Lawrence E. Dunegan, M.D.

~ MEMORIAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP~

 PURPOSE:

The purpose of the Society for the Education of Physicians and Patients (S.E.P.P.) Memorial Merit Scholarship is to encourage and assist young Americans in their pursuit of higher education by providing financial assistance to deserving, motivated, capable students who show promise of becoming individuals who will be a credit to the community and the nation.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SCHOLARSHIP:

  • Scholarship is open to all 12th gra de students who are studying in Allegheny, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties. Because of the distribution of school districts in these Counties, Washington and Wastmoreland Counties will be combined in alternate years, alternating with Allegheny County and this year, 2010, the scholarship is available to high school seniors in Washington and Westmoreland Counties.
  • All college-bound 12th grade students are eligible to apply; they need not be anticipating a pre-medicine course or any particular course of study.
  • Student applicants must complete an offical application available from the High School Counselor, or in the case of home schoolers, private schoolers, and cyberschoolers, from S.E.P.P. or S.E.P.P.'s website.
  • The Selection Committee will make applications available by December 1, on an annual basis.
  • The application must be accompanied by S.A.T. scores, official grade transcripts from 10th, 11th, and 12th (if available), two letters of recommendation from teachers, religious leaders, civic leaders, or employer, and an essay of 700 to 1,000 words, typed and double spaced, with footnotes.  The subject for the 2010 essay is as follows:  Which constitutional amendment of the Bill of Rights is the most important in the protection of individual freedom?  Give your reasons for your choice.
  • The Scholarship is for four years at an accredited college or university payable at the rate of $2,000.00 per year.  Awardees are required to maintain a 3.00 yearly grade point average and must remain enrolled as a full-time student in order to continue to qualify for the scholarship.
  • Student applicant cannot to related to any member or employee of S.E.P.P.
  • All decisions made by the Selection Committee are final.

To Download the Scholarship Application Please Click Here

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THE LAWRENCE E. DUNEGAN, M.D. MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

From the beginning of our Society in 1992, we have been driven by our concern over restoring and preserving freedom in medicine with freedom for the patient and freedom for the physician.

It is becoming increasingly evident that our government and other third parties have all but eliminated patients and physicians from the health care equation. Patients are now “consumers” and physicians are now “providers.” Patients and physicians are no longer in charge of decision making in the care of patients. A trillion dollar insurance industry and the government have now come between the physician and the patient.

Knowing that freedom in medicine stems directly from individual freedom, and learning first hand from a survey of high school students conducted by SEPP in 1999, we learned that our suspicions and fears were correct; that most high school students, our leaders of tomorrow, have no concept of freedom or liberty, and almost no knowledge of our founding fathers and the principles which guided them in their efforts to guarantee our freedom.

And so we pondered ~ what could we do to enhance our young people’s appreciation and knowledge of our founding principles? We concluded that a Youth Development Committee was needed to deal with this problem. Dr. Larry Dunegan, now deceased, was appointed chairman of this new committee. We have honored his memory by naming our scholarship The Lawrence E. Dunegan, M.D. Memorial Scholarship.

During its first year, the Youth Development Committee sent a group of Boy Scouts to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, where they actually teach the principles of liberty and personal freedom. We then decided to sponsor an annual merit scholarship award for high school seniors in Allegheny, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. The scholarship requirements would include an essay based on the founding principles with a new topic chosen by the committee each year. This year the essay was based on the question, “is the United States Constitution a “living document,” in which judges “update” its provisions according to the needs of the times, or is it an “enduring document,” in which its original meaning and principles are permanently maintained, subject to changes adopted in accordance with its amending clause? An $8,000 scholarship is awarded to the winner ($2,000 per year for four years) and two years ago, we added two $1,000 one time awards to the two runners up.

Our scholarship winners, since 2000, were:

Erin Skoda (St. Joseph High School, Natrona Heights)
Corrine Scott (Scottdale High School)
Jennifer Ward (St. Joseph High School, Natrona Heights)
Joel McCloskey (Washington High School)
Jennifer Mackin (Bishop Canevin High School)
Stefan Sabo (Charleroi High School)
Bassem Mikhael (Fox Chapel High School)
Taylor Lescollette (Burgettstown High School)
Mark Beatty (Pine Richland High School) - Click Here To Read Mark's Essay

We believe that our scholarship program has been a success. The winners have not only received significant financial aid to finance their education ~ more importantly, perhaps, it must be noted that, thus far, over 200 scholarship applicants have had to research and digest our founding principles. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and our Founding Fathers have become more meaningful to all who have participated.

For these reasons we hope to continue the scholarship program as long as we can continue to do so.