and a model like the PACE model very much interested me as its goal is to keep the elderly safely living in the community. It utilizes an interdisciplinary team to address all of their care needs. I very much like working with the elderly population”.

Julie is currently a master’s degreecandidate at Springfield College in Social Work in its advanced standing one year program and expects to receive her degree in May of 2016. “I have always had an interest in psychology and when trying to determine a career, I knew I wanted to help others and pursue meaningful and fulfilling work which led me to the field of social work. In my master’s program I am currently interning at West Central Family and Counseling and am gaining some experience in providing therapy”.

Besides being an outstanding student, Julie has spent time volunteering her time and expertise to help others. “I volunteered for a year with Horizons for Homeless Children and served as a play pal for children at a local teenage mother’s shelter. I’ve volunteered for many different functions for the Friends of the Chicopee Public Library over the years as well”.

“I am so thankful and appreciative of the scholarship I received. Receiving this scholarship assistance is such a blessing and so appreciated as I pursue my master’s degree in social work in which I hope to give back to the community”.