MAYHEW — East Mississippi Community College nursing student Brittany Bontrager is among 10 students nationwide awarded a Hurst Review NCLEX® Scholarship.

“These are highly competitive scholarships awarded to nursing students who are counted among the best in the nation,” EMCC President Dr. Thomas Huebner said. “The fact that Brittany is among such a select group of recipients speaks volumes about the quality of her work and the effort she has put forth in the classroom.”

The scholarship, funded by national nursing exam prep company Hurst Review Services, is exclusively for Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society nursing majors who plan to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX®).

The scholarship covers the cost of the state licensing examination study materials and testing fees.

“I was amazed when I learned I had been awarded the scholarship and that it would cover the cost of the state licensing exam,” Bontrager said. “I literally didn’t know where the money was going to come.”

EMCC biology instructor and Phi Theta Kappa advisor Eric Ford said he wasn’t surprised at Bontrager’s selection.

“I had the opportunity to teach Brittany in both microbiology and anatomy, and she is one of the finest students I have ever encountered,” Ford said. “I can think of no other student who would be more deserving of this honor. We are lucky to have her.”

Bontrager graduates Dec. 12 from EMCC’s Associate Degree Nursing program. She starts Jan. 2 as a nurse technician at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg. She will begin nursing orientation at the hospital on Jan. 22 after she passes the Mississippi Board of Nursing examination.

“I am excited, not to mention relieved, to have a job lined up,” said Bontrager, whose decision to enter the field of nursing was influenced by two years she spent working at a children’s home in Mexico.

“While I was there I took care of a little boy whose mom was on drugs while she was pregnant and it broke my heart to see the lack of medical care that was available to him,” Bontrager said.

Someday she would like to work in Central America, possibly as a missionary nurse.

“There is a real need for nurses there,” Bontrager said.

For now, she is eager to learn all she can about her chosen field.

“I am really excited about working for Forrest General Hospital,” Bontrager said. “I appreciate what they have to offer their employees. It is a huge hospital so it will offer me a wide variety of experiences. That is one of the beautiful things about nursing. There is endless variety to what you can do.”

Bontrager is the daughter of Myron and Mary Bontrager of Taylorsville and the granddaughter of Thelma Bontrager of Macon. She has two sisters, Deb and Carmen, and a brother, Neal.

Brittany Bontrager said she is saddened at the thought of graduating from EMCC but grateful for the experience.

“EMCC is a small college and I like that,” Brittany Bontrager said. “You get to know the people you are in class with and get to know your instructors on a more personal level. I feel like every one of my instructors have been 100 percent behind me. If I went to them with a question they were always very receptive. I just love being able to have that one-one-one, that encouragement and guidance if I didn’t understand something. I really appreciated that.”

EMCC Director of Nursing and Allied Health Patricia Clowers called Bontrager an “awesome student.”

“She has been an outstanding student from the start,” Clowers said. “We are just really proud of her.”