Making the Most of her Opportunity

2014-2015 Presidential Scholarship recipient Natasha Hambrook

Early in Natasha Hambrook’s high school career, things weren’t looking so great. She felt frustrated by the lack of academic challenge in her classes; at the same time, she was having trouble accessing help in subjects where she was having difficulty, like math. She could have become discouraged. She could have checked out, or gotten into trouble, the way some bright but bored young students do.

Instead, she came to Clark.

Hambrook enrolled in Washington State’s Running Start program, which allows students to take college classes while still enrolled in high school. That decision paid off on June 19, when Hambrook not only earned her associate degree at age 17, but was also named recipient of the 2014-2015 Community College President’s Award. The annual scholarship is given to a Clark College graduate who is transferring to a WSU Vancouver degree program and who has demonstrated leadership potential, a commitment to community service, and academic achievement. The scholarship award provides full-time tuition and is renewable for one additional year, essentially providing full tuition to complete a bachelor’s degree.

Hambrook, who lives in Vancouver with her family and will turn 18 in July, has thrived at Clark, earning a 3.98 grade point average—yes, even in math, a subject she came to love. “Coming to Clark College has been the best experience,” she says. “I’ve met so many amazing instructors and classmates who really believed in me.”

Hambrook took classes in Clark’s challenging biology and chemistry sequences as preparation for her chosen career path of becoming a pediatric surgeon. She says one highlight of her time at Clark was getting to visit the college’s cadaver lab during a biology class.

“We got to reach inside the body,” recalls Hambrook. “I think a lot of people were surprised by how I reacted, because I’m kind of a ‘girly girl,’ and I think they thought I’d be turned off by that. But I loved it.”

Hambrook was able to get a different kind of hands-on experience at Clark with another one of her interests: volunteerism. In winter quarter 2014, she became the Student Volunteer Coordinator for Clark’s Service and Leadership in the Community (SLIC) program. In that role, she organized groups of students on volunteer trips to organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Clark County Food Bank, as well as a beach-cleaning trip to Cape Disappointment State Park.

On top of the 10 hours per week spent working for SLIC, Hambrook spent another six or more hours volunteering at the Southwest Washington Humane Society, where she helps care for cats and trains other teen volunteers.

Hambrook says her commitment to community service comes both from a love of helping others and from her own family’s experiences. “My family has received help from the food bank in the past, so I know there’s a need for community service,” she says.

Natasha Hambrook receives her degree from President Knight at Clark’s 2014 commencement ceremony.

Like 73 percent of Clark’s student body, Natasha Hambrook is a first-generation college graduate. Her parents describe her as a very driven, self-motivated young woman. “She did it all on her own,” says her father, Matt Hambrook, of Natasha’s decision to enter Running Start and pursue a degree at Clark. “We just ferried her around.”

“I am so proud of her accomplishments,” added Natasha’s mother, Denise Hollar-Hambrook, who has been working two jobs to help support the family, which also includes Natasha’s younger brother, Matthew. “She will be a compassionate doctor—she will make a difference.”

Clark College President Robert K. Knight announced Hambrook’s scholarship during the college’s 2014 commencement ceremony at Sleep Country Amphitheater. During the announcement, he said that a nominator had described Hambrook as “a rare type of goal-oriented student who combines exceptional natural ability with a willingness and eagerness to learn.”

Hambrook plans to spend the summer continuing her volunteer work at the Humane Society, and possibly at the Free Clinic of Southwest Washington as well. She’s already investigating on-campus volunteer opportunities at WSU Vancouver, where she will begin taking classes in the fall of 2014.

“It feels so amazing to have won this scholarship,” Hambrook says. “I am so grateful I had the opportunity to participate in Running Start, because Clark helped shape me into the woman I am today.”