Family Establishes Nursing Scholarship in Honor of Kathleen Patrick ’68
November 4, 2016
The family of Kathleen (Smith) Patrick ‘68 has established a scholarship in her memory that will benefit future nursing students.
Kathy, a Watervliet native, began her studies at the Brooklyn School of Nursing but left school to raise her growing family. Back in the Capital Region in her late 20s, with three young children to raise, she decided to resume her studies and completed her degree at Hudson Valley Community College in 1968.
Kathy had a 30-year career in nursing, with much of that time in service to the Visiting Nurses Association.
“She was one of those people who always knew she wanted to be a nurse,” said daughter Peggy Patrick. “She was always interested in caring for people.”
When Kathy passed away in May, her family decided to remember her by establishing a scholarship designed to help someone who may be following a similar path. The criteria of the scholarship stipulates that it should go to a student over the age of 25, who may also have the responsibilities of raising a family at the same time.
“She was an incredibly compassionate person who loved her patients and she also taught the four of us [her children] a lot about compassion,” said Peggy Patrick. “We decided that establishing this would be something she would be proud of, passing along an opportunity to an older student who might be in the same circumstances she was in at the time - working, going to school and maybe raising a family.”
Initially, the merit based scholarship will be for $500 annually, but the amount will increase once the fund becomes fully endowed at the $25,000 level. Contribute to the fund. The scholarship will be administered by the Hudson Valley Community College Foundation.
The college offers both full- and part-time Nursing programs, which are designed for those who wish to enter the workforce immediately following graduation. Nursing was one of the first health care programs offered at Hudson Valley and about 100 graduates each year join the ranks of the region’s registered nurses.
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Founded in 1953, Hudson Valley Community College offers more than 80 associate degree and certificate programs in four schools: Business; Engineering and Industrial Technologies; Health Sciences; and Liberal Arts and Sciences; and workforce and academic preparation programs offered through the Capital District Educational Opportunity Center. One of 30 community colleges in the State University of New York system, it has an enrollment of nearly 12,000 students, and is known as a leader in distance learning initiatives and worker retraining. Hudson Valley has 75,000 alumni.