Lewiston senior wins STAR scholarship

Rachel Sheppard is one in a 1,000.

The Lewiston High School senior is one of a 1,000 recipients of the national STAR Scholarship from the Philanthropists Educational Organization (PEO) this year. Sheppard received the $2,500 scholarship that was established in 2009 for exceptional women in their final year of high school to attend a post-secondary educational institution in the U.S. or Canada. The award is given to those with academic achievements, leadership and service to their school and community.

“I feel really lucky, most of all,” Sheppard said. “I feel like a lot of the things I did in school I did because I enjoyed them.”

Sheppard is grateful those extracurricular activities and volunteering were viewed as important by the PEO.

“I liked that I got to be a part of that,” she said.

Sheppard graduaes from Lewiston High School on June 3 and plans to attend Gonzaga University to study biology. She eventually wants to work in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and create faster methods to diagnose cancers and less damaging ways to treat it.

Sheppard was nominated for the award when a person in the PEO, who attends the same church as Sheppard, saw she had won the Interscholastic Star Student Recognition Award for Idaho and considered her for the PEO award as well. Each PEO chapter can nominate one person, then the student goes through the application process. Sheppard also met with the PEO Chapter Q in Lewiston and did an informal interview to continue the process.

“It was kind of intensive compared to other other scholarships I filled out,” Sheppard said about the application.

In the process she had to list all the activities, honors, awards and community service projects she had been a part of, her role in those endeavors and how she contributed.

Sheppard received the award by email but attended a coffee brunch with the organization Saturday to celebrate her honor.

“It was kinda cool to be a part of that and see what they do,” she said.

The PEO has been in Lewiston for the last 103 years. The local organization missed out on celebrating its 100th anniversary because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it’s celebrating this month.

An open house will be held from 1:30-4:30 p.m. on May 21 at Lindsay Creek Vineyards

The U.S.-based international organization was founded in 1869 at Iowa Wesleyan University in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, by seven women. The women’s organization has about 230,000 members and focuses on providing educational opportunities for women around the world. The group does projects such as an educational loan fund, peace scholarships, continuing education, scholar awards and the STAR scholarship.

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.