Jessica King Memorial Scholarship in Occupational Therapy Fund

Jessica King was a second year graduate student in the Occupational Therapy Program with a keen interest in older adults.  A friend to all her classmates and faculty members, it was a loss to everyone when Jessica passed away suddenly on August 29, 2005 at the age of 26.  In order to carry on her wish to improve the lives of older adults, friends, family, and faculty members  have worked with Jessica’s mother, Linda King, and Jessica’s sister, Jennifer, to establish a scholarship fund.

The fund will provide scholarship support for students enrolled in the Department of Occupational Therapy at East Carolina and who are pursuing occupational therapy careers in gerontology.

The first recipient of the Jessica King Memorial Scholarship is Ms. Corinne Burns.

Corinne receives $1000 to assist her in completing her clinical fieldwork assignments from May to November, 2008. Although Corinne found many areas of occupational therapy interesting, she has always been most interested in older adults and intents to enter that area when she completes her degree. Her master’s project concerned motion analysis of upper extremity movement smoothness after stroke and she hopes to use the information in future treatment. Linda King, Jessica’s mother, was delighted with the choice and stated that Corinne reminded her of the same qualities and experiences that Jessica had when working with older adults. Corinne is grateful to Mrs. King, for without her dedication to the scholarship, it would not have been possible. The department thanks all those who have contributed and participated in this year’s application. We do believe that with the scholarship, we can help improve older adult’s lives.