Hospital awards three scholarships

Three Sweetwater County high school graduates are Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County scholarship recipients.

Kylee Knudsen, Makenzee Kight, and Emily Taucher all received scholarships.

Two of the scholarships were awarded by the MHSC General Medical staff. Knudsen, a Rock Springs High School student, and Kight, a Green River High School student, each received a $3,000 scholarship. The hospital contributes $1,500 and the medical staff contributes $1,500 to each scholarship.

Taucher received a $1,500 scholarship from Sweetwater Memorial.

The hospital, through its marketing department and a committee of four hospital department directors, awards the scholarship annually to an RSHS Health Academy student on behalf of the entire MHSC staff.

All three have chosen fields of study in healthcare.

Kylee Knudsen is enrolled at Utah Valley University, working toward a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Knudsen, 18, is the daughter of Ashley and Chandler Knudsen of Rock Springs.

Her passion for wanting to help others played a major role in her decision to be a neonatal nurse, Knudsen said in her scholarship application.

“Hearing stories of lifesavers and watching things on the news throughout my schooling, and just life in general, has helped me choose which career path I wanted to go down,” Knudsen said. “I know most of the people we hear about as heroes and lifesavers get a lot of recognition, but it didn’t matter to me that there isn’t much recognition for nurses because all their accomplishments go without saying.”

Makenzee Kight has her sights set on the Western Wyoming Community College Nursing program. She then plans to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Kight, 18, is the daughter of Kacey and Joe Kight of Green River.

Kight has envisioned working in healthcare since she was in kindergarten, according to her scholarship application. She would like to begin her career in an emergency room.

“I have always found joy in taking care of others and making a positive difference in someone’s life,” Kight said. “I would like to move somewhere that has a level one trauma center. I would like to work in the emergency room for about five years, and then I would shift to a life-flight nurse with the trauma experience I would have.”

Emily Taucher plans to attend the University of Wyoming where she will study psychology. Taucher, 17, is the daughter of Kim and Jim Hickok of Rock Springs.

Helping others is one of the most important and fulfilling things a person can do, Taucher said in her scholarship application.

The decline in the number of people entering the healthcare field makes it even more important.

The healthcare field “is important because it can be such a wide variety of things,” Taucher said. “It can go anywhere from the actual physical state of your body, but also mentally. I think that mental health, especially in our time with social media and things being mostly online, is so important to take seriously. There is such a large variety of people who go through mental issues who can’t get the help that they need. I would want to be one more person who can bring attention to these situations and make it known, so people can get the help they need in an easier way.”