PEO Awards WHS Students Joy Ren, Avni Gupta with Outstanding Women STAR Scholarship
The PEO Sisterhood selected Wilton High School seniors Joy Ren and Avni Gupta to receive a $2,500 STAR Scholarship. They were recommended by local P.E.O. Chapters W & AL of Wilton.
The PEO STAR Scholarship was established in 2009 to provide scholarships for exceptional women in their final year of high school who plan to attend an accredited postsecondary educational institution in the U.S. or Canada. The competitive STAR Scholarship is for women who exhibit excellence in leadership, academics, extracurricular activities, community service and potential for future success.
PEO officials said both Ren and Gupta demonstrated admirable scholastic talents and leadership qualities at WHS. Additionally, they have made a positive impact within the Wilton community and beyond by supporting others, by providing charitable outreach, and by their commitment to supporting women.
PEO is a philanthropic educational organization that was established in 1869. Since its inception, this nonprofit organization has helped more than 122,000 women pursue educational goals by providing nearly $415 million in grants, scholarships, awards, and loans.
Wilton Garden Club Awards Marybeth Wheeler Scholarships to Two High School Seniors
The Wilton Garden Club has awarded the Marybeth Wheeler Scholarship to two graduating high school students: Wilton High School senior Lucy Corry and Fairfield Prep senior Tony Musilli.
The scholarship is bestowed each year in honor of Marybeth Wheeler who was a Garden Club member for more than 50 years. She was a dedicated conservationist who had a special interest in preserving and propagating native flora and was the driving force behind the Garden Club’s herbarium, which resulted in the award-winning book, Ferns and Flowering Plants of Wilton. She and other garden club members collected samples of over 1,000 plant species growing in and around Wilton, which can be viewed at Yale University Herbarium at the Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Garden Club officials said that Corry was chosen for this award by the WHS science teachers because of her outstanding performance in environmental science, her deep concern for the environment, and her interest in CT flora and its connection to local wildlife. Her many accomplishments during high school are varied and exemplary: she served as co-president of Safe Rides, vice president of the Spanish Honor Society, and a mentor for the Wilton Chapter of Ms President US. She is also a member of the National Honor Society, a three-year starter for the WHS girls lacrosse team, and a recipient of the Trinity College Book Award for Excellence in English. She will attend Georgetown University this fall.
Club officials said Musilli was awarded the scholarship because of his longstanding involvement in horticulture. He has volunteered at the Wilton Trackside Teen Center‘s Youth Garden since the fourth grade; built mobile handicap raised garden beds for Wilton Commons; installed pollinator gardens at Middlebrook School and his home; and participated in seed sowing for the Youth Garden and Wilton Garden Club’s annual plant sale, and served as a member of its Scout Flower Guard. Additionally, he is an Eagle Scout, a member of the National Honor Society (graduated Summa Cum Laude, and in the top 5% of his class), a recipient of the Fairfield Rotary Club Certificate of Honor, and was named the 2023 Southern CT Conference Scholar-Athlete for his academic excellence and four years of rowing on the Fairfield Prep crew team. He will attend the University of Notre Dame this fall.
“We are thrilled to award the Marybeth Wheeler Scholarships to these Wilton graduates who have gone above and beyond during their high school years. We wish them continued success in the next chapter of their lives,” Wilton Garden Club President Ann Margaret Mannix said.
WHS Senior Wins Wilton Woman’s Club 2023 Elizabeth Sternad Scholarship
Wilton High School senior Lucia La Orden Oro is this year’s recipient of the Wilton Woman’s Club Elizabeth Sternad Scholarship, which was presented at the recent WHS Award Ceremony. La Orden Oro earned the scholarship based on her application showing leadership, initiative, and commitment to community service.
The scholarship is named after Elizabeth Sternad, who founded the Wilton Woman’s Club over 50 years ago. Sternad and friends started the Club to serve people and groups in Wilton and the surrounding community, to give back through philanthropy, to educate, and to strengthen bonds between women.
As a leader and mentor, La Orden Oro has tutored students in English and French, as well as math and science, and managed other teen tutors. She is also a member of the National Honor Society and the vice president of Future Medical Leaders of America where she helps in preparing materials for all future leaders. She has also organized a river cleanup and is an EMT with the Wilton Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
“I am honored and so grateful to have been selected as the recipient of the Elizabeth Sternad Scholarship. I will be using the award to finance my medical education next year at Universidad de Navarra Medical School in Pamplona, Spain. This scholarship will truly make a difference in my education and I am very thankful for the generosity of the Wilton Women’s Club!” La Orden Oro said.