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Welcome to the Shawn Mohr Passion For Nursing
Scholarship page. Here I want to provide you with information and direction as to who Shawn was, the scholarship that bears
his name, our fundraising efforts to create this through an endowment with Texas A&M, and to create awareness about heart
disease in young adults. I want to thank you in advance for taking the time to visit this page because I know you didn't
find us by chance.
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| 1978 Shawn & Mutt |
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| 1996 |
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| 2001 Shawn, Mom, Grandma |
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For those of us who knew and loved Shawn, we are blessed with many, many wonderful memories. For those
who never had that chance, there are four pages on this site dedicated to his memory. You will find them in the top left of
this page in the navigation section. If you watch some of the videos or look over some pictures, you will get a good feel
of who he was. You may also want to read some of the wonderful comments on our guestbook and feel free to leave yours.
On May 23, 2014, KWTX Channel 10 out of Waco, Texas
mentioned our scholarship in their "Good News Friday" segment of their broadcast. I have put the 3 minute
segment on YouTube. You can CLICK HERE to watch it!
Howdy,
My name is Ken Miller and
I live in Lampasas, Texas. On January 3, 1978, my sister, Janice, gave birth to her only child, Shawn. He would grow up to
be a fine young man that we could ALL be very proud of. You know, he was just
a really good kid. I guess I can say it that way since I am his uncle, but he was more
like a son to me. Please indulge me while I brag a little here. At Bryan High School, he played football for 3 years, was
an offensive lineman on the district championship team in his senior year and
graduated as a member of the National Honor Society. He then attended Blinn Jr. College before moving on to Texas A
& M where he was in the class of 2000.
My mom, Shawn's grandma, was in poor health but always said that she wanted to live long enough to see
Shawn graduate from A & M. He made her dream come true on August 11, 2001, when he graduated Magna Cum Laude (GPA
from 3.70 to 3.89). She died 6 months later but I know she was a major factor in Shawn pursuing nursing.
| August 2001 |
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| Proud Grandma |
After A&M, Shawn worked for several years at a cardiac rehab in Bryan before going to Texas A &
M Nursing School in Corpus Christi. In December of 2007, he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a GPA of 4.0. Wow!
| August 2001 |
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| Kenny, Grandma, Shawn, Molly |
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| December 2007 |
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| Shawn & Mom (Janice) |
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| December 2007 |
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| CaLae, Shawn, Molly, Gwen |
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Very soon after graduation, he went to work at Methodist Hospital in Houston where in February of 2011,
he was on an elite team that performed the very first artificial heart transplant in the world! Shawn could have easily been
a doctor, but he had a passion for nursing. On June 22, 2011, we lost him to what they say was an enlarged heart. We
also heard the term "Sudden Adult Death Syndrome" or "SADS", which I had never heard of. The need for
awareness is at hand.
Shawn was 33 years young when the Lord took him home. He loved family, friends, the river, Texas music, sports,
everything Texas A&M, and was very passionate about nursing. He is buried in the Aggie Field of Honor looking at Kyle
Field through two oak trees. He had not yet married, so there are no children to carry on his name. Our hopes and dreams
are that by establishing and building this endowment that his name will live on forever through nurses from Texas A&M.
With your help, and the grace of God, it will.
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| Nursing Tools |
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| Shawn at Methodist Hospital |
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| Watching over Kyle Field |
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| Aggie Field of Honor |
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The College of Nursing
When Shawn went to nursing school, it was located
in Corpus Christi, Texas. He entered into an accelerated 18 month course. Although he was able to take most of his classes
in the Bryan area, everything had to be finished up and graduation would take place in Corpus Christi. This was December
of 2007.
In 2008, the College of Nursing opened the Bryan campus in The Health Science Center located out on Highway
47 in Bryan. At this time, The Texas A&M Health Science Center was a separate entity from the Texas A&M main campus.
In 2013, the process began to merge the two together. As of this writing, April of 2014, the process is still ongoing with
expected completion by the end of 2014.
Click Here for Nursing School Info
The Texas A&M Health Science Center offers a way for us to create an endowment through their foundation.
Although the minimum requirement to establish an endowment is $25,000, they give you time to build it through donations. Once
this has been achieved, then scholarships will be rewarded every year from the interest. This means that Shawn's name will
live on FOREVER through nurses from Texas A&M! This is our first goal.
On November 22, 2013, the process to
create The Shawn Mohr Passion For Nursing Scholarship through this endowment was initialized with a $500 donation. Due to
the merger, we experienced some technical issues that we soon learned were too difficult to overcome.
On April
23, 2014, the endowed scholarship was placed under the care of The Texas A&M Foundation. This seemed to be the most logical
move since the Health Science Center Foundation will soon be merged with The Texas A&M Foundation. This is also our new
starting date. We also made arrangements for 80% of all donations to go toward
the endowment while 20% will go towards an unendowed fund so that scholarships can be awarded as soon as 2015! This means
that our first initial goal will be $33,000. Once our first goal is met, we want to build on it for years to come so that we may help "Mohr"
and "Mohr" nurses realize their goals and dreams at Texas A&M.
Below I will keep you up to date of
our progress. Every month I will post a progress report, when possible.
First Goal:.......................................................$33,000
Progress as of May 1, 2014................................1.5% May 30, 2014......................................................10.7% July 31, 2014......................................................15.2%
August 31, 2014.................................................17.4%
September 30, 2014...........................................18.4% October 31, 2014................................................18.8% December 5, 2014..............................................21.5%
December 31, 2014............................................30.7% January 31, 2015................................................31.9% February 28,
2015..............................................32.9% March 31, 2015...................................................34.4%
April 30, 2015.....................................................35.6% May 31, 2015.......................................................39.5% June 30, 2015......................................................40.7% July 31,
2015.......................................................42.1%
August 31, 2015..................................................53.1%
September 30, 2015............................................53.9% October 31, 2015.................................................57.9% November 30, 2015.............................................58.7% December 31,
2015.............................................62.8% January 30, 2016.................................................64.9%
February 29, 2016...............................................65.7%
Donations
The Texas A&M Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations go through Texas A&M
and all donations are tax deductible! Below you will find a link to Texas A&M's website where you
can make a donation on their secure site or information on writing a check.
The amount of the donation does not matter. From $25 on up, all donations
are tremendously appreciated! I chose the figure $33 because Shawn was only 33. This is why our theme is:
"Creating Mohr Nurses With $33"
My preference on donations:
Over the years, I have been asked to make a donation for some great
worthwhile causes but they hit me at the wrong time. They usually needed $100, $200, or even $500 and it always seem to hit
me when I was strapped. I often thought that if there would have been a way where I could commit to $20 or $40 per
month, then I would gladly have done that for a year or so because I could have fit that into my monthly budget. That was
about the same as my cable bill and there is no tax deduction when I paid it! I always felt bad about turning them
down.
With that in mind, my personal goal is, every year, to try and find 100 donors, myself included, who
will be willing to commit to $33 per month for one year or longer. I just think it is a good deal for all concerned. As a
donor, we will be able to deduct $396 for every full year, and the endowment can grow by an astounding $39,600 every year!
In this "per month" world that we now live in, it is much easier for me to budget that in than to make a once a
year donation of $396.
The Texas A&M Foundation website gives us the choice to do just that. We can make a
one time donation in any amount, or choose the monthly by selecting "recurring" and then choose the start and stop
dates. It is wonderful! Just click on the link below and it will open up their site.
****Note: All links
on this site will open in a new window so you will not loose your place on this page.****
Donation Links and Mailing Address
The first link you see below will take
you to the "Texas A&M Foundation - Online Giving Instructions" page if you would like to read through them.
The second link will take you directly to the donation page.
Please Note: If you are making a monthly donation,
please enter the TOTAL amount in the box for amount. For instance, you would enter 396.00 if you are donating $33 for 12 months.
Then click the button on " I would like to make Scheduled Payments". This will be where it asks if this is a one
time or recurring gift; choose recurring.
Information For Donating
By Check:
Please make checks payable to: Texas A&M Foundation
In the memo line: Shawn Mohr Scholarship #0435621
Mailing address:
Texas A&M Foundation
401 George Bush Drive
College Station, Texas 77843-1234
---ATTN:
Shawn Mohr Scholarship---
The Scholarship
The Shawn Mohr Passion For Nursing Scholarship is in it's infancy as of December, 2013. Please check back
here from time to time. As information and links become available about the scholarship, I will post them here. Below you
will find a link to help with scholarships and financial aid at TAMHSC. One thing about it, once the endowment is in
place, it will never end!
Click Here For Scholarship Information
Then click on the light blue link "scholarship
information document" towards the bottom of the page. It is a Word document and Shawn's scholarship is on
page 3.
Heart
Disease Awareness
In a conversation I had with Shawn's friend Zoli (more like Shawn's brother), he was telling
me about a discussion he had with Tami (more like Shawn's sister) about how they wish there was a way that we could
honor Shawn's memory by making people more aware of heart disease in young adults, much like how you associate Susan G.
Komen with breast cancer awareness. Wow, that sure hit home, and they are so right.
This is what prompted me to
add this section to this page. Shawn worked with heart disease before and during his nursing career and it is what took him
from us. Below you will find links to more information. As we find more awareness related information or foundations, we will
post their links here.
To Zoli and Tami: Thank you! Maybe, just maybe this can be a start to make your wish and
Shawn's legacy a reality.
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| Cardiac Rehab (Bryan) |
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| Joseph, Zoli, Tami, Shawn, CaLae, Melissa, Charles |
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| Fondren OR (Methodist Hospital, Houston) |
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Championship Hearts Foundation; Austin, Texas
Free Student Heart Screening in Texas (ages 14-18)
www.champhearts.org
Parent Heart Watch; Glencoe, Illinois
Sudden
Cardiac Arrest(SCA), Sudden Cardiac Death(SCD)
www.parentheartwatch.org
SADS Foundation; Salt Lake City, Utah
Sudden
Arrhythmia Death Syndrome
www.sads.org
One last thing
I would like to share with you:
The photo below was taken by Andrea and Chrissy. They worked
with Shawn at Methodist Hospital. Shawn was never late for work. They had gone to Shawn's apartment to find out what was
wrong. This photo was the sunset at his apartment on the day he died. Andrea and Chrissy added the poem to it and it is just
too beautiful not to share.
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