Karen Harrison Memorial Nursing Scholarship Endowment

Karen Harrison Memorial Nursing Scholarship Endowment
According to her husband Bruce, Karen Harrison loved her job as a member of the Nursing faculty at Northwest College. “Karen loved teaching,” he said, “and every spare moment was spent working on that program.” When she was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in 2008, Karen and Bruce decided that if she were going to leave a legacy, she wanted it to be in the form of a nursing scholarship at NWC.
Bruce, who grew up in Cody, attended NWC before going on to get his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Wyoming. He met Karen at UW, where she obtained her Master’s in Nursing. Bruce enjoyed his classes and always felt he learned best at NWC. His instructors cared and gave him extra time and attention when needed. “I met a lot of people from out of state, even out of the country, when I attended Northwest College. It was easier to get to know people on the smaller campus,” Bruce says now. Karen agreed that NWC provided an amazing opportunity for area students, and she also felt the Nursing Program provided an essential workforce to hospitals and doctors in the area.
Bruce and Karen wanted their scholarship to go to the applicant most likely to succeed in the nursing program, not the student with the most financial need. Neither of them qualified for many scholarships when they attended school, because they came from middle class families. They both felt that scholarships would have made their college years easier, and they wanted all students to be eligible for the Karen Harrison Memorial.