Congratulations to the 2011 Get Ready Scholarship winners!

Six students have been chosen as the recipients of the American Public Health Association’s annual Get Ready Scholarship.

The scholarship, which is awarded in conjunction with APHA’s Get Ready campaign, encourages high school, undergraduate and graduate students to recognize emergency preparedness as a public health issue. Hundreds of students from across the nation applied, but only six were chosen.

Drum roll, please. The winners are:
• Katherine Double: Bear Creek High School, Lakewood, Colo. (High school level)

• Amy Miller: Yukon High School, Yukon, Okla. (High school level)

• Alex Ghenis: University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, Calif. (Undergraduate level)

• Katelyn Somers: University of Maryland, College Park, Md. (Undergraduate level)

• Alana Massey: Yale University, New Haven, Conn. (Graduate level)

• Leanne Piña: University of Texas, Houston, Texas (Graduate level)

Each of the winners receives a $500 scholarship for school-related expenses and a one-year APHA membership. Winners were determined through an essay contest on various topics ranging from planning a successful Get Ready Day event and assessing their university’s emergency plan to discussing the role of social media as a tool for emergency preparedness.

“We are very pleased that for the third straight year, we have been able to not only help educate these dedicated students about the importance of emergency preparedness in their own communities, but also to provide financial assistance that will allow them to further their education,” said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, FACEP (E), executive director of APHA.

Excerpts from the winning entries can be viewed online.