LCC student and Shirley Rosengrants Memorial Scholarship recipient Emily Jones will give a presentation about breast cancer and the importance of early detection.
February 1, 2022 (Lamar, Colo.) — The Lamar Community College (LCC) Foundation, in partnership with Prowers Medical Center, invites the community to a breast cancer awareness event on Saturday, February 11, at Brew Unto Others at 119 S. Main Street in Lamar, Colo. The event is free and open to the public.
The “Love Yourself, Love Your Body, Love Your Life” breast cancer awareness event begins at 10 a.m. with an open question forum, followed by a presentation from LCC Nursing student and Shirley Rosengrants Memorial Scholarship recipient Emily Jones. Jones’ presentation will focus on breast cancer awareness and self-screening.
The Shirley Rosengrants Memorial Scholarship was initiated through contributions from 1978 LCC graduate Kathleen (née Clancy) Schmidtke and the Hewlett-Packard Matching Gifts Program. Schmidtke attended LCC’s Horse Training & Management program and met Rosengrants (née Bamber) through mutual friends. They remained friends after graduation until Rosengrants passed away from breast cancer in 2000 at 52.
“Even after I left Lamar [Community College], Shirley and I stayed in touch – sometimes more consistently than other times,” Schmidtke said. “but always when they came North, we met up, and if I went South, we would catch up. And that was in the time of letter writing, which we did lots of.”
Early detection and treatment are critical factors impacting breast cancer survival rates. To honor her friend’s memory and reduce the chances of this happening to another family, Schmidtke created this scholarship to financially assist a Prowers County student willing to put together and present a breast cancer awareness project within a year of receiving the scholarship. The $1,000 scholarship can help with tuition, fees and course materials.
Schmidtke hopes the scholarship informs the community and encourages more early detection.
“Often in rural America, access to medical information can be difficult to find and in small communities (especially women) are less likely to demand early intervention and treatment,” Schmidtke said. “The goal of the scholarship is to drive awareness, as the recipient must do a small breast cancer awareness project. If only one woman (or man) is saved via early detection, then Shirley would not have died in vain. Her legacy lives on.”
Brew Unto Others will provide complimentary Valentine’s Day cookies, and free beverages will be available, courtesy of the LCC Foundation. Prowers Medical Center team members will be on hand to provide additional information and materials.
Schmidtke said it is “hard to believe that Shirley has been gone a little over 22 years.”
“Today, I am less angry and more sad. You want to believe that everyone should have the gift of a long life and that you won’t lose one of your very best friends at such a young age,” Schmidtke said. “It is a funny coincidence that last November, we adopted a five-year-old German Shephard from an elderly woman whose cancer was not caught quickly enough. The dog’s name is Shirley.”
For more information about the event, contact the LCC Foundation office at (719) 336-1520 or at foundation@lamarrcc.edu.