Chapter DP-P.E.O. awards three scholarships

SAN LUIS VALLEY— Three recent San Luis Valley high school graduates are the recipients of the Chapter DP-P.E.O. scholarships.
Since 2014, Chapter DP members, following the mission of P.E.O., a philanthropic educational organization with a goal to educating women world-wide, have raised funds to aid young women in the 14 SLV high schools.
This year’s scholarship winners are Quincy Lester, Sargent High School; Kiara Villalobos, Sangre de Cristo High School-Mosca; and Stephanie Gollihugh, Mountain Valley High School-Saguache.
The winners were honored at an ice cream social Thursday, July 6, at the Methodist Church. Gollihugh was not able to attend.
Lester will attend Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, where she plans to study equine science with an emphasis on preventive medicine. She hopes to become a veterinarian.
Villalobos plans to attend Adams State University to study nursing. She wants to become a nurse practitioner.
Gollihugh plans to attend Fort Lewis College to study psychology. She wants to become a child advocate lawyer.
Lester and Villalobos were given advice by two prior DP scholars, Tayler Rocha (2014), who is attending ASU where she is pursuing a degree in biology, and Jessica Berlinger (2015), who is attending Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota where she is pursuing a degree in secondary education.
Both Rocha and Berlinger advised Lester and Villalobos to study hard, focus on their career goal and to enjoy college.
Chapter DP began awarding chapter scholarships to women graduating from a high school in the SLV in 2014. To date, the organization has raised money for 11 scholarships of $500 each for a total of $5,500, long-time scholarship chairman Ann Stanford said.
The chapter has done a number of fund-raising activities, including bazaars. This year, however, it took over the long-time fund-raiser of the women at the First Presbyterian Church: selling pecans in the fall.