A rare scholarship has brought a King’s Fork High School student a step closer to fulfilling her dream of becoming a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.

Rachel Gist recently learned she has become Suffolk’s only 2015 recipient of the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament Scholarship.

Each year since 1953, the tournament has invited 64 of the nation’s leading college basketball players to South Hampton Roads for a 12-game tournament before NBA team representatives.

But it claims to be more than just a basketball tournament. Awarding five $4,000 scholarships to student athletes — one from each city — is one way it gives back to the community.

Gist said she had been scouring a book in her school’s guidance office on scholarship opportunities. The tournament scholarship was one of many she applied for.

“I have been submitting scholarships every week since probably February,” Gist said. “I’m just trying to apply and see what I can get, and I have been lucky to get this one.”

When she attends Randolph-Macon College in Ashland in the fall, Gist plans to study biology with a pre-med track.

After undergoing surgery for scoliosis that she said proved very successful, her goal is to become a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.

“I had surgery in the eighth grade, and the experience really opened my eyes to the field of medicine,” she said.

Her surgeon “helped shape my life,” she said. “I still have it, but my back is much straighter, and it will stop health problems down the road.”

Gist plays field hockey and soccer for her school. She said she has played field hockey, her main sport, for five years. She was named Ironclad Conference Player of the Year during her senior season with the Lady Bulldogs.

She also will play field hockey at Randolph-Macon.

Gist she said she has played soccer for four years and last year made second team All-Conference.

The scholarship doesn’t just award sporting prowess — there’s also the academic component.

“I currently have a 4.38 GPA,” Gist said. “I have taken all AP and honors courses throughout my time in high school.

“I have maintained honor roll and principal’s list, except for the last nine weeks — the first time I have gotten a B.”

Gist thanked her field hockey coach, Courtney Van der Linden, and also her parents, Andy and Beth Gist.

“They were just proud that my hard work and their pushing me to be more successful paid off,” she said of her parents’ reaction to the scholarship.

Gist said she learned of her success in a voicemail.

“It was amazing,” she said, adding she attended a luncheon Friday hosted by the tournament foundation, where the five winners were formally announced.