The Elizabeth Hughes Society has awarded its Women for Women Scholarship to Valerie Belmont.
Belmont has been a resident of Elizabethtown for 22 years. She and her husband have five children, and the family has participated in many Elizabethtown community activities. Belmont has volunteered for Girls Confidence Conference, the Arm of Hope fundraiser, and Elizabethtown Community Housing and Outreach Services (ECHOS), and she has assisted in settling refugees from the Congo and Kenya in Elizabethtown and has lectured on health care to visiting Chinese students.
Belmont is currently employed as a nurse at UPMC Pinnacle in Lititz. She is pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) at Cedarville University School of Nursing in the Family Nurse Practitioner program in Cedarville, Ohio.
The Women for Women Scholarship was established in memory of late Elizabeth Hughes member Esther Winters. The society learned that Winters had returned to school as an adult to become a pharmacist, and the group established a Women for Women Scholarship to provide assistance or encouragement for eligible women to return to school to pursue a degree, to obtain or renew a license, or to become certified in an occupation. The Elizabeth Hughes Society also awards an annual scholarship to a graduating senior at Elizabethtown Area High School.
This year, five women completed the application process for the Women for Women Scholarship. According to scholarship committee chairperson Marilyn Muston, most of the applicants were married with children. Their academic goals included obtaining a Master of Business Administration and pursuing Certified Peer Specialist training and spiritual direction training. Applicants also were furthering their studies in nursing and social work. A committee reviewed the applications, which included letters of recommendation and an essay by the applicant. Selecting the recipient were committee members Ann Fetter, Carol Hunter, Donna Young, Sandi Bush, and Amy Carroll, the president of Elizabeth Hughes Society.
The society awards the scholarship every year. Information about next year's scholarship will be available in April 2020.
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