Featured image: Members of the Franciscan Health Michigan City Medical Staff Scholarship Committee recently gathered to congratulate the 2025 scholarship winners. Pictured (l-r) are Dr. David Fumo, Dr. Matthew Troy, scholarship winner Naomi Williams, scholarship winner Caloe Peretti, Dr. Sandra Wischmeyer and Dr. Samuel West.
Two LaPorte County high school seniors with future healthcare career goals each recently received Franciscan Health Michigan City Medical Staff Memorial Scholarships to assist with their post-secondary educations.
Tri-Township High School senior Caloe Peretti, 17, of Wanatah and Michigan City High School senior Naomi Williams, 18, of Michigan City were both selected by the Franciscan Health Michigan City Medical Staff Scholarship Committee as the 2025 scholarship recipients.
Williams will attend the University of Indianapolis this fall to study biology, with the goal of becoming an emergency medical technician.
“I’ve always wanted to do it,” Williams said. “My family is (the medical field) and helping people sounds fun.”
Peretti will attend St. Mary’s College of Notre Dame this fall to study nursing.
“I’ve always felt a passion for helping others,” Peretti said. “This is a job where you’re really making an impact.”
The medical staff at Franciscan Health Michigan City voted unanimously in 2021 to establish and fund a scholarship honoring the memories and continuing legacies of physicians who served the community as members of the medical staff. The annual scholarships are funded by physicians on the Franciscan Health Michigan City medical staff in partnership with the Franciscan Health Foundation and may be split among recipients as the committee deems appropriate.
“The goal of the scholarship was to encourage people from our county who are interested in pursuing higher education in service to others,” said Matthew Troy, MD, a general surgeon at Franciscan Health Michigan City who serves as Scholarship Committee chairman. “This is our fourth group and we keep in touch with some of them. One boy works in the ER.”
The scholarships are needs-based and place an emphasis on students who are the first in their families to attend college.
Dr. Troy said the committee, “is always surprised, just totally impressed” with the students’ applications.
Donations to the scholarship fund may be made online by selecting “Northern Indiana” and “Medical Staff Memorial Scholarship Fund” from the drop-down menus.
Those who donate $500 or more may name a late medical staff physician to be honored with a name plate on the memorial plaque in the hospital’s main hallway.
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