from The Champion, Aug. 22, 2014

Ray Hill applied for 30 scholarships.

As a student at Georgia Perimeter College (GPC), he had his sights on Morehouse College after he completed his associate’s degree. He had the grades, the volunteer experience and the internships. He was only concerned about paying for it.

At GPC, Hill was hoping to channel his love of music into a degree. But sitting in his first introduction to psychology class, something clicked. He wanted to help people by using music, and psychology was the way to do it.

Time and again in his scholarship hunt he received no reply, or form letters assuring him he was a “qualified candidate” but yet didn’t get any scholarship money.

Morehouse accepted him and offered Hill a band scholarship, where he marched and played euphonium and alto saxophone in the iconic House of Funk. But one day, after a performance, Hill walked off the field and turned on his phone.

“When I opened the email I was expecting another form rejection,” he said. “But, it said I had been accepted.”

Hill was selected as part of the United Health Foundation (UHF)’s Diverse Scholars initiative. The scholarship, which is jointly sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus and UHF, aims to get more multi-cultural students such as Hill into the healthcare field. The scholarship covers $8,000 per academic year and is granted to 10 students each year.

According to the UHF, while 13 percent of the American population is Black, the ethnic group represents only 4 percent of physicians, 5 percent of nurses and 5 percent of dentists. The statistics for Latinos and Native Americans are similar.

Valencia Johnson was the 2013 valedictorian of Towers High school. Since her first science class, she said, she was hooked. After volunteering in a hospital pathology department, she realized she wanted to go into forensics.

“The science and medical field has long been a field which is underrepresented by minorities,” she said in an email. “I want to do my part to help increase the number of minorities entering the science and medical fields. During the course of my career, I plan to mentor young men and women who are interested in science and health fields.”

Johnson is a rising sophomore studying biology at the University of Georgia and is another scholarship recipient. Like Hill, Johnson said getting the award was a relief.

“The Louis Stokes Health Scholars Award has been a blessing in my life,” she said. “It has allowed me to be able to concentrate on my schoolwork, and not have to worry so much about finances.”

Hill said he is also aware of the lack of diversity in the medical field. He added that diverse groups can require nuanced healthcare.

“I took an African-American Perspectives in Psychology course at Morehouse,” Hill said. “It taught me that certain groups should have psychology catered to their needs. It’s a lot of responsibility as well; you are at the forefront of the issues that are happening with that race. You have to look at everything from a general standpoint while understanding the individual standpoint as well.”

Hill is currently a psychology major at Morehouse with a minor in neuroscience. He is interested in the ways mental health impacts physical health, as well as the impact music has on mental health. He has done research on the physical changes the brain goes through as a result of Alzheimer’s disease.

Hill recently returned from a campus visit at the University of California – Los Angeles and said he will be applying to the Ph.D. programs in neuroscience at UCLA and Yale.

Johnson said she wants to intern next summer at a governmental agency, and eventually go to graduate school for a master’s in biology.

“Being a part of the program has opened my eyes,” Hill said of his scholarship. “Attending the diverse scholars forum was one of the most amazing things in my college career: networking with different students, meeting the panelists and learning their insights. It brought everything full circle. I was able to get the step-by-step process: this is how we did it and this is how we got to where we are.”