LENA — Dorthea Fiedler and Alicia Gray have been named winners of the fourth annual Madelyn Nicole Greene Memorial Nursing Scholarship. Each of the women has received a check of $500 to her respective college or university to pursue a career in nursing.

Fiedler, the daughter of Ken and Diane Fiedler of Lena, graduated in 2016 from Lena-Winslow High School. She has been studying interdisciplinary health science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was recently accepted into the University of Illinois-Chicago’s nursing program, which she will start this fall. Fiedler’s dream is to work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and become a nurse practitioner in pediatrics.

A 2000 graduate of Freeport High School who now resides in German Valley with her husband and daughter, Gray is returning to Highland Community College to pursue her associate’s degree in nursing and plans to work toward a bachelor degree. She anticipates obtaining a position in a labor and delivery or neonatal intensive care unit upon graduating and passing her state boards. Currently, Gray works part time at FHN as a certified nursing assistant on the medical surgical/pediatrics unit and full time at Titan Tire.

The Madelyn Nicole Greene Memorial Nursing Scholarship is in honor of Brian and Nicole Greene’s 4-year-old daughter Maddy, who died of neuroblastoma (a rare form of childhood cancer) on Jan. 16, 2014. While she was blessed to have many great doctors, specialists and techs in Freeport and at American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, where she was treated for 13-plus months, Maddy was particularly touched by the many outstanding nurses. 

The Greene family hopes this scholarship keeps Maddy’s spirit and love alive and reminds us of the importance of nurses.

Madelyn Nicole Greene Memorial Scholarships are open to Aquin, Dakota, Freeport, Lena-Winslow, Orangeville and Pearl City high school students, and other Stephenson County resident college students going into the nursing field. In addition to completing an application, applicants must meet scholarship criteria, demonstrate community involvement and explain why they want to become a nurse and how they have worked to make a positive difference.