AWARDS RECE IVED ACROSS NYS A SWEET VICTORY FOR SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT
Sarah Allen of AHRC Suffolk received The Arc New York's Jonathan Weingold Scholarship earlier this year. The scholarship is exclusive to Chapter employees and honors the memory of Jonathan Weingold, son of Joseph T. Weingold, The Arc New York's first President and Executive Director. In 1970, a tribute was paid to Jonathan stating that he was "the symbol of all the young people who inspired the establishment of this organization and its services and programs." Following that tribute, an annual scholarship was established in his name. Sarah, who attends Suffolk County Community College, said she was honored and excited to be a recipient of the Jonathan Weingold scholarship. "I was learning delayed as a child because of frequent ear infections and went through all of public school with an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP)," she said. "Growing up, this experience provided me with some insight into not being the 'average' student and having to work a bit harder to get as far as everyone else." Sarah started college right after high school, but dropped out after only a year. Instead, she completed a vocational medical coding and billing program. She got a job at a lab, where she called doctors to get diagnostic
After being a DSP for a while, Sarah realized she enjoyed helping others and wanted to do even more with her career. She went back to Suffolk County Community College, where she got out of academic probation and was inducted into the Honor Society. She plans to transfer to Stony Brook University in the fall to pursue a Bachelors Degree in Social Work. She said the monetary portion of the scholarship will be helpful because she is paying her own way through college. "The money is only half of it though. There's a certain sense of pride in hard work and knowing that you've overcome obstacles. Being awarded the scholarship is a sense of recognition that I believe we all need to experience at some time in our lives," Sarah said. "I'm thankful for the scholarship for both reasons. Don't give up on your aspirations because they're difficult - it makes the victory that much sweeter."
codes for lab work so that patients' insurance companies would pay.
"I was good at my job, but I really didn't have a sense of helping people like myself," she said," so I left to start as a DSP at a local agency."
6 14
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker