Follow Your Dreams
Danielle Purintun
Hunt School of Nursing Student Follows Dreams of Becoming a Borderplex Nurse with Help from Stars Scholarship Fund
Stars Scholarship Fund gives $40,000 to help Texas Tech Health El Paso students
Born and raised in an underserved community, Hunt School of Nursing student Danielle Purintun witnessed the challenges residents have accessing quality health care. She saw many health issues that could’ve been alleviated through simple interventions and accessible screenings.
As Purintun pursues her nursing career, she wants to help end these health disparities, and thanks to a Stars Scholarship, she can.
The Stars Scholarship Fund was established by the LaMantia family, owners of L&F Distributors. The non-profit organization raised $40,000, with the help of our Borderplex community, to help Texas Tech Health El Paso students like Purintun reach their dreams. The university has matched the gift for a total impact of $80,000.
“This scholarship has empowered me to focus on my dream of becoming a nurse and showing my children that anything is possible,” said Purintun, who also spoke at the Stars Scholarship Fund Extravaganza event. “I can continue my nursing school journey without the heavy burden of worrying about how to fund my next semester. Now, I’m confident I can complete my program because of the invaluable support I’ve received."
The Stars Scholarship Fund was founded in 2002 by LaMantia family patriarch Joe Lamantia, Jr., to ensure post-secondary opportunities are available to all who have the potential to succeed, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, background or lack of resources. Since that time, the Stars Scholarship Fund has been dedicated to increasing access to post-secondary education for students in Texas where they have L&F Distributors one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributors in Texas.
The Texas Tech Health El Paso’s Stars Scholarship Fund was established in 2020 with a $16,000 gift. Texas Tech Health El Paso matched the first gift and continues matching every year to double the impact. Since then, $202,000 in scholarships has been awarded to 42 recipients.
The Stars Scholarship Fund has partnered with hundreds of local and national businesses, organizations, colleges and universities, enabling it to distribute more than $39 million in scholarships to over 19,057 students. Lisa Peisen, Stars Scholarship Fund board member and managing partner of L&F Distributors, spearheaded the efforts to grow the gift. Her goal of increasing the number of scholarships awarded and the number of students impacted was realized.
“Students like Danielle are one of the many reasons my grandfather established the Stars Scholarship fund more than 20 years ago,” Peisen said. “However, we couldn’t do this without the support of the many local businesses and business leaders who contribute to Stars. Our shared vision that financial hardships shouldn’t prevent our next generation of leaders from achieving their dreams allows us to continue to support students at Texas Tech Health El Paso for years to come.”
Purintun was raised by her maternal grandparents and dreamed of becoming a nurse after her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. She hopes to provide the same comfort and compassion her grandmother received during her treatment.
“In my predominantly Hispanic community, navigating the complex health care system, language barriers and transportation challenges complicate access to care,” Purintun said. “It’s crucial for me to provide exceptional care in my clinicals—not just for my patients, but also for the family members they share their experiences with. Delivering unbiased, transparent and high-quality care is essential to rebuilding trust between health care providers and the most vulnerable members of our community.”
Purintun earned her first degree from the University of Texas at El Paso, graduating in 2021 with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in organizational and corporate communication. She plans to graduate from the Hunt School of Nursing in Spring 2025 and hopes for a position at University Medical Center of El Paso, home to the region’s only Level I trauma center.
Fortunately, Purintun found financial support from the Stars Scholarship Fund, which will help her and other nursing students at Texas Tech Health El Paso achieve their dreams, said Jené Hurlbut, Ph.D., R.N., CNE, Hunt School of Nursing interim dean.
“Our students are unique because they’re committed to patient care, but also deeply devoted to our community,” Dr. Hurlbut said. “In many cases like Danielle’s, scholarships ease financial stress and allow our students to successfully complete our rigorous 16-month program and hundreds of clinical hours.”
In addition to nursing, the scholarship fund supports students from Texas Tech Health El Paso’s medical and dental schools, and graduate school of biomedical sciences.
The 2025-2026 scholarship application cycle is now open through March 31. Students in south or west Texas completing a high school diploma by Fall 2025 are encouraged to apply. Applicants need 12 undergraduate college hours and a 2.7 or better cumulative institution GPA to apply.
About Texas Tech Health El Paso
Texas Tech Health El Paso is the only health sciences center on the U.S.-Mexico border and serves 108 counties in West Texas that have been historically underserved. It’s a designated Title V Hispanic-Serving Institution, preparing the next generation of health care heroes, 48% of whom identify as Hispanic and are often first-generation students.
Established as an independent university in 2013, Texas Tech Health El Paso is a proudly diverse and uniquely innovative destination for education and research.
With a mission of eliminating health care barriers and creating life-changing educational opportunities for Borderplex residents, Texas Tech Health El Paso has graduated over 2,400 doctors, nurses and researchers over the past decade, and will add dentists to its alumni beginning in 2025. For more information, visit ttuhscepimpact.org.