Student gets cash for Sea

Julie Twigg is usually confined to the strict educational regimen of a Pitt nursing student,… Julie Twigg is usually confined to the strict educational regimen of a Pitt nursing student, but this summer she’s taking some time away from her firm schedule – time to travel the world.

Twigg received the $2,000 Scholar at Sea scholarship from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She will travel, beginning in June, for 65 days through parts of Asia and the East with the University of Virginia’s program.

NSCS is a national honor society with chapters at 215 universities nationwide.

The scholarship, which was awarded to four other NSCS members for the summer voyage, was to be granted to students that want to expand their education through travel, said Jordana Schwartz, coordinator of scholarships and academic programs for NSCS.

“Julie is looking for more than an experience just for herself,” she said. “She wants to help her community and is taking advantage of this opportunity not only for academic reasons.”

To her dad, Charlie Twigg, Julie is a normal college girl, who religiously watches “American Idol,” shops for bargains and spends time at the gym. But she has an industrious streak, too.

He remembers trips to the grocery store with his daughter where she would systematically combine their individual lists and split them in two before entering the store. Upon arrival, they would split up and meet back at the checkout counter, cutting the shopping time in half.

“Julie is very organized and doesn’t waste any time,” Twigg said. “It shows in her schoolwork – she is very devoted to studying long hours during the week.”

And when she’s at home in Maryland for the summer, Twigg has worked jobs from a waitress to a cashier at BJ’s to interning at the Kernan Hospital for orthopedic patients in Baltimore. So this scholarship is significant both monetarily and academically for Julie, said her father.

“Because the structure of the [nursing] curriculum is fairly confining, Semester at Sea is allowing her to view other cultures that wouldn’t have been available to her otherwise,” he said.

With a future plan involving nursing – potentially overseas – Twigg wants to see as much as possible before she graduates and has to make career decisions.

“Eastern medicine is something I have always been interested in,” she said. “But there has never been a class on it.”

Dr. Helen Burns, a professor and Twigg’s adviser, said that Julie’s academic record, dedication and her personality both speak for themselves and make her a worthy recipient of the scholarship.

“I think Julie understands that her education here at the University needed to expand beyond the School of Nursing,” she said. “And she sees this as an opportunity to put some of this into more of a reality for herself, and she is particularly interested in cultural diversity and in exploring a more global perspective of healthcare and healthcare delivery.”

This initiative that led Twigg to explore a more international view of healthcare has been evident throughout her entire life, said her mother, Jeri Twigg. In high school, she founded a Red Cross Club after Sept. 11, 2001.

Twigg’s willingness to help others and interest in raising public awareness about certain issues may be heightened by the trip, her mother said.

“I think the travel will help broaden her horizons,” she said. “She can experience other cultures and take that to the nursing experience.”

And Twigg, though uncertain about exactly what her future plans will be, knows that nursing – whether in the country or out – is in her cards.

“I just love everything about it,” she said. “And helping people just fits well in my life.”