Sweet Home PEO Chapter FA recently awarded scholarships to four local women pursuing college education. They are as follows:
Kailey James will be in her second year of law school at Willamette University. While clerking for a Family law practice, she has developed an interest in prosecuting child sex crimes and creating a career that focuses on child advocacy rather than family structure or property division after divorce.
Kara Wolfe will be in her second year of nursing school at Oregon Coast Community College. She will continue studying for her Bachelor of Science in Nursing after graduation. Kara hopes to become a life flight nurse. She will apply to local emergency departments and ICUs to fulfill the requirements of being a life flight nurse.
Gwendolyn Schwarz will be a senior at Oregon State University, where she is studying civil engineering. Schwartz is fulfilling the dream of her father, who was never able to obtain a college degree; he encouraged his daughter to study math and science in high school. The courses in engineering are rigorous and demanding, and as a female, she is underrepresented in a male-dominated field.
Guadalupe Arenas will be a junior at Oregon State University this fall. She also is studying to be an ecological engineer.
She notes, “There are so few women, especially Latina women, in engineering, and I want to change that. My dream is to work for a company focused on sustainable infrastructure and to create opportunities for women in this field.”
Ashley Pruitt will be a junior at Oregon State University. Pruitt, a single mother, she volunteers at Kidco HeadStart where her youngest attends school. She is the treasurer for the Parent Committee and the head chairperson for the Policy Council.
Pruitt is studying business administration and wants to work at a nonprofit that gives back to the community.