Scholarships help respiratory therapy grad succeed amid family hardships
OGDEN, Utah — Rachel Okwabi chose Weber State because it’s one of the few universities offering a bachelor’s degree in respiratory therapy. She earned that degree in April 2024, thanks in part to scholarships during a particularly difficult time.
Two years earlier, her mother, Evelyn, was hospitalized due to pulmonary hypertension, a condition where high blood pressure affects the lungs and heart. Okwabi initially thought it would only be for a week, but the stay was extended due to multiple surgeries and time in the ICU.
“She ended up being in the hospital until the end of the semester, from February to April,” she said. 
Okwabi’s parents arrived in the United States with her older sister from Ghana in 1994, seeking more opportunity for their growing family. Soon after, they welcomed Okwabi and her younger sister.
She recalls her parents encouraging her as a child to one day pursue higher education.
Okwabi said seeing respiratory therapists care for Evelyn inspired her even more to achieve that dream, but medical expenses and loss of income made paying for it a challenge.
“My parents were helping me pay, and my mom wasn’t able to go back to work after the surgeries,” Okwabi said.
Additionally, Okwabi had to limit her own work hours due to classes, interviewing and preparing presentations to join the respiratory therapy program. She was also traveling between her home in Ogden and the Salt Lake City hospital where her mother underwent procedures.
Thankfully, upon entering the program, she received scholarships from the Department of Respiratory Therapy and Dr. Ezekiel R. Dumke College of Health Professions. She later received another departmental scholarship near graduation, which enabled her to focus on the program’s rigorous curriculum.
“During the first semester, they have you do 20 credits at the Ogden campus, so I was always in the library, at class or at work,” she said. “If I had questions, the professors were amazing. They gave us their phone numbers and said ‘Text us if you have any questions, send us a picture.’”
Her first semester also included clinical rotations where she saw first-hand what she learned in class. While completing school, Okwabi found a position as a respiratory aid at Intermountain Health McKay-Dee Hospital and was soon promoted to respiratory therapy apprentice there.
Now, Okwabi is a registered respiratory therapist, and said she’s proud to be counted among respiratory therapists who are Black or African American — 12.6% in 2022 according to the United States Census Bureau.
At a recent Student & Donor Recognition Banquet for the college, Okwabi expressed her gratitude. “One of the many concerns I had worried about was how I was going to be able to pay for school,” she said. “Thanks to all your amazing donations, that was possible.”
Jaime Winston, Marketing & Communications
801-626-7396, jaimewinston@weber.edu- Contact:
Rachel Badali, news coordinator
801-626-7362, rachelbadali@weber.edu