Daily News

Rachel Turgeon Wins United Personnel Academic Merit Award

SPRINGFIELD — Rachel Turgeon, a United Personnel employee who has worked in a variety of customer-service roles for the past five years, has been awarded the 2017 United Personnel Academic Merit Award. Turgeon received the $1,000 scholarship to defray student-loan payments related to her bachelor’s degree she received from Elms College last June. As an aspiring oncologist, Turgeon hopes to begin medical school next year.

In addition to her work as a United Personnel contract employee, Turgeon is currently a women’s leader at Celebrate Recovery. In 2010, she suffered from an autoimmune disorder, and, in order to grow and heal from that occurrence, she began to counsel women in similar situations. She wanted women to see their beauty and worth beyond their physical impairments, such as hair loss. It was through this experience that she realized her calling and began taking steps to one day specialize in oncology, with the dream of traveling the world through Doctors Without Borders.

“Working at United Personnel has taught me that hard work pays off,” Turgeon said. “United Personnel has been a blessing to work for. They have helped me during an extremely tough time in my life, and through them I found a job that has supported me and my long-term goals. I am extremely grateful to receive the United Personnel scholarship. Because of this scholarship, I can pay off a portion of my student loans and process quite a few medical-school applications. United Personnel has brought me one step closer to my goals, and I am so thankful for their support.”

Each year, United Personnel identifies one United Personnel contract employee, or the child of a United Personnel contract employee, who has worked at least 160 hours and is currently enrolled or is a recent graduate of an accredited college as the winner of its annual Academic Merit Award. This $1,000 award recognizes hard work both inside and outside of the classroom, and can be utilized to defray current costs or for loan forgiveness.

“This scholarship is United Personnel’s way of showing employees such as Rachel that we are invested in their futures. We stand behind everything that Rachel stands for — drive, determination, heart, and community involvement,” said United Personnel President Tricia Canavan. “While the decision was hard with such a great group of applicants, Rachel stood out for her exemplary commitment to being a dedicated employee, student, and member of her community. We are proud to have her on our team.”