Robin Demarest Honors Biology Scholarship
I am from NJ originally but grew up in Towson, MD. We were a family with four children who needed to go to college; in-state college tuition was the only choice. Salisbury made sense because I liked the location, beach instead of mountains. Each child in my family graduated with student loans. The burden was not what it is for today’s student.
I majored in Biology and developed an interest in the medical side of biology. After graduation my first job was working for Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in their Tropical Medicine Research Department. While very exciting and difficult this job was hazardous. We were one of two labs in the world working on an incurable disease caused by a parasite. I moved to a safer job after one year. I started work for Becton Dickinson in their R and D department developing blood culturing media for their product, BACTEC. I realized that my interest in microbiology had come to fruition. Salisbury had prepared me well.
After moving to NH after getting married, (now divorced), I worked for the Dartmouth Medical School making monoclonal antibodies for cancer patients in Toronto. This was challenging and very interesting. I worked with researchers and Post Doc students working on their research. I put to use the biology and chemistry I mastered at SSC.
As I aged I did life, had 2 children, suffered losses of loved ones and divorced. That divorce motivated me to return to school and attend Radford University School of Nursing for my BSN. This notion had been wandering around my brain and heart for a long time. Presently, I have been a nurse for 20 years.
My return to Baltimore, from Roanoke VA, in 2014 has enabled me to connect with “SSC” friends as well as the campus. I work at Lifebridge Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. I am a heart nurse working in the heart catheterization lab. I love my job and nursing. I have learned to respect life and death.
It is the Salisbury State College, SU, experience that has enriched my life beyond measure. I am saddened by the thought that a student cannot afford to go to SU. I gladly pay it forward for the student that cannot live out their dream of a degree because of money, to her or him I say:“Here, this is for you because you matter and the SU experience/education matters as you move forward”.