Scholarship winners aim to help children

Hailey Gould, a recreational technician at the Munroe-Meyer Institute and a recent UNL graduate, was awarded the $1,000 Rhoda Davis-Blatt Scholarship, and UNMC student Nicholas Young received the $11,000 Ed Graycar Psychology Scholarship at this month’s Munroe-Meyer Institute board meeting.

Gould, who was awarded the scholarship by Davis-Blatt’s daughter, Carol Nathan, and daughter-in-law, Joann Blatt, served as a recreational technician at Camp Munroe for the past six years, including this year’s camp. To be eligible for the scholarship, MMI recreational technicians are asked to submit essays to the board that tell of their camp experience and how it has affected their lives.

Nicholas Young

In her essay, Gould said that working at Camp Munroe changed her life.

“When I started volunteering at Munroe-Meyer, I was a freshman in high school with no idea what I wanted for my future,” she said. “I had no experience working with kids with special needs, and I was nervous. I wasn’t sure if I would like it or feel comfortable. After my first week, though, all my fears were assuaged. I loved volunteering during summer camp, and I continued volunteering through that year. I’ve worked for Munroe-Meyer ever since. Working for this program has completely changed my life. It gave me a career goal and changed my path for what I want to do with my life.”

Gould plans to go to Florida State for graduate school to study in a psychology master’s program with the goal of becoming an applied behavior analysis therapist.

Young will begin a psychology postdoctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver next year, where he will be conducting clinic work/research in autism spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities.

The Graycar recipient is chosen by the UNMC Department of Psychology.

“My research will continue to focus not only on validating effective treatments, but also on professional judgment and decision-making in applied psychology,” Young said. “It’s important to assure that the choices we make as clinicians are based in science, appropriate to the context and align with client values. The ultimate goal is to help practitioners discriminate how and when to use information appropriately, especially when tricky situations come up.”

He said he was flattered to be selected as the Graycar recipient.