Hi!
I'm Abigail Schertz, and I am raising funds for educational scholarships and heart research with the AHA GO RED x Miss America collaboration! American Heart Association's Go Red for Women has joined forces with Miss America's Scholarship Foundation to raise both research dollars AND tuition scholarships, ensuring a healthier, smarter future for women in America.
This is my first time doing a fundraiser, and my first opportunity to be in a pageant. I am very excited to try this out and to be able to raise money for women of all ages and support these organizations. I am a recently graduated high school student from my small town of Tomahawk, and I have a wonderful family that is the most important part of my life. Having an opportunity to raise money for women's heart health is very important to me because there is a serious increase in heart-related illnesses and a knowledge gap in women's heart research.
Health has always been extremely important to me because of my family. Both of my parents have genetic heart disease risks from their parents and families. This means my siblings and I are at risk as well. To combat this, my family works together to stay active and to eat healthy to ensure we are maintaining our health. This has also become the most important thing in my life from seeing the people I love struggle with varying medical conditions. Even though not all of them involve the heart, seeing anyone you love in pain or sick is very difficult.
My dream is to become a doctor and to pursue emergency medicine. Currently, I am certified by the American Red Cross in emergency first aid, I am certified by the American Heart Association with Basic Life Saving skills, and I am certified by the state of Wisconsin as an Emergency Medical Responder. I work in the Aspirus Rhinelander Emergency Department as a Health Unit Coordinator and Certified Nursing Assistant. All of this experience has provided me with knowledge and encouragement towards my dreams of a higher education in medicine.
When I am not at school or in the Emergency Department, I am working out and making healthy food with my family. I am also a certified CrossFit coach with my Level-1 training. This has allowed me to lead people and do what I love most: helping people feel better and see improvement in themselves. Coaching and leading are also big contributions to why I want to go into medicine; my mom has always inspired me to lead others. Working out and coaching is the setting where I can feel strong, confident, and truly myself. On my best and worst days, taking time to exercise has always been a pick-me-up. Cooking is also a big deal in my household. My dad is the best cook I know, and he has helped teach me how to eat healthy and to make my own food from our own work and resources. This allows me to see the value in home-grown meals and non-processed foods.
With this fundraising, I hope I can make a genuine contribution to AHA and Miss America. They represent everything in my life that I have grown up with and become: knowledge, representation, leadership, and strength. I am excited to have the opportunity to participate in the Miss Wausau Competition.
Help support women of all ages. Join the movement to end heart disease and provide tuition scholarships to women in America. Any donation is greatly appreciated.
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Miss America and Miss America's Teen National Scholarships are awarded by a separate non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the Miss America's Scholarship Foundation Inc. This collaboration provides funds for national awards, and in addition, both Miss America's/Miss America's Teen State Scholarships and the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women movement. The American Heart Association's Go Red for Women is Miss America's Scholarship Foundation's national health thought leader. All above mentioned entities are 501(c)(3) organizations and all donations to this campaign are fully tax-deductible per IRS regulations.
