On June 19, Marissa Ciesla, a 2009 Brandon Elks Lodge $1,000 scholarship recipient, successfully defended her thesis to obtain her doctorate. She will graduate in August with her doctorate in biomedical sciences with a focus on neuroscience. Each year the lodge hosts a banquet recognizing outstanding high school seniors in their area and awards students with scholarships. Usually the lodge receives thank-you letters and never hears from these students again. Ciesla was the exception. In 2011 upon turning 21, she joined Brandon Lodge and became the youngest member of the lodge at that time. She is also the only scholarship recipient to have ever joined the lodge. She graduated from Brandon Senior High School in 2009 where she was president of her senior class. In 2012 she received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Florida in biomedical sciences with minors in psychology and biomedical physics. In 2014 she continued her education at the University of South Florida obtaining a Master of Science degree in medical sciences with a concentration in neuroscience. In 2015 she entered the College of Medicine’s graduate program in biomedical sciences at the University of Florida. During her doctorate research, she studied therapies to enhance serotonergic reinnervation of motor nuclei after cervical spinal cord injury which is a way of improving the breathing ability of people with a damaged spinal cord in their neck. She also authored and published five papers in support of her research. Other achievements include the McKnight Brain Institute Fellowship, the Bryan Robinson Endowment, the Toffler Leadership Award, the Caroline tum Suden Opportunity Award, the International Symposium on Neural Regeneration Travel Award and the Respiration Section Trainee Poster Presentation Award. Her father is an officer and is on the lodge board and her mother was last year’s and is this year’s president of the Brandon Ladies organization. Her father notes, “Terri and I (Ed) became members of the lodge because of the scholarship. When we walked into the event hall for the scholarship banquet, it just felt like home to us. So we asked PER Kim Martinez about membership and she sponsored us. The scholarship program is the whole reason we are involved as Elks.”