The Kimberly Coffey Foundation Memorial Nursing Scholarship is awarded in honor of Kimberly’s beautiful spirit to deserving high school seniors in New York state who are pursuing a career in Nursing. To be considered for the Kimberly Coffey Foundation scholarship, candidates must be a senior at a high school located in New York with a minimum GPA of 3.5. Applicants must provide an acceptance letter from an accredited BSN nursing program (contingent/conditional acceptance letters will not be accepted), documentation of receiving the meningococcal vaccination (MenACWY) and booster, if indicated and provide documentation of starting or completing a meningococcal serogroup B (MenB) vaccination series. Applicant must also provide a reference letter from one of their high school teachers along with a brief essay (250 words or less) stating why they have chosen nursing as a career AND why they feel they are deserving of this scholarship.
Kimberly was 17 years old when she died from Meningitis B one week before her 2012 high school graduation at East Islip High School in NY and three months before starting her nursing education at Molloy College in NY. Kimberly’s dream was to be a pediatric nurse, and through this scholarship, it is our hope to keep her memory present through the next generation of nurses. Although Kimberly was vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis, she contracted Meningitis B. Unfortunately, a Meningitis B vaccine was not available in 2012. Today there is, and that is why one of the scholarship requirements is for the applicant to provide documentation of receiving both meningococcal vaccines - MenACWY as well as the additional Meningitis B vaccine (MenB).