Apache Junction High School Senior Gwendalyn McVicker

Gwendalyn McVicker

Gold Canyon Chapter ES, P.E.O., a philanthropic educational organization, presented Apache Junction High School Senior Gwendalyn McVicker with the chapter’s Patricia Mortensen Scholarship at the AJHS Academic Awards and Scholarship Night on May 6.

McVicker received $1,500 to go toward her tuition at Arizona State University where she will be attending in the fall, and she also received $820 from the chapter to be spent toward course work books, according to a release.

Chapter ES Book Club collected the $820 through books read throughout the year, giving a “penny-a-page” toward this fund.

The scholarship amount was taken from the chapter’s yearly fundraising projects such as pecan sales, greeting card and magnet sales, bed and breakfast funds, and other earnings.

Chapter ES is one of approximately 6,000 chapters across the U.S. and Canada that raise money in various ways within their communities. These funds have contributed to more than $415 million given in grants, scholarships, awards and loans to women in the U.S. and internationally.

The primary amount of Chapter ES’s fundraising goes toward the P.E.O. international projects, with the remainder going toward P.E.O. Arizona state projects, and its own Patricia Mortensen Scholarship, which goes to a young woman from a local high school each year.

For information about P.E.O., go to www.peointernational.org.