One incoming Scripps student brought more than her luggage when matriculating this fall — she also brought an award-winning commitment to community service.
Brandi Seaman ’13 is one of the first high-school graduates to be awarded the Spirit of American Youth Scholarship award, an annual program sponsored by Caruso Affiliated that provides $10,000 to students dedicated to both academics and their local communities. The candidates are selected from high schools throughout the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, with other winners attending Stanford and UCLA.
Brandi’s passion for volunteering came while attending to her injured brother. “I have worked at Huntington Hospital since June 2006,” she says. “I volunteered in the maternity/newborn nursery department after completing basic before moving to the emergency department.”
That work soon grew into a unique program created by Brandi titled Bear Hugs: Sharing Lots of Love, which helps people donate stuffed animals to pediatric patients. Over 1,000 plush toys have been given out since the program’s inception; it’s even (almost) led to romance.
“While volunteering, I was talking with one of the little boys and he got down on one knee and proposed to me,” Brandi says with a smile. But will she continue to volunteer? Definitely — and her family is coming to her aid.
“Because Huntington is not easily reachable for me from Scripps, my mom will pick up and deliver loads of stuffed animals. I’ll do the deliveries during winter break and summer, and will give the hospital volunteer department a form explaining what Bear Hugs is and how it operates so Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts can help the hospital through their Eagle Scout or Gold service projects.”
Brandi’s bedside manner will continue to go to good use as she studies biology, with the end goal of becoming — you guessed it — a pediatrician.