Hard work has earned 20-year old Youth Volunteer Anit Tyagi a $7,500 scholarship for his ongoing dedication to serving Veterans with the emergency medical team at VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System.

For seven years now, Tyagi has dedicated his free time in the Emergency Department and has accrued more than 1,000 hours of volunteer work to date. He was selected as one of eight individuals across the country for the national DAV Jesse Brown Youth Memorial Scholarship.

Tyagi: “This honor reaffirms my desire to give back to those who have already given us so much.”

Each year, DAV honors youth volunteers who demonstrate outstanding dedication and service to America’s Veterans. Awardees can use the money toward any accredited institution of higher learning.

Currently a junior at the University of Denver, Tyagi is a pre-med student who has already built ample experience in the medical field through his volunteer service.

Started volunteering as high school freshman

Ever since Tyagi was a high school freshman, he’s been transporting patients to and from Radiology, cleaning and preparing rooms, restocking linens and sheets, training new volunteers and, most importantly, keeping Veterans company.

“Serving those who have served our great nation is humbling. I continuously experience the satisfaction of putting a smile on a Veteran in a stressful, unplanned visit by listening to their stories and learning life lessons,” Tyagi said. “Over the years, my involvement at VA has shown how significant attending to a patient’s emotional needs has been in bettering their health outcomes.”

With the most hours accrued out of any current ECHCS youth volunteer, Tyagi was nominated by the ECHCS Voluntary Services team.

Pictured above, Voluntary Specialist Jack Fletcher; far left, Tyagi; Emergency Medicine Chief Dr. Javier Perez, right; and Emergency Medicine nurse Mark Phillips, far right.

ECHCS Voluntary Specialist Jack Fletcher nominated Tyagi due to his years of dedication.

“I’ve watched him develop from a reserved high school student into a mature college young adult,” Fletcher said. “Most student volunteers move on to other endeavors when they graduate high school. He is a remarkable young man.”

Tyagi said his time volunteering at VA has taught him more lessons than he could have ever imagined.

“This honor is humbling and reaffirms my desire to give back to those who have already given us so much,” he said. “I am proud to call myself a VA hospital volunteer.”


Terri Rorke is a public affairs specialist at the Denver VA.

Topics in this story

Leave a comment

The comments section is for opinions and feedback on this particular article; this is not a customer support channel. If you are looking for assistance, please visit Ask VA or call 1-800-698-2411. Please, never put personally identifiable information (SSAN, address, phone number, etc.) or protected health information into the form — it will be deleted for your protection.

More Stories