Ali Arsenault, center, is the 2007 Stephen Walsh Memorial Scholarship winner. She is pictured with her parents, Cherry Baker and Mark Arsenault.

Kingfield student receives scholarship

AUGUSTA – HealthReach Community Health Centers recently held its annual volunteer and employee recognition event at the Augusta Civic Center. In addition to other honors given out that night, the Stephen Walsh Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Ali Arsenault, an occupational therapist major at the University of New England in Biddeford.

Stephen Walsh was a former CEO of HealthReach Community Heath Centers. He believed in the importance of recognizing people for outstanding work and community commitment.

In 2006, Walsh made a contribution to begin a scholarship fund to benefit an employee’s dependent enrolled in a two- or four-year degree program. Prior to his death, Walsh requested that people who wished to honor his memory make gifts to the scholarship fund in lieu of sending flowers.

Scholarship applicants were asked to submit an essay regarding their commitment to their community. The winner was selected by HealthReach’s Rewards and Recognition Committee. Ali Arsenault, the recipient, is the daughter of Cherry Baker, who is a family nurse practitioner at Mt. Abram Regional Health Center in Kingfield.

Arsenault has done volunteer work for many organizations, including a local soup kitchen, the Ronald McDonald House, Maine Medical Center and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

In high school she was involved in sports, civil rights groups, peer mediation and the student council. At the end of her junior year, Arsenault was inducted into the National Honor Society. She also served as a volunteer junior ski patroller at Sugarloaf USA.

HealthReach Community Health Centers is a system of 11 federally qualified, community-based health centers located in central and western Maine. For more information, visit www. HealthReachCHC.org.