Paige King of Strongsville won the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio’s 2022 Gray Foundation Scholarship. King, a 2021 graduate of Magnificat High School, has been actively involved in Girl Scouts for 13 years and is a lifetime member. King credits her years in Girl Scouts as positively influencing her desire to serve her community both in her faith and in her future career as a doctor.
The Gray Foundation Scholarship enables Girl Scouts of North East Ohio (GSNEO) to help outstanding girls reach further, achieve more, and use the experiences and skills they gain from the Girl Scout leadership experience to make a difference in their communities.
To compete for the award, girls must meet a number of requirements including: earning the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting; being enrolled in a four-year college; committing to a minimum of 90 hours of community service during the scholarship award year; maintaining a connection to Girl Scouts during the award period; and completing a monthly service report.
King is currently attending the University of Dayton, where she is on a pre-med track with a minor in neuroscience, with plans to become a neurologist. In her short time at the University of Dayton, she has joined Healing Hearts, a student service organization that promotes service to the community and raises awareness of healthcare issues within Dayton’s community.
Through this organization, she volunteers at Miami Valley Hospital and Dayton Children’s Medical Center. She is also applying for a highly selective EMS program to become a certified EMT. Her passion for medicine stems from her experience with a serious concussion in 8th grade, which led to the discovery of a brain abnormality called a Chiari malformation. In learning about this abnormality, she became fascinated by the complexities of the human brain and wanted to help others with neurological disorders.
In 2021, King earned the highest honor in Girl Scouting, the Girl Scout Gold Award. She wanted to address declining teen membership and participation in faith communities, specifically at her church, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Strongsville.
Her project, “Tree of Life” Mural, was a way to encourage participation in the church, community, and faith, specifically from the church’s youth group, By Teens For Teens. The mural in the meeting room of St. Joseph’s is intended to not only represent her faith journey but to inspire other teens to be more active in their faith and faith community.
As a senior in high school, King discussed the mural with members of the By Teens For Teens Youth Group to get their input on design ideas, including what symbols were meaningful to individual youth group members.
Due to the pandemic, King had to rearrange her original plan, which involved youth group members physically painting their personal symbols on the mural, instead adding the chosen symbols herself or having members who could come in a socially distant capacity to assist in painting.