CHAPEL HILL – The North Carolina High School Athletic Association, in conjunction with the North Carolina Chapter of USA Lacrosse, has selected two recipients for the association’s inaugural joint scholarship for lacrosse. Scholarship support in the amount of $500 is offered for one male and one female senior from NCHSAA member high schools who plan to attend a college or university located anywhere in the 50 US states with plans to pursue higher education while also playing varsity lacrosse.
The first winners of this scholarship are Paige Haskins from Chapel Hill High School and Mark Serna from Cuthbertson High School. Serna will be honored at halftime of the 4A Lacrosse State Championship Game on Saturday, May 21st at WakeMed Soccer Stadium in Cary, which is slated for a noon faceoff. Haskins will be honored at halftime of the Women’s Lacrosse State Championship Game, also on Saturday, with the game scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start.
Applicants must demonstrate the benefits to receiving the scholarship as well as describe how a player, coach, official or the game of lacrosse has positively impacted his life, what the athlete hopes to achieve through participation in lacrosse at the college level and how this will help in the athlete's life beyond college/university.
Serna picked up lacrosse during middle school from a friend who had been playing for a few years. After making the middle school lacrosse team, he fell in love with the game and has been to tournaments in 10 different states and been a three-year varsity player, two-year starter and captain, as well as been named a Brine All-American. He plans to attend Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina and study forensics.
Haskins grabbed the game for the first time in sixth grade and realized she enjoyed it more than soccer. She describes her time playing lacrosse as formative, saying that, “It has taught me what it means to be a leader and how it feels to be a part of something bigger than myself. It made me determined and confident in the in the person I am.” She will attend the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia playing NCAA Division III Lacrosse while ultimately studying medicine.
