P.E.O. Chapter H Cottey College chair, Ruth Mares, announced recently that the school, located in Nevada, Mo., has risen in the 2018 U.S. News and World Report ranking of Best Regional Colleges. “We were notified the school we support ranked seventh, up from twenty-third last year. The school also ranked second for best value and third for proportion of international students,” Mares said.

“Not many people know about Cottey. It’s a small women’s college founded by our organization in 1884. The school’s 2017 enrollment was 288. One of those students was Christina Litherland who graduated last spring with a degree in English with an Emphasis in Women Writers and two minors: Writing Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. She is now attending New Mexico Highlands University for her master’s degree in English with an Emphasis in Linguistics, Literacy, and Composition.

P.E.O., a philanthropic educational organization founded in 1869, has two local chapters, which contribute to Cottey, and to funding projects for women at the national and state level.

“Both local P.E.O. chapters have sponsored women for scholarships through the years, and been able to collectively award thousands of dollars to qualifying recipients. Our goal this year is to promote the projects more actively so more women may take advantage of the opportunity this funding affords,” Mares said.

Recipients of scholarships are not required to attend Cottey. “They may attend any school of their choice. Scholarships are competitive and awarded based on criteria outlined on the international and state websites,” Mares said. “Each year we contact counselors at the high schools to keep them informed about what is available. This year we plan to contact financial aid offices at Highlands and Luna Community College as we have scholarships available for nontraditional and international students as well.”

P.E.O. has provided more than $304 million in financial assistance to more than 102,000 recipients through the Educational Loan Fund, International Peace Scholarship, Program for Continuing Education, Scholar Award and STAR projects.

For more information about P.E.O. scholarships go to www.nmpeo.org. Locally contact Chapter H at fsharon@msn.com, or Chapter AC at rayjoyl1957@gmail.com.
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Image: P.E.O. website