P.E.O. Chapter L awards scholarships

Members of P.E.O. Sisterhood Chapter L in Lewes are pleased to announce that a total of $8,500 in scholarship fund grants have been awarded to six deserving women.

The recipients successfully completed the application process and received grants from the P.E.O. Chapter L Delaware Scholarship Fund. Established in February 2011, the fund  is unique to P.E.O. Chapter L and is separate from all other national and state P.E.O. educational scholarships.

Eligibility requirements are based primarily on financial need. Other applicant qualifications include academic achievement and community involvement. Women must be high school graduates, or about to graduate, and be enrolled in an accredited postsecondary program leading to a degree or certification. Priority is given to Delaware residents, but postsecondary study may be anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. Scholarship funds are sent to the grant recipient’s school for the benefit of the student.

This year, the P.E.O. Chapter L Delaware Scholarship Fund selection committee members included Chair Suzanne Proska, Kathy Cropper, Brina Krupp and Cynthia Fooshe. They conducted applicant interviews to ensure all requirements were completed within an established timeline. Eligible applicants were then presented to Chapter L for a vote and final approval.

This year, four of the six recipients are, or will be, attending the University of Delaware. One recipient is enrolled at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, and another is at Salisbury University in Maryland. Their interests and educational goals are varied in the types of degrees and professions being pursued, and include becoming a nurse anesthetist, teaching and performing music, teaching math at the middle school level, working in a field related to biomedical engineering, becoming a physical therapist, and attaining required degrees to become a special education teacher.

The P.E.O. Sisterhood, founded Jan. 21, 1869, at Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, is a philanthropic and educational organization interested in bringing to women increased opportunities for higher education. There are approximately 6,000 local chapters in the United States and Canada with nearly 240,000 active members. Chapter L, Lewes, was organized in May 1999.

For more information, call Sue Proska at 302-541-0429 or go to www.peointernational.org.