Kayla Gray

As valedictorian of Hamilton City’s Hamilton High School class of 2010, Kayla Gray’s classmates and teachers surely thought she would go far in life. Gray proved them right quickly after graduation. “Hamilton City Schools gave me the ability to foster my passions with every passing day,” said Gray. “There was not a semester that went by that I wouldn't keep a teacher hours after class picking his or her brain about a concept I had heard and wanted to learn more about. “The teachers I had were always willing to not only enlighten me but push me to look deeper. I was always encouraged to do more, do better, and go further both as a student and as citizen.” Recently named a Northeast Ohio Mover and Shaker, awarded to 25 individuals under the age of 35 who are making a difference in their community, Kayla Gray has been responsible for the design and build out of the Eversight biorepository laboratory. Based in Cleveland, Eversight collects, processes, preserves and distributes eye tissue to researchers investigating blinding eye diseases with donor medical, social and ocular data. Gray received a bachelor of science degree from Case Western Reserve University with honors in Chemical Biology and Theatre. She has authored and implemented new standards of practice and participates on two ISBER (International Society of Biological and Environmental Repositories) leadership groups — the Standards of Practice Task Force and the Educational Outreach Committee. She was recently appointed to the Leadership Committee of WEAVR (Women in Eye and Vision Research) and is a Director at Large with Cleveland 20/30 Young Professionals. In her free time, Kayla professionally acts in the Greater Cleveland Area and volunteers her time teaching and writing curriculums for the Great Lakes Science Center.     Giving time to help young learners just as her Hamilton City teachers so selflessly did for her. “My 10th grade year in Charles (Chuck) Tussey's classroom, I was struggling with a concept in biology but I loved every second of learning about them. Tussey took the time to explain it in a different way that made more sense to me, even though he had just spent the entire class period teaching it a different way … Even when I made mistakes or was struggling, the (teachers) always took the time to give the skills I needed to succeed in the future.”