State directs $2.1M for scholarships

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A total $2.1 million will go to 80 students who will commit to serve three years in Ohio as a primary care doctor or nurse through the Choose Ohio First Scholarship program. The program has benefited more than 4,000 students studying in the fields of science, technology, engineering, math and medicine, commonly known as STEMM.

The latest money, approved this week for fiscal year 2012, will go to students at nine Ohio universities, including Wright State University, according to the Ohio Board of Regents.

More than $7.5 million in total will go Ohio students studying STEMM in fiscal year 2012, including $60,000 for 30 health care students and $20,000 for 20 geological/environmental sciences students at Clark State Community College and $215,000 for 38 students at Wittenberg University, according to the Board of Regents.

The scholarships will help bring students to those STEMM programs, said Karen Rafinski, president of Clark State.

“Attracting students to those disciplines to help fill the job shortage that businesses are telling us there is in the Dayton area … I think we’ve got a challenge ahead of us and I think we’re making some progress,” she said.

Sinclair and Edison community colleges and Central State University and the University of Dayton have also been partners in the scholarship program.

The scholarships are “targeting STEMM students and getting STEMM students out the door with a job in Ohio,” said Michael Reynolds, Wright State’s director of STEMM support services and university outreach.

Read more at Western-Star.com