New scholarship pays tribute to work of school nurse during pandemic

By Ed Pierce

There’s no doubt this has been a difficult and challenging year for everyone associated with Windham High School, but through it all, School Nurse Karry Joly has done an exceptional job keeping students safe and informed about their health and ready to focus on their academic work.

Windham High School Nurse Karry Joly, right,
presents graduating senior Makenna Colby
with a $1,000 scholarship during a special
ceremony at Windham High on Wednesday,
June 2. The one-time scholarship was
created as a tribute to Joly's extraordinary work
to keep students safe during the pandemic and
was funded by donations from school.
personnel. Colby will study nursing at the
University of Southern Maine.
SUBMITTED PHOTO

Joly, a registered nurse, has been at the forefront in leading the high school’s efforts to thwart widespread outbreaks of COVID-19 and ensuring that WHS students and faculty have been able to get through the school year. She’s logged many long hours including working at night, on weekends and on holidays performing notifications, contract tracing and sharing the latest facts and data with students, families, and school administrators during the pandemic.

The role of the school nurse expanded greatly during the pandemic as they spent enormous amounts of time consulting with and helping educate families about COVID-19 by phone instead of the more traditional ways of helping students overcome illness and symptoms while in class. A great portion of Joly’s time involved finding out what students were showing symptoms of COVID-19, who had been tested and maintaining who was in quarantine because of close contact with someone who had been diagnosed. Needless to mention, it was an overwhelming and Herculean task, yet was one that Joly readily accepted without complaint.

As the end of the school year approached, Joly’s colleagues at Windham High brainstormed to find a way to recognize her extraordinary service and what it’s meant to them. What they came up with was to create a one-time special scholarship award bearing Joly’s name and present it to a deserving graduating senior from WHS this year who plans to study nursing in college.

“In honor of our school nurse, Karry Joly, for recognition of the amazing work she has done this year and for national school nurse day, the staff of Windham High School donated $1,000 in Nurse Joly’s name for a one-time scholarship dedicated to a graduating senior pursing an education in the field of nursing,” said Phil Rossetti, Windham High School assistant principal. 

He said that the scholarship salutes the hard work that Joly continues to demonstrate in keeping Windham High School open and safe.

“She has sacrificed many nights, weekends, and vacations answering student, family, staff, administration questions and contact tracing,” Rossetti said. “Karry is more than our nurse, she forms incredible relationships with students and supports them and others through difficult personal challenges. She is a humble leader, and we knew she would like to do something for our students.”

Once the creation of the scholarship was deemed the perfect recognition of Joly's service to WHS, the faculty and staff generously donated $1,000 to fund this special initiative.

“This has been a very challenging year for all of us, students, teachers, staff, administrators, and families,” Joly said. “There have been a lot of additional responsibilities asked of the school nurses and the amazing staff at WHS wanted to show their appreciation, so they donated money towards a scholarship for a student pursuing a degree in healthcare.”

Joly said that National Nurse’s Day was observed this year on May 6, and she said that she hopes that the scholarship money will help with some of the expenses of college and to bring attention to the field of nursing.

“I was given the honor to choose a student entering the healthcare profession and I chose Makenna Colby,” Joly said. “Makenna will be studying nursing at the University of Southern Maine.”

According to Joly, Colby was selected for the scholarship because she is hard working, compassionate, smart, and an overall great kid.

“We need more caring individuals to enter the nursing field and I am so excited to be able to help her out financially,” Joly said.

Colby was presented with the scholarship by Joly during a special ceremony conducted on Wednesday afternoon at Windham High School with her family in attendance. <