Mayfield teen Kyler Henson likes for things to be done right and sees a career in doing that for patients.

The 17-year-old Mayfield High School senior has jumped around when it comes to what she wants to do for a living, having considered careers in pediatric oncology and dentistry, but for now, Henson just knows that she wants to enter the medical field - whatever that looks like.

"I went to GSP (Governor's Scholars Program) this past summer and it honestly opened my eyes to make sure that whatever I'm doing I'm passionate about and it's something that I'm good at," Henson said. "So, honestly, dentistry is probably not what I'm going to go into. I do want to go into something in the medical field. That is for sure."

Henson's goal for a medical occupation isn't a huge surprise, perhaps, since her mother, Jessica Henson, is a nurse at Jackson Purchase Medical Center in Mayfield.

"When we see people out in public, they talk about how much that she helped them and how good and honest she was with them," she said. "And I loved that. … I work at Subway and if something gets done - I want it to be done right and I want it to be done with good customer care."

Henson, daughter of Brandon and Jessica Henson of Mayfield, is the Paducah Bank Teen of the Week.

Every Monday and Tuesday, the Paducah Sun publishes profile stories on area high school seniors who are chosen from a pool of nominees for Teen of the Week recognition. Around the end of the year, a selection committee picks one of these students for Teen of the Year, which carries a $5,000 scholarship. A second student is chosen for an Inspiration Award and a $1,000 scholarship.

Henson's GPA ranks her among the top of her class at Mayfield and she attended GSP at Bellarmine University, where she studied health science. She works a job and stays involved in several extracurricular activities, including varsity girls basketball, Future Business Leaders of America, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Title IX Committee, Superintendent's Advisory Council and Pure Cardinals - an alcohol and drug awareness group.

Henson has played basketball since she was in elementary school and started varsity while still in middle school. She received "Most Dependable" recognition in basketball for 2017-2018.

When she's not playing, Henson said the high school team is involved in the little league program, so she helps run those games for coaching, concessions and tickets. She also assists with coaching her younger sister's team.

"I had amazing coaches growing up, so they really instilled a sense of you know, 'You can get better. You can get better and you could do good,'" she said. "So, it's a lot of hard work and also, it's one of those things, like that I play, because it also teaches me good morals. It's taught me a lot of time management, especially with basketball and school and work."

Henson credits her parents and late grandfather, Roger Jackson, for their influence in her life. Her parents pushed since she was younger to have good grades and be the best teammate she could be, while her grandfather had a "great Christian relationship with God," something she pushes herself to have every day.

Jackson, who died two years ago, always made sure that Henson was proud of who she is, proud of her grades and proud of what she was doing.

"And that if I wasn't, then I needed to fix something," she said. "He always made sure that my Christian relationship was where it needed to be and that it was always growing, but I still take what he told me and the morals that he gave me to now. Like, I think about it all the time."

Senior year can be a time of bittersweet reflection for many high school students, so while Henson's heart may be set on attending Murray State University for college, she believes Mayfield is the best school she could've grown up in.

She said Mayfield carries tradition "a long way" and people have pride going there.

"I'm very proud of it," she added.

By KELLY FARRELL [email protected]