Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College students Shanna Cramer and Lauren Powell were awarded the 2019 Merit Health – Biloxi Board of Trustees Full-Tuition Scholarship.  Each student will have their tuition covered for the 2019-2020 academic year.

“Merit Health Biloxi has been a great support over the past two years not only for our paramedic students but also our EMT students,” said Hillary White, EMS Clinical coordinator. “With the help of Dr. George Loukatos, MGCCC EMS Medical Director, we have been able to award two full-tuition scholarships for the last cohort and this cohort of students. We were also given additional money for lab equipment. They have been a great asset and we look forward to working with them for the years to come.”

Cramer and Powell, both of Gulfport, work for AMR Ambulance Service as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT). They are currently in the Paramedic program at MGCCC’s Jefferson Davis Campus.

Cramer’s five-year career goal is to obtain her Critical Care Paramedic certification and become a department supervisor and eventually chief of the EMS service.  “I became interested in emergency medicine after noticing a need for more paramedics in the community,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of solving that need and giving back to my community.”

Powell plans to complete paramedic training and then spend a year volunteering with Global First Responder before beginning her career.  “I would like to complete the Critical Care Paramedic course and become a flight medic.  I’m very excited about beginning the program and making my goals a reality.”