Three U.S. College Students Awarded $1,500 #CaringScholar Grants

SAN MATEO, CA; January 31, 2017 — Caring.com, a leading senior care resource for family caregivers, is pleased to announce the winners of its Fall 2016 Student-Caregiver Scholarships. These scholarships provide financial aid for students attending an accredited U.S. university or college while also caring for an aging or ailing loved one.

Caregiving is a challenging responsibility that can fall to people of all ages. In fact, a surprising number of caregivers are young students who have to shoulder extra responsibilities like medical management, finances, and meal preparation for their loved ones while pursuing their degree. The Caring.com Student-Caregiver Scholarships were created to recognize and support those hardworking student-caregivers who go above and beyond to care for their families.

For Fall 2016, our panel of caregiving experts selected three winners based on their essays that explain how caregiving has influenced their academic journeys. Winners will receive a $1,500 grant for tuition and/or books. The following winners were chosen from among more than 950 applications and 25 finalists:

“Caring.com’s mission, since its founding, has been to support family caregivers while they do the hard work of caring for a loved one. We are so pleased to be able to recognize these remarkably giving individuals and provide them with some assistance in achieving their educational goals,” said Caring.com’s CEO Karen Cassel.

The judges who helped us choose this round’s winners are:

  • Sherri Snelling — Sherri is the CEO and founder of The Caregiving Club. She is also the executive director of Thought Leadership for Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California and a caregiving author.
  • Brooks Kenny — Brooks is a senior consultant at High Lantern Group providing strategic communications and thought leadership support to industry clients and healthcare advocacy organizations in the areas of women’s health, Alzheimer’s, and aging. She’s a nationally recognized expert and speaker about caregiving.
  • Ladislav Volicer — Dr. Volicer is a professor at University of South Florida. 30 years ago, he established one of the first dementia special care units and introduced the concept of structured palliative care for patients with advanced dementia. He’s published more than 200 articles and chapters on clinical management of dementia.
  • Juli Vizza — Juli is an Emmy award-winning producer and editor. She has worked on the publicity campaigns for a number of major films such as the DaVinci Code and Quantum of Solace, and co-produced and edited the feature-length PBS documentary, “Xmas Without China.” More recently, she produced “Nine to Ninety,” a documentary short for PBS about how her intergenerational family dealt with the issues of aging with dignity.

We are now accepting applications for our Spring 2017 Student-Caregiver Scholarships. For more information, please visit https://www.caring.com/caregivers/scholarships-for-student-caregivers/.