Ke'Renza Nunes
Statesboro High School
Class of 2014
Parents: Cindy & Jim Taylor, Ray Nunes

        Ke'Renza Nunes learned about service at an early age as she observed her mother's work as a Para-pro in Florida and Georgia with special needs children. That led to her involvement and volunteering with Special Olympics and special needs children in Statesboro. She is committed to giving back and to helping others and spends weekends and afternoons doing volunteer work at places like the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.
        Through her church, Crossroads Community Church, she volunteers with the drama team in putting on events like the Novemberfest Stunt Show & Outreach Ministry. She has also performed in Blue Fish Ministries with skits and dramatic performances. She performed in the Group Human Video Routine putting Christian messages to music as an outreach ministry or the church. The show won 1st Place in the Tifton regional competition and 1st runner up in the nationals held in Cleveland, TN.
        Through her membership in the National Honor Society, Ke'Renza helped organize volunteer groups for the First United Methodist Church Soup Kitchen and the Keep Bulloch Beautiful Great American Clean-up.
By the age of six, she knew she wanted to be a doctor. "I was interested in medicine and the human body and how it works," she said. Her mentor at Statesboro High School is Nurse Brenda Shumate. Ke'Renza did her work based learning with Ms. Shumate every semester for two years. "I learned how to treat patients, charting, and professionalism in a medical environment; it was good training," she said.
        This year, Ke'renza completed a six-week volunteer internship at East Georgia Regional Medical Center while she was also preparing for her church drama group's performance in the nationals. "I was on the surgery floor the whole time. I worked at the desk building patient folders, ran labs, and small things like carry ice to patients," she said. She now wants to be a trauma surgeon.
        She may be well on her way. This spring she was honored by the Atlanta Hawks with a community service based scholarship for $10,000 to help with her college expenses. Only five scholarships for a total of $50,000 are given. Because of her community service, she was chosen as one of the five.
        For all she has given to her community, Ke'Renza will be able to continue her dream of helping others when she starts pre-med classes at Georgia State University this fall.