Bortnem Awarded Brookings Health System's Educational Scholarship

2021 Brookings High School graduate Taylor Bortnem is this year’s recipient of Brookings Health System’s Educational Scholarship.

The $1,000 scholarship encourages and recognizes a student attending a post-secondary education institution with an interest in the health care field. In the fall, Bortnem will attend South Dakota State University to study nursing.

Bortnem is a member of the National Honor Society and has volunteered with several community organizations throughout high school, including her church youth group, the Salvation Army of Brookings County’s Share the Warmth program, Brookings Marathon and Feeding Brookings. She also is a certified nursing assistant and has worked at Brookings Health System for the past two years, currently serving as a patient care technician on the inpatient care unit.

Brookings Health System’s Educational Scholarship provides financial assistance to a senior who best meets the criteria of the program. Brookings Health System selects the recipient based on a number of criteria including the location of their chosen school, the career area the student is interested in pursuing, the student’s extracurricular activities both in school and in the community, and their outside employment. Recipients are also assessed based on their GPA and personal essay.

The scholarship is another way Brookings Health System invests in building tomorrow’s workforce, an essential element of the organization’s vision. As the fifth largest employer in Brookings, Brookings Health System provides employees a variety of benefits, including paid time off, retirement plans, health insurance and wellness reimbursement. More information about career and job opportunities can be found online at brookingshealth.org/jobs.

About Brookings Health System

Brookings Health System, located in Brookings, South Dakota, includes a 49-bed hospital, the 79-bed The Neighborhoods at Brookview nursing home, Brookhaven Estates senior living apartments, Yorkshire Eye Clinic & Optical, and medical clinics in Arlington, White and Volga, South Dakota. It is a non-profit, city-owned facility that offers the community a full range of inpatient, outpatient, emergency and extended care services. Brookings Hospital provides local access to doctors in Brookings and offers robotic da Vinci surgery and Mako robotic-arm assisted procedures, making it one of the premier rural community hospitals in South Dakota. For more information about the services offered at Brookings Health System, please call (605) 696-9000 or visit us on the Web at brookingshealth.org.