Tami Fund Scholarship gives TAU student Hodaya Levy Rublin the chance to follow her dream.

As a teenager, Hodaya Levy Rublin fell in love with the nursing profession when she volunteered at a children’s hospital. Watching the nurses work mesmerized her. She knew then that she wanted to be like them.

The Tami Fund Scholarship she received for studies at TAU’s Steyer School of Health Professions has been an indispensable element of her journey.

“I want to be the best nurse you’ve ever seen,” she says, adding that she aspires to specialize in pediatric emergency medicine.

Uphill Struggle

Levy Rublin’s path to enrolling at university was not easy. Growing up as the seventh of nine children in a single-parent family, she didn’t imagine a future that included higher education. She studied at an Orthodox religious school that did not teach a curriculum that could lead to academic studies. In high school, though, she transferred to a less religious school, so that she could matriculate. 

Upon completing her national service as a companion for elderly women, “who became like my grandmothers,” Levy Rublin took a waitressing job to save for university studies. Even though she worked double shifts for five years, she could never put aside enough after paying her basic expenses. 

When COVID-19 struck, she lost her job. With encouragement from her new husband, she enrolled in an undergraduate program at TAU, even though she didn’t have funds to pay tuition.
Then, once on TAU’s campus, Levy Rublin wasn’t sure that she belonged. 

The Dean of Students’ Financial Aid Office matched her with a scholarship from the Tami Fund, set up to assist students with socioeconomic need. 

Validation

“Receiving the scholarship helped me believe that I deserve to be here, that TAU is my place,” Levy Rublin said. “It gave me the opportunity to concentrate on my studies and be a good student, without worrying about paying the bills.
“I love people. In the emergency room, you meet people of all ages. I think I have the ability to communicate with different people. I want to be there [for them] in their hard times, to make them feel a little bit better and to give back to society.” In addition, she said she knows how to withstand pressure and believes she will excel in the ER’s intensive atmosphere.

“My profession and the opportunity given to me by the scholarship will allow me to succeed in life,” Levy Rublin said.

-By Melanie Takefman