Rowe

2019 Rowe Scholar: Angelo Franco

Angelo Franco

Angelo Franco will be a biomedical engineering major with a potential double major in economics. His interest in economics stems from the fact that his family owns several restaurants. He’s a fluent Spanish speaker who loves photography and was a high school swimmer. He’s from East Hartford, CT where he graduated from the Connecticut IB Academy. Angelo has participated in UConn Health’s Health Career Opportunity Program’s High School Student Research Apprentice Program, where he researched bone regeneration, sparking his interest in biomedical engineering. He has also shadowed family and friends who work in health care.

2019 Rowe Scholar: Tiffany Addy

Tiffany Addy

Tiffany Addy shares the same middle name with eight of her first female cousins. She was born in Ghana, West Africa but lives in Farmington, CT where she graduated from Farmington High School. A physiology and neurobiology major, she has volunteered at John Dempsey Hospital for two summers, working hand-in-hand with professionals to provide care to patients. She has also participated in the Inspiring Women and Medicine Workshop, which exposed her to the field of orthopaedic surgery and engineering. As a senior in high school she was a member of the UConn Health Career Opportunities Program’s Senior Doctors Academy, where she shadowed at Pediatrics Associates of Farmington and conducted research on the neurocognitive effects of early childhood leukemia treatment on the brains of children between the ages of three and 10.

2018 Rowe Scholar: Stacy-Ann Wallen

Stacy-Ann WallenStacy-Ann Wallen is a budding author and nurse. She writes chapter books which she hopes to publish someday, and she’s volunteered at Saint Francis Hospital for two years. She’s worked in the Radiology Department, assisting nurses, discharging and admitting patients, delivering lunches, and sanitizing and making beds. She’s also worked with congestive heart failure patients, walking them around the hospital to keep them active. At UConn Hartford she volunteered for a blood drive. Stacy-Ann is from Hartford and graduated from William Hall High School in West Hartford, CT.

2018 Rowe Scholar: Tyra Vanriel

Tyra VanrielTyra Vanriel grew up in Westchester, NY but loves to visit family in Jamaica and enjoy the beautiful island. She finished her last three years of high school in Connecticut, graduating from Greenwich High School. Tyra has interned with Greenwich Ear, Nose, and Throat, where she learned about common ENT complaints and how to examine patients. She has also done a rotation in the Emergency Room at Danbury Hospital and spent time on an ambulance to learn more about emergency care. Tyra will soon become a nutritional sciences major with a minor in biological sciences.

2018 Rowe Scholar: Maifrak Sobrino

Maifrak SobrinoMaifrak Sobrino’s name comes from a combination of her parents’ names. ‘Mai’, for her mother Maira, and ‘frak’ for her father Frank. Originally from the Dominican Republic, Maifrak moved when she was 10 to Norwich, CT and eventually graduated from Norwich Free Academy. She is now a nursing major with a psychology minor and potentially an additional minor in HDFS. Her goal is to become a neonatal APRN because she enjoys working with infants. As a teenager, Maifrak began working at Norwichtown Rehab, which she credits as the place where she found her passion for health care and nursing. It has given her an understanding of the health care needs of the elderly, taught her to have patience with the people with whom she’s working, and how to juggle multiple tasks. Maifrak is also CPR certified and has taken a Stop the Bleed course. Last summer Maifrak spent three weeks in Prague, Czech Republic, which she says is the best decision she made in college and she encourages others to study abroad.

2018 Rowe Scholar: Faria Mahjabin

Faria MahjabinFaria Mahjabin is a biological sciences major and a potential math minor. She loves to learn languages and is currently fluent in four. Her next language to acquire is Spanish. Faria is from Stamford, CT and is currently working as an ER medical scribe at Stamford Hospital. She has also shadowed doctors at NY Presbyterian Hospital. Faria is a graduate of Westhill High School.

2018 Rowe Scholar: Gabriela Davila

Gaby DavilaGabriela Davila is a person who loves motion. She grew up playing volleyball and swimming, and loves going to the beach and traveling. She enjoyed her internship at Norwalk Hospital in the neonatal intensive care unit, pediatrics, and maternal fetal medicine because of how fast paced and energetic the departments were. A native of Norwalk, CT and a graduate of Norwalk High School, Gabriela is a nursing major and Spanish minor who hopes to be a neonatal nurse practitioner due to her interests in maternal fetal medicine and neonatal care.

2018 Rowe Scholar: Ashley Balfour

Tyra VanrielAshley Balfour, from Windsor, CT, is an accomplished dancer. She’s been dancing since the age of three and is trained in ballet, jazz, hip hop, and contemporary. Whether it’s a softer, elegant style or a sharp and edgy style, she loves being able to transfer her emotions into a story using dance. A graduate of East Catholic High School, Ashley is a nursing major. She’s been influenced by her elementary school nurse and audiologists who have advocated for her own health and success. She’s currently interested in a variety of areas of nursing, from Zika virus research to medical spas. Ashley works for a nurse practitioner at a medical spa and has seen life changing results for patients who improve their self-image, self-esteem, and quality of life.

2018 Rowe Scholar: Elise Wardell

Elise WardellElise Wardell is an allied health sciences major on a pre-physician assistant track. She has shadowed a pediatric PA in both a hospital and a doctor’s office and enjoyed experiencing the different settings. She has also volunteered at her local emergency department, where she got to see something new every time she was there. Elise is from Shelton, CT and graduated from Shelton High School, but loves traveling to her family’s house in Spain and hopes to do more travel in the future.