The Meredith J. Barnhart, Ph.D Memorial Scholarship Fund (Available 2024)
Meredith J. Barnhart was a 2001 graduate of Minersville Area High School and a 2005 Elizabethtown College graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work.
During her high school years, she played on Minersville's basketball and volleyball teams, was a member of the marching band, participated in the annual plays - both on stage and off with scenery set up, and was a member of the National Honor Society.
At Elizabethtown, she participated in the campus theater plays and became a member of the National Freshman Alpha Lambda Delta, Phi Alpha (Social Work), and Pi Mu Epsilon (Math), Honor Societies.
As a freshman entering Elizabethtown, she had chosen Math as her major, but soon developed an interest in Social Work. After earning her Bachelor's degree, she went on to Columbia University to continue her education and earn a Master's Degree in Social Work. Equipped with both a Bachelor and Master degrees, she searched out employment and was accepted at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City in the pediatric oncology department. While there, Meredith worked tirelessly helping the children and their families obtain the treatments and services needed to combat their cancer diagnosis.
After ten years of working with the pediatric oncology patients and their families, she accepted another challenge and became part of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Her position as director of the IRC (Information Resource Center) allowed her to work with many cancer patients offering up-to-date disease, treatment, and support information.
During her tenure at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Meredith applied to the doctoral program at Fordham University in New York. She was accepted and began working on her doctoral thesis. She successfully defended her dissertation in April of 2020 and graduated with her PhD in Social Work that spring.
The many hours of research, the presentations made at Social Work conferences, and the hours of interviews she conducted all helped her develop a doctoral thesis that has made a positive impact on cancer patients and their families.
Meredith was a kind, compassionate, and dedicated person. Her concern for helping others was an Important part of her life. Her dedication to her work was a very important aspect of her life but her loyalty, love, and concern for her fiancee, family and friends were also priorities in her life. Her love of music, Broadway shows, football, the Christmas season, especially Christmas trees, and the beach were often shared and loved by her fiancee, family and friends as well.
Her passing not only left a void for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and the many clients she helped each day, but for her fiancee, family and friends as well.
