The Sylvia Ayers Memorial Scholarship will provide $1,200 support for the education costs of two students in El Salvador.  Sylvia received her Nursing education and became a Registered Nurse from Beth Israel Hospital School of Nursing in New York City, from 1930 to1933. Prior to college, Sylvia was one of seven children from a poor family, who was given $50 to travel to New York City to answer a job notice. Through that job, she put herself through school and earned her Nursing Degree.

 

Following her graduation, she continued her work at Beth Israel Hospital, where she became a highly regarded Operating Room nurse and later specialized in the Neurology Department.  In 1939, at the onset of World War II, she was called to serve in the US Army Nurse Corps at Tilton General Hospital, Fort Dix, New Jersey.  After the war, she continued as an active member of the American Red Cross.  She married and raised three daughters, two of whom followed in her footsteps to also become nurses, carrying the love of nursing and compassion for people to their patients. 

 

The purpose of these scholarships is to encourage young Latinos and Latinas in Central America and the U.S. to obtain post-secondary education.