A local chapter of the Philanthropic Educational Organization nonprofit has awarded $1,500 scholarships to eight 2024 high school graduates to support them in their academic journeys as they head to college this fall.

"It's a sisterhood," P.E.O. CL Chapter vice president and scholarship chairperson Cindy Pavel said Friday. "We raise money to help women get educated." 

The scholarships were presented during a ceremony Thursday.

Coeur d'Alene High School graduate and scholarship recipient Vanessa Villelli played soccer and participated in track during high school. After graduating with highest honors, she will pursue a career in civil engineering at the University of Idaho.

She said she was grateful for the P.E.O. scholarship.

“It’s pretty awesome, especially since this one's only awarded to women and I'm going into a male-dominated field," Villelli said. "I can really use it the way they intend it to be used."

Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy graduate Mira Crawford, who also concluded her high school career with the highest honors, will study politics and international relations at Syracuse University in New York.

"I’m also minoring in Arabic," Crawford said. "I really want to go into diplomacy or somewhere it's possible for me to travel and do some good work and the stuff I like doing."

She said she was excited to be a 2024 P.E.O. scholarship recipient.

"It's made by women, for women," Crawford said. "I thought it was a really great scholarship. I really like the program and the image they're promoting, that women can aspire to do whatever they want."

Another Coeur d'Alene High grad, Finley Sjolstrom, has volunteered at the hospital and served health care in a number of capacities as she worked toward graduation. She will pursue a nursing career at the University of Utah and plans to return to North Idaho as a nurse practitioner with a focus on women's health.

“I was super excited and grateful for the money they gave to me," she said. "It's an important scholarship because it’s focused on women, and made by women, so that was really important to me.” 

P.E.O. is an organization of women that empowers and celebrates women. Since its inception in 1869, P.E.O. philanthropies have given approximately $432 million in financial assistance to more than 125,000 women.

Other 2024 P.E.O. CL Chapter scholarship recipients:

• Olivia Jeffries, Lakeland High School: Jeffries works a local veterinarian clinic, has volunteered in several capacities and graduated as an honor student. She will be a pre-veterinary student at University of Idaho. 

• Ashlynn McKlendin, Gonzaga Preparatory School: A Post Falls resident, McKlendin coaches park and recreation soccer and leads cleanup efforts on an adopted highway. She will study biology on a pre-med track at University of California, Davis. 

• Sage Pederson, Coeur d'Alene High School: Pederson plays the cello, volunteered for CDA 4 Kids during high school and owns a small business through which she sells her art. She will study illustration at Alberta School of Arts in Canada.

• Bee Reiswig, Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy: Reiswig participated in theater, volunteered countless hours and achieved academically while in high school. She plans to study journalism at the University of Montana.  

• Ava Yates, Coeur d’Alene High School: Yates served at Camp Lutherhaven through high school, participated on the golf team and has a summer internship at Northwest Surgical Center. She will pursue nursing at Arizona State University.

    Crawford
  

    McKlendin
  

    Yates
  

    Reiswig
  

    Sjolstrom
  

    Jeffries
  

    Pederson