(Left to right) Dr. Melissa Arrans, Christopher Huggins and wife Lisa and Dr. Shasta Ware after a pinning ceremony held at the Thrasher-Horne Center in Orange Park.
In 2025-26, thanks to a donation from VanTrust Foundation, CareerSource Northeast Florida (CareerSource NEFL) established the new Crossing the Finish Line Scholarship to help three local college students with funding to complete their final semesters in college. Scholarship winners had to be enrolled in a recognized medical training program and maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average or higher.
At 37 years of age, Christopher Huggins is the oldest (and the only married) student in the first round of scholarship winners. The scholarship helped him complete his Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) program at St. Johns River State College (SJRSC) in June.
His interest in nursing came from a near-fatal accident on an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) at the age of 14 that sent him to an intensive care unit for nearly three weeks, then to a children’s hospital in Jackson, Mississippi for another month of care.
“If not for my nurses and first responders, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said. “I care about people and want to be better able to take care of others like I was.”
Huggins has been a certified nursing assistant (CNA) for a little over 12 years, most recently completing two clinicals at the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. He finally got into a nursing program in 2022 in Mississippi and made it through the third semester, but missed his final exam by less than a point.
“I knew I could get through if I had one more chance, but would have had to wait another year there to repeat the classes,” he said. “So, when the opportunity came up to get my LPN (licensed practical nurse) degree sooner at SJRSC in Palatka, my wife and I moved to Florida.”
Huggins had to pay out-of-state tuition to go through the program, which is why he was relieved to receive financial help through the Crossing the Finish Line Scholarship.
“I don’t know how I could have made it through the final semester without it, and it eased my mind knowing that all I had to do was concentrate on my grades, not my finances.”
VanTrust Foundation made a $100,000 donation to CareerSource NEFL to help more people receive training in Northeast Florida, including skill certifications for healthcare jobs. The VanTrust Foundation is the nonprofit arm of VanTrust Real Estate, a full-service real estate development company founded in 2010 with a regional office in Jacksonville. Through its corporate and foundation giving, VanTrust has supported 200 charitable organizations in 71 communities where it operates.