The inaugural winner of the Audrain County Health Department $2,500 Kay Dubbert Memorial Nursing Scholarship has been announced. Paige Meyer, who is a second-year nursing student at the Stephens College School of Nursing in Columbia, received the award. The Benton City native, and graduate of Community R-6 High School, is the oldest daughter of Scott and Leslie Meyer, also of Benton City.

“What set Paige apart from the other applicants is the drive and passion that came through in her application essay,” said scholarship committee head Katie Swaim. “It was evident from the first paragraph that Paige is not going to be just another nurse when she graduates. Much like Kay Dubbert was not just another nurse in her storied career here at the Audrain County Health Department. We look forward, with this selection, to seeing where Paige takes her career.”

Meyer will graduate with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in May of 2026.

Dubbert retired from ACHD in 2014 after a 38-year career at ACHD in which she was instrumental in the set-up of numerous programs at the health department including the Women, Infants and Children program and the Home Health and Hospice program. During her tenure, Dubbert also mentored and guided numerous members of the Audrain County nursing community, helping them strive to maximize their reach as a medical professional. Dubbert was also the winner of the William “Bill” Johnson Public Health Advocate Award from ACHD in 2024, which exemplifies a person in the Audrain County community who is a strong advocate for public health.

“Kay was also very instrumental in helping guide our nursing staff in the area of patient care and empathy,” said ACHD Administrator and CEO Craig Brace. “She definitely set the bar in those areas and that’s something all of our staff members, nursing and administrative, now try and emulate today, using Kay’s example as their guiding star.”

Meyer graduated from Community R-6 in 2022, becoming the first CR-6 student to be a dual-credit graduate as well. As she said in her essay, Meyer “graduated college before I graduated high school.” Meyer summed up her essay with the following: “I know with each new experience, my ideal nursing picture might change. However, I know that my dream job ties in the nursing field and providing the utmost care to my patients will always be my number one goal and one that I work hard to achieve every single time I walk onto a medical floor. Hard work, determination, and excellent teaching will help me achieve it.”

The Kay Dubbert Memorial Scholarship was established shortly after Dubbert passed away in 2024 as a way to memorialize what she meant to the ACHD and the Audrain community as a whole. The $2,500 will be awarded to a future applicant whom the committee most thinks matches Dubbert’s ideals and example.