AMVETS PNC Brown Presents Prestigious Scholarship to Maryland Student

Over the weekend, Marwah Ahmed, a senior at Gaithersburg High School in Gaithersburg, Md., accepted the prestigious James H. Parke Memorial Fund Scholarship Award from AMVETS Past National Commander John P. "JP" Brown III during an awards banquet in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ahmed, who plans to use the scholarship toward pursuing a major in pre-medicine and becoming a doctor, has volunteered at the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center since she was 13 years old.

The $20,000 scholarship award is presented each year by the James H. Parke Memorial Fund to a noteworthy high school senior who has distinguished him or herself through scholastic achievement and service to the nation's hospitalized veterans. The award is named after VA's first director of voluntary services, or VAVS, James H. Parke.

VAVS offices from VA medical centers across the country may nominate youth volunteers for the annual award. This year, Ahmed was chosen from a pool of more than 30 distinguished candidates.

PNC Brown currently serves as president of the Parke Board and presented the award to Ahmed during the closing banquet of 64th annual VAVS National Advisory Committee meeting in Cincinnati.

(Photo: Marwah Ahmed accepts the 2010 James H. Parke Memorial Fund Scholarship Award from PNC Brown, alongside VAVS Director Laura Balun; Washington, D.C., VAVS Program Chief Stephanie Burns; and Ahmed's mother and brother. Photo by Beryl Love.)