Rotary Club of Miami awards record number of scholarships to FIU medical students

In 2009, the Rotary Club of Miami awarded its Thomas Brown McClelland Trust Scholarship to a single FIU medical student. This year, there are 21 recipients who were honored Jan. 20 at a special pinning ceremony at the Faculty Club.

“That first year we gave out $2,000. This year the scholarships totaled $57,000,” says Philip Seipp, Rotary Club of Miami co-chair and trustee. “That’s something we can all be proud of.”

The number of FIU McClelland scholarship winners more than doubled this year from last year when there were eight recipients. One of this year’s winners Bianca Alvarez, a fourth year medical student at Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, says she is not only honored but grateful to have been chosen.

“I cannot thank them enough for helping me offset some of the financial stressors that frequently worry me,” she says.

It is a sentiment echoed by fellow students. “This award will serve to relieve a big fraction of the financial burden in my fourth year,” says Laura Florez, who graduates this summer. “This will be my most expensive year in medical school due to residency application and interviews, and, therefore, I am genuinely grateful for this financial support.”

Third year medical student Bruno Panzarini says, “this scholarship award has eased some of the heavy financial burden that constitutes our medical education.”

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 84 percent of medical school graduates carry some student loan debt, and the average debt surpasses $170,000.

The scholarship is named after Thomas B. McClelland, a professional horticulturist who for many years worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was also an active and dedicated member of the Rotary Club of Miami. And so, a man who spent much of his life cultivating plants in death would help cultivate physicians. McClelland left money in his will for an endowment fund establishing a scholarship for medical students who graduated from Miami-Dade County high schools.

“In the last 34 years, his gift has helped 670 students pursue their medical degrees. In total, those scholarship awards now exceed $6.6 million dollars,” Seipp says.

Those students-turned-physicians will in turn each impact thousands of lives. Some of those students may even be inspired to join the club.

“One day I hope to give back and be an active member of the Rotary Club of Miami,” Alvarez says.