Paige Reid Whitten Legacy Fund
Paige Reid Whitten Legacy Fund was established at Lehigh Valley Community Foundation in 2024. The purpose of the Fund is to support the presentation of the Paige Reid Whitten Award for Writing to a graduating senior of Mills E. Godwin High School. The English Department of Mills E. Godwin High Schools will choose the awardee, the author of the best written work, based on criteria set by the department. The chosen recipient will receive a $1,000 award. The Award amount may be increased by the fund advisor at his/her discretion.
About Paige Reid Whitten
For more than 30 years, Paige Whitten was the heart of Mills E. Godwin High School. Students walking by the door of her classroom would hear intense discussion or deep silence but, just as often, would hear laughing and excited chatter. That is because Mrs. Whitten brought her love and enthusiasm to everything she did for the school and for her students. She served as yearbook advisor and starred in faculty follies, attended every school musical, and supported their sports teams – she even organized and coached the field hockey team in its first years (Mrs. Whitten was a two-sport All-American in college, though she never would have told you that herself).
Her greatest gift was her love and enthusiasm for writing, and she gave that gift to all her students. From the ninth graders learning to write a clear and cogent essay, to the seniors in AP literature peeling back all the layers of a Shakespearean sonnet. She gave life to the words they were reading so they could give life to their own words. Mrs. Whitten loved writing in all its forms: from journalism to critical essays to poetry to fiction, and she encouraged her students to pursue any and all of those forms, to put pen to paper, or fingers to keys and, quite simply, to create.
Mrs. Whitten did not teach her students the skills of writing simply to apply to some job later on (although a fair few of her students went on to become professional journalists, writers, and poets), she taught the students those skills so they could express themselves and share their own unique perspective, discoveries, and identities. By teaching them to write, and write well, Mrs. Whitten opened the world to her students, and her students to the world.
About the Scholarship
Since 2020, we have funded the Mills E. Godwin Paige Reid Whitten Prize for Writing—awarded to the author of the best written work produced by a member of the graduating class. For three years, it was awarded in honor of Paige Whitten and she was able to see the prize handed out at those graduation ceremonies. With her passing, we now welcome her friends and family to make their own contribution to the scholarship, or to the general fund below, as a memorial of her life and an honor to her legacy.
Make a Gift to the Fund
Gifts to the Fund can be made by submitting a check, payable to the Paige Reid Whitten Legacy Fund, to the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, 840 West Hamilton Street, Suite 310, Allentown, PA 18101. Gifts can also be made via credit card by clicking the link below.
