PEO STAR scholarship awarded

IRON MOUNTAIN --Jillian Sodini, a 2021 graduate of St. Francis High School in Traverse City, Mich., was selected to receive a $2,500 STAR Scholarship from the P.E.O. Sisterhood. She was recommended by P.E.O. Chapter AN of Iron Mountain.

Sodini has been part of the Key Club, National Honor Society, Aquinas Chapter, the Patriots Club, High Honor Roll, AP Scholar with distinction, and 4.10 grade-point average. She was a 2021 high school state singles tennis champion, a scholar athlete and Lake Michigan Academic All-Conference recipient and team co-captain. She has been awarded seven varsity letters for alpine skiing and tennis. Sodini enjoys teaching tennis and volunteering with local organizations. She is double-majoring in human biology and psychology with a pre-health professions minor at Michigan Technological University. Her goal is to become a physician's assistant.

"To have been selected as a recipient of the STAR Scholarship is such an honor. It also holds a special place for me, sharing this with my grandmother, Betty Soderberg, who recently celebrated her 60th year of P.E.O. membership. I'm grateful to her chapter for putting forth my nomination and completing the rigorous application process for this scholarship. I've been fortunate to have met some of the P.E.O. members that are so professional, with dedicated passion, privilege, and for some decades of service. They are truly an asset and inspiration for the community in helping women achieve educational advancement," she said.

The P.E.O. STAR Scholarship was established in 2009 to provide scholarships for exceptional high school senior women to attend an accredited postsecondary educational institution in the U.S. or Canada in the next academic year. The competitive STAR Scholarship is for women who exhibited excellence in leadership, academics, extracurricular activities, community service and potential for future success.

Chapter AN has been part of the Iron Mountain community since it was organized in 1937.

P.E.O., or Philanthropic Education Organization, has been celebrating women helping women reach for the stars for more than 150 years. Since its inception in 1869, the nonprofit organization has helped more than 116,000 women pursue educational goals by providing more than $383 million in grants, scholarships, awards and loans.