2019 Recipient

Rachel is a three- sport student athlete with a creative side. She plays multiple instruments, sings, dances, and brings these talents to six area nursing homes and assisted living facilities on a regular basis. Rachel has witnessed first- hand the power of music and how elderly individuals who rarely interact with others “awaken” when she starts to play.

Inspired by her experience with music and dementia patients as well as the role she believes music played while recovering from a concussion, Rachel began researching the benefits of music for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. Her initial findings conclude that music greatly improves verbal and visual memory. Rachel is currently developing a program with her school nurse to provide music therapy as treatment for concussions. In addition, she is on the Speaker’s Bureau for the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts, spreading hope and educating TBI patients of new treatments and therapies.

We are honored to award Rachel a Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation Scholarship and wish her the best as she continues her studies at Cornell University this fall.