The Renaissance Hospital Scholarship Foundation of Port Neches has chosen six local students in the osteopathic medicine and nursing fields to receive scholarship tuition awards for the fall 2009.

At the upcoming “Texas Riviera Celebration” in honor of Family Physician Wesley Palmer, DO and his wife Donna, of Bridge City, the Foundation will present scholarship awards to University of North Texas Health Science Center-Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine student Miriam B. Garcia of Groves, A. T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona student Thi T. Nguyen of Port Arthur, Lamar University-Beaumont nursing students Ashton Doty of Port Neches, Dawn Hebert and Garrett Roy of Groves, and Meagan Shepherd of Lumberton.

Graduating cum laude in 2008 from Texas A&M University’s Business Honors Program with a BBA, Garcia will be a sophomore at UNTHSC-TCOM in Fort Worth. While at TAMU Garcia learned a close friend’s sister was awaiting a double lung transplant. After seeing the family struggle as they awaited the phone call to prepare for surgery—a phone call that never came—Garcia’s long term goal to become a physician was further confirmed.

Awareness of the more immediate needs of this child and others at Texas Children’s Hospital led Garcia to accomplish one of the things she is most proud of as she and her friend co-founded the “Breathe Hope” organization in College Station to raise awareness, funds, and provide emotional support through a network of visits to these young cystic fibrosis patients.

“I was introduced to osteopathic medicine by a close friend whose father is a retired doctor of osteopathic (DO) medicine,” Garcia said. “To serve children—mine and those of others—is still my goal [as a DO].”

Most people are familiar with MDs, but few know that DOs are one of only two types of fully-licensed physicians within the U.S. MDs and DOs make up the entire U.S. physician population.

DO med schools have a higher percentage of students to go on to become primary care physicians, one type of which is a pediatrician.

“Many individuals have shared with me that the lifestyle of a pediatrician may not necessarily be of choice for a future wife and mother, but to them I say that our lives are what we make of them and that I pray to make the most of mine,” Garcia said.

Virginia and Raul Bryan of Groves are the parents of Garcia.

The valedictorian of Thomas Jefferson High School’s 1996 class, Thi T. Nguyen, a native of Viet Nam, moved to Port Arthur with his family in 1990. After graduating from University of Texas-Austin in 2001, he worked extensively in liver cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston before starting his studies in Mesa, Arizona at ATSU-SOMA where he will be entering his 3rd year.

Since entering med school in 2007, he has “started a medical services volunteer program in Port Arthur to provide residents with basic medical care twice a year. The volunteer program has been built with help from [his] five younger siblings, who have followed [him] into the medical field.”

“Finally, I hope to be a role model for youths of Port Arthur, and show them that dreams do come true, and that they too can achieve great goals, regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds, as I am living proof,” Nguyen said.

A native Southeast Texan, currently a senior at LU, Doty attributes her desire to be a nurse practitioner to her participation in the Health Science Technology Program (HOSA) at PNG.

The oldest of four teenage siblings, she credits both her parents for encouraging her to “do my best, strive for success and stay involved in my school and my community.” Having been named to the President’s List, Dean’s List, and inducted into the Alpha Lambda Delta National Academic Honor Society for freshmen, Doty works as a part-time caregiver, and is the daughter of Carol Doty and Ronald Doty of Port Neches.

A 2005 graduate of the Community Christian School in Orange, Hebert plans after her LU graduation to work in a hospital setting and eventually in the Emergency Room Department. Previously active in volleyball and softball sports, named to the Dean’s List at LU, and working part-time, she currently volunteers in community and church activities while attending the Beaumont campus. The nursing field is attractive to Hebert she says because of the “endless possibilities of things I can do to help people in their time of need and distress.”