From left) Rotary Club president George Hwang, scholarship winners Piper McElfresh, Gregory Friel, Flint Slankard, Charieon Doxley, Elizabeth Weir, Zoey Serna, and Rotary scholarship chair Jon Fancher.

The Lakewood-Rocky River Rotary Club awarded college scholarships to six area graduating seniors at its weekly lunch meeting on Monday, June 2. Recipients were Flint Slankard of Rocky River High School, Gregory Friel of St. Ignatius High School, Elizabeth Weir of Avon High School, and Charieon Doxley, Piper McElfresh, and Zoey Serna of Lakewood High School.

Each student will receive a $3,000 scholarship award from the Lakewood-Rocky River Rotary Foundation. This $18,000 scholarship program is part of nearly $78,000 that the Rotary Club donates to community programs each year.

The six Rotary scholarship winners were chosen for their character, academic achievement, extracurricular involvement and community service.

Flint Slankard’s artwork has been widely recognized for its thought-provoking, insightful, imaginative nature, receiving first place in the Northeast Ohio Youth Art Month Show and Rotarys music, art, and speech contest. Flint was inspired by his art teacher to establish and co-lead a chapter of the National Honor Society for art at Rocky River High School. Flint will study animation at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.

Gregory Friel impressed Rotary with his heart for service. Even his experience as a member of St. Ignatius’ two-time state champion soccer team was a tool for helping others, connecting with immigrant youth through informal soccer games. Greg was a four-year member of his school’s ministry to Cleveland’s homeless community, and participated in school-sponsored service projects in West Virginia and the Dominican Republic. He will study biology and neuroscience at Boston College in Massachusetts.

Elizabeth Weir’s career path has its roots in her family’s years of caring for her grandfather who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. After his death, Elizabeth started volunteering in the Friendly Visitor program at Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital. Her perceptiveness and sensitivity led to the hospital asking her to serve as a trainer for other volunteers. She also tutored elementary school students to help them develop their reading skills. Elizabeth will study neuroscience at Case Western Reserve University.

Charieon Doxley is no stranger to the Rotary Club, having been recognized earlier this year as the Outstanding Student in the Early Childhood Education program of the West Shore Career Technical District. She was a four-year track and field athlete, setting several school records in sprints, hurdles, and relays. She coached elementary students in the Running Ranger Program as well as the Youth Volleyball Summer Camps for the past four years. Charieon will study public health sciences at Xavier University of Louisiana with the intention of becoming a pediatric occupational therapist.

Piper McElfresh was a member of both the National Honor Society and the French Language National Honor Society at Lakewood High School. She was a varsity swimmer for four years, serving as captain during her senior year. She was selected by her coaches and the school’s athletic director to serve on Lakewood’s Student Athlete Leadership Team. She will study cybersecurity at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Zoey Serna is excited to be the first person in her family to have the opportunity to go to college. She was a four-year member of the girls’ varsity lacrosse team. Zoey was selected from a pool of applicants to be Lakewood High School’s ambassador to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, where she worked with the school’s swim and lacrosse teams to sponsor two events at the Food Bank’s satellite site in Cleveland’s Waterloo neighborhood. To prepare for a career in the mental health field, Zoey will study psychology at the University of Massachusetts–Boston.

The Lakewood-Rocky River Rotary Club is part of Rotary International, a worldwide organization of more than 1.2 million business, professional, and community leaders. Members of Rotary clubs (known as Rotarians) provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

There are 33,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds. As signified by the motto Service Above Self, Rotary’s main objective is service – in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world. To learn more, visit www.rotary.org.