Meet Caroline, an Atlanta native, a cancer survivor and your new inspiration for 2024! Caroline Clayton conquered unthinkable odds against cancer as a child and now she's sharing her survival story to serve others in the fight against cancer. She's a recent recipient of a Northwestern Mutual college scholarship, which will help fund her nursing degree. Caroline, who grew up in Dacula and now lives in Jefferson, told Jenn Hobby, "I'm applying for nursing school right now, it's crazy! I've thought about oncology because that's definitely such a big part of my journey, I know I definitely want to go into pediatrics. I believe that nursing - just the half of it is {taking care of} the families, aside from the actual medical care. I feel like it's something I could go into knowing my story."
As part of its ongoing efforts to alleviate the financial burden of families affected by childhood cancer, Northwestern Mutual, through its Foundation and Childhood Cancer Scholarship Program, is dedicating $500,000 in combined scholarships to 50 childhood cancer survivors and childhood cancer siblings. With this addition, nearly $2 million has been awarded to 262 scholars since the inception of the program in 2017. Atlanta resident Caroline Clayton is one of the company's 2023 Childhood Cancer Survivor Scholarship Program recipients, receiving a $5,000 renewable scholarship (for a total of $10,000).
"A childhood cancer diagnosis affects families in many ways, and for many there is a financial burden – from treatment and medication to travel and lodging," said Steve Radke, president of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation. "To allow students affected by childhood cancer the opportunity to pursue their dreams, regardless of the financial implications associated with this disease, Northwestern Mutual is announcing the opening of applications for our 2024 Childhood Cancer Scholarship Program."
Caroline's battle with cancer began before her first birthday when she went into acute liver failure, followed by a benign brain tumor diagnosis when she was six years old and Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder – Hodgkin's Lymphoma before she finished fourth grade. Growing up, Caroline felt like she was labeled "the cancer kid" and hated sharing her story until she realized the impact she could have by speaking up. Caroline went on to represent the P4 Foundation, an organization that works directly with children and families in the southeast impacted by childhood cancer, to help raise awareness and funds for families going through cancer treatment.
Caroline is currently pursuing a degree in nursing at Georgia College and State University and hopes to return to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta as a pediatric nurse in the Aflac Cancer Center, which helped her and served as her community during her own treatment. "After earning my degree in nursing, I hope to give back to my community by caring for patients as a pediatric nurse at the same hospital I was treated at, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta," said Caroline . "I am excited for what the future may bring and am grateful for the opportunities I will receive as a student thanks to Northwestern Mutual and Georgia College and State University."
Applications for the 2024 scholarship program are being accepted now through February 1, 2024. The program is administered through Scholarship America, an organization dedicated to developing scholarship solutions for student success. Northwestern Mutual helps identify the criteria Scholarship America uses to select each year's recipients, including the student's essay, family income level, grade point average and geographic location. The scholarship is for full-time undergraduate studies and students must be a childhood cancer survivor or sibling of someone who had or has childhood cancer to qualify for the scholarship.
To learn more and apply, visit:
https://learnmore.scholarsapply.org/nmsurvivors/
https://learnmore.scholarsapply.org/nmsibling/
