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 Abigail Jones was announced the recipient of the
Continuing the Circle of Kindness scholarship from the Bloomington
nonprofit group of the same name.
OSF St. Joseph Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) Kellie Rumps is a
member of the board for the Continue the Circle of Kindness
organization in Bloomington, and was instrumental in developing the
scholarship for Heartland’s PTA and Radiography students.
“We had so many wonderful applicants,” said Kellie. “But, the
decision to give the award to Abigail was unanimous. In her
application essay, she expressed that she herself did not need the
financial assistance, but if selected, she planned to pay it forward
to a classmate.”
After being named recipient of the scholarship by Kellie and Tania
Seibly, the nonprofit’s founder, Abigail, with the permission of the
organization, gifted the prize to fellow classmate Sansanee
Pattapongwat.
“Sansanee is an amazingly brilliant person,” said Abigail. “I really
admire her. With the amount she has had to work to provide for her
son on top of schoolwork and clinicals – I can only imagine the
burden that is there. Also, as an immigrant, she doesn’t have the
family support here to depend on like a lot of us do. I’m more than
happy to gift this scholarship to her and contribute to someone
who’s living out an American Dream.”
The $2,000 scholarship is a one-time award given to a student
currently enrolled in a medical program for physical therapy or
radiography. The award is presented at the end of the student’s
first year in the program.
“The fact that she intended on paying it forward made
selecting her a no-brainer,” Tania added. “She embodies the
uplifting ideals of Continuing the Circle of Kindness and,
especially with how challenging this past year has been, we need to
be doing acts of kindness like these for others.”
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An immigrant from Thailand, full-time worker, and mother to a
second grader, Sansanee also has an undergraduate degree in French and an
Associate’s in Culinary Technology.
“I decided to continue my education in Heartland’s PTA program because I want to
apply my background and knowledge to benefit others,” Sansanee said. “I’m
honored to be awarded this scholarship and I’m very happy, not because of the
award, but because of the love and support I felt from my classmate Abigail who
chose to pay it forward to me. Her act of kindness really demonstrates how much
we all care for one another in the PTA program. I wish we could all share the
scholarship money.”
The Heartland Community College Physical Therapy Assistant program prepares
students to perform various assessments, exercises and treatments under the
supervision of a physical therapist. Students complete 23 hours of general
education coursework followed by 49 hours of technical and clinical education
courses. PTAs find employment in a variety of settings, including hospitals,
outpatient clinics, schools, nursing homes and home health agencies as well as
sports and fitness facilities.
[Steve Fast
Director, Public Information
Heartland Community College]
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