{"id":2340,"date":"2018-06-12T16:47:07","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T16:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/?p=2340"},"modified":"2019-09-25T19:45:32","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T19:45:32","slug":"augsburg-pa-student-receives-hpsp-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/2018\/06\/12\/augsburg-pa-student-receives-hpsp-scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"Augsburg PA Student Receives HPSP Scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Update as of September 25, 2019: Rachel graduated with her Master’s of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Augsburg University in August. She is relocating to Texas within the month to start practicing as an Emergency Medicine PA with the Dallas VA Medical Center.<\/p>\n

Rachel Gratz, PA-S2, has a lot to celebrate and look forward to in 2019! She recently found out she is one of 19 students being awarded the 2018 Health Professional Scholarship Program (HPSP) from Veterans Affairs. Veterans Affairs gives out the scholarship with the hopes of increasing the supply of PAs within the VA but also for the nation. Across the country, over 800 students applied for education support while also making a commitment to serve for two years as a PA with the VA.<\/p>\n

Everyone has their own story of pursuing a career as a PA. For Rachel, she has always been dedicated to doing things for others. From a young age, she was volunteering anywhere she could and even donating her allowance to sponsor a girl in Brazil. Her passion evolved over the years as she worked in nursing homes, hospice care, assisted living and mental health. \u201cThe accumulation of these experiences and my degree in Biology ultimately led me on the journey to the PA profession,\u201d says Rachel.<\/p>\n

Most students who enter PA school quit working full time due to the rigorous academic workload followed by their clinical education. Students most likely take out substantial loans to cover the cost of tuition as well as living expenses\u00a0while they are in school. Rachel tries to pick up odd jobs to help her pay down debt while in the program, but the financial burden is always there. While some scholarships and loan forgiveness programs exist, it is a competitive arena. A simple web search brought her to the VA.<\/p>\n

For the HPSP, qualified applicants had to be accepted or enrolled in a Master\u2019s of Science in Physician Assistant Studies, as well as a U.S. citizen. The extensive application included three essays, two letters of recommendation and academic verification. Over the next month, Rachel waited to find out if she had been accepted. During that time the selection committee considered her academic performance, professional work experience, letters of recommendation and her future career goals. A few weeks later, Rachel received an email announcing her selection as one of the 19 recipients.<\/p>\n

Rachel says she decided to apply because \u201cI think [the veteran] populations is incredibly underserved [and] being able to give back to the brave veterans who have fought for this country that I get to freely live in and help reduce the obstacle of access to their care is honorable.\u201d Now that Rachel has accepted her scholarship, she feels \u201cempowered to approach my remaining education with more confidence.\u201d She believes that the VA will provide a solid foundation that will facilitate her professional growth.<\/p>\n

The scholarship terms include that Rachel serve as a full time clinical PA within the VA for at least two years and be willing to relocate. This opportunity excites Rachel as she dreams of living in the Pacific Northwest. Portland, Oregon is a place where she can envision herself working and living because of the \u201cgenerous community, creative innovators, funky vibes, farm-to-table cuisine \u2026 forest hikes [and] close proximity to both the ocean and mountains.\u201d New Mexico, Washington, Colorado or Utah are also at the top of her list as she admittedly loves the west. Prior to her graduation, Rachel will be able to inform her recruiter of her top five locations as well as specialties she would like to work in.<\/p>\n

The Augsburg PA Program looks forward to catching up with Rachel after her graduation to hear about her experience with the VA!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update as of September 25, 2019: Rachel graduated with her Master’s of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Augsburg University …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":348,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19,18],"class_list":["post-2340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-scholarship","tag-veterans-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/348"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2340"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2860,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340\/revisions\/2860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}