DAYTON–The P. E. O. will award the Citizenship Award to Sarah Shutters and Hudson Reser as the recipients for 2023. This award is given to the outstanding young man and woman in the senior class, judged on the qualities of character, scholarship, and activities. Especially emphasized are honesty, courtesy, amiability, morality, and punctuality- the marks of a good citizen.
Recipients are selected by the high school faculty, the Associated Student Body officers, and the P.E.O. Awards Committee.
The award consists of a certificate that was presented on May 11 at a reception in their honor and a $300 check to be presented at graduation. The P.E.O. Citizenship Award was first presented in 1930 and has continued for 93 years.
P.E.O. is a philanthropic educational organization which supports six philanthropies.
This includes ownership of Cottey College, a women's college in Nevada, Missouri, and five programs that provide higher educational assistance for women through scholarships, grants, awards, and loans.
Founded in 1869 at Iowa Wesleyan University, P.E.O. is one of the oldest women's organizations in North America and has grown to almost 6,000 local chapters with more than 225,000 members in the United States and Canada.
Dayton's P.E.O. Chapter BJ was organized in 1925. In addition to supporting the international organization's projects, Chapter BJ also offers educational loans to local women through a variety of local fundraising. We are pleased to continue to support the Dayton School District.