Click to visit Camp I Am Me site2025 Scholarship Recipients!
Congratulations to Amayah Myszak, Briana Bucaro, Dayla Jones, Janine Hadid, Ben Iammartino, Alison Moll, Elena Sommers, Megan Kolpacki, and Scott Johnson, our 2025 scholarship winners.
Amayah Myszak, 2025 recipient of the Caper Brown memorial scholarship, is a determined young woman passionate about helping children. As a seventh grader she was badly burned at a birthday party when her friend’s father tried to revive the fire using gasoline. It exploded right in front of her, setting her on a many month’s journey of recovery between Loyola Burn Center in Chicago and Shriner’s Hospital in Boston. Amayah credits Camp I Am Me for giving her a place to feel accepted and loved after her injuries and continues to return every year, now as a camp counselor. The people she has met along the way as a burn survivor have inspired her to pursue a career in Child Development, continuing her college career this coming fall at Texas Women’s University.
The 2025 recipient of the Barbara Latenser memorial scholarship, Briana Bucaro suffered severe road rash burn injuries, among many other injuries, from a bad car accident in 2023. Treated at the Loyola burn unit, Briana’s desires for her life have changed drastically since her car crash. Crediting the burn nurses who took such good care of her and a tour of the health and sciences division at Aurora University, Briana wants to pass her experience onto others like her and pursue a career in treating burn injuries as a surgeon. As a freshman at Aurora University studying pre-med, Briana earned straight A's and high honors and became fast friends with her university-assigned roommate. After becoming certified as a phlebotomist this summer, Briana plans to work in the field before med school while continuing at Aurora University.
Dayia Jones is a resilient young woman who was burned by scalding hot water from McDonalds at the age of nine. Her injuries combined with her ADHD made her childhood and school difficult, but over the years, she’s learned to heal from her injuries and her negative self-image stemming from them: physically, emotionally and mentally. After spending the last twelve years in a childcare space, including working in adolescent behavioral mental rehabilitation facilities, Dayia is motivated to become a Physician Assistant specializing in pediatrics where she can use her childhood experience advocating for children’s health. She is pursuing her degree at John A. Logan College in Carterville, Illinois.
Janine Hadid is the 2025 recipient of the Jorge Mijares memorial scholarship and a young entrepreneur from Orland Park, Illinois. Along with the rest of her family, Janine was severely burned in a house fire. It’s left her with scars and physical limitations, but she hasn’t let it slow her down. She graduated from high school with over 100 hours of community service and had become a counselor at Camp I Am Me after years of attending as a camper. Her passion for helping others runs deep, having traveled abroad teaching young underprivileged kids to skateboard. This, combined with her love for art, led her to create her own skate brand during a hiatus from college. Now living in Milwaukee, Janine has become involved in the community through the Islamic Society of Milwaukee as she continues her education at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Ben Iammartino not only suffered a serious burn injury at the age of six but also a spinal cord injury as a teenager, making him quadriplegic. He credits his burn injury as a boy for gifting him with the determination and perseverance to endure the spinal cord injury and recover from it as well. After attending Camp I Am Me and being a part of the burn survivor community there, Ben wants to use his life experience to become a social worker specializing in trauma. This past summer, Ben spent time at the Adaptive Training Foundation in Texas living on his own and building a tight-knit community with others with physical disabilities and credits his experience with his burn injury for being able to lead a group with many people over twice his age. This fall, Ben will be returning to the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire studying psychology.
Alison Moll, hailing from Cross Plains, WI, is the 2025 recipient of the Kelly Skiles memorial scholarship. At just two years old, Alison tripped and fell into a dwindling campfire and suffered extensive burns to her left leg, arm and hand. As hard as it is to be picked on as a young child with burn scars, Alison kept an upbeat and loving attitude. She is an exceptional student, an athlete in soccer and swimming, an active member of her community and has found a passion for participating more deeply in the burn survivor community since starting her college career. Alison will continue her studies this coming fall at the University of Wisconsin in rehabilitation psychology after crediting the occupational therapists that worked with her during her recovery for providing such loving and attentive care.
From Syracuse, Indiana, Elena Sommers is heading back to Oregon State University for her fourth year of college as the 2025 recipient of the Dan Yost memorial scholarship. As a four-year-old, Elena suffered serious burns to her arms due to a grease fire spill while attempting to help her dad in the kitchen. She hasn’t let the injury hold her back one bit. Elena earned National Honors Society recognition as a junior and a senior in high school and Academic Hall of Fame as a senior while participating in the student council and working part-time. An avid animal lover, for as long as she can remember Elena has wanted to be a veterinarian. She will be continuing her studies in Biology this coming year in order to continue on that path.
Megan Kolpacki, 2025 recipient of the Tim Miller memorial scholarship, is an inspirational young woman who was injured at the age of twelve when her house went up in flames due to a gas leak. Her dad was able to find her and throw flaming drywall off her, getting her out in time. After months of being in and out of the hospital, Megan went back to school attempting to hide her scars, but after a week spent at Camp I Am Me the following summer, she returned with pride in her scars and her experience, even helping another student at her school to find his confidence following his own burn injury. Crediting the nurses that helped in her recovery and already beginning to work as a patient care technician, Megan will return closer to home for college this coming fall studying nursing at the University of St. Francis in Joliet.
The 2025 recipient of the Alex Collazo memorial scholarship and outlaw kart racer from Melcher-Dallas, Iowa, Scott Johnson suffered a serious burn injury in a fuel fire as a sophomore in high school. As a result, he was suddenly in a medical induced coma after having worked his way onto the varsity football team together with maintaining a 4.0 GPA. He would eventually recover, fighting through the intense pain while remaining grateful that it wasn’t worse and discovering a determination to fight through and heal to fulfill his desire to help others. After majoring in Finance his first two years at Central College in Pella, IA, Scott added Psychology as a second major. He enters his final year there as a double major and still outlaw kart racing in full force, racing against seasoned professionals.