"I am so grateful for the support that I have had to this point, and I’m grateful for the opportunities in front of me. I will use the financial freedom granted to me by the Weigel Medical School Scholarship to ‘pay it forward’ towards communities and patients who need people to advocate for them, in the same way the Elks advocated for me when I was just a small-town kid trying to go to college eight years ago."

After losing her husband, Gunther, to a staph infection in November 2009, the late Lee Weigel wanted to improve the quality of healthcare in our country. To realize that goal, she partnered with the Elks National Foundation to endow the Gunther and Lee Weigel Medical School Scholarship, which helps Elks scholars pursue careers in medicine. For more information, visit enf.elks.org/WeigelMSS.