Ajalaa Claussen, recipient of the 2020 Nancy Champlin P.E.O. Foundation Scholarship. (Courtesy photo)Silver City P.E.O. Chapters AG and BR are pleased to announce this year’s winner of the $1,000 Nancy Champlin P.E.O. Foundation Scholarship: Ajalaa Claussen from Aldo Leopold Charter School. Aji will be attending the University of Southern California this fall; she selected this university because it has an excellent reputation in media studies, which Aji will pursue. Aji’s goal is to study political science and media, a powerful combination that she was inspired to pursue when she represented Aldo Leopold High School at the Round House in Santa Fe.  

You may be familiar with Ajalaa Claussen’s name because she has been very active in our community. She works at the Silver City Food Coop, volunteers at Our Paws Cause, is a crew member on the Youth Conservation Corps, writes for the Mimbres Messsenger, and has exhibited at artisan shows at the Silver City Museum and at Leyba & Ingalls Gallery as well as WNMU’s McCray Gallery and Javalina Coffee House. Aji was also a varsity team forward and mid-fielder with Lady Colts soccer at Silver High School. 

P.E.O. is a Philanthropic Educational Organization that provides scholarships, grants and loans to help women achieve their educational goals. The two local P.E.O. chapters have raised money for this scholarship through their service projects. For additional information on this philanthropic educational organization, please go to www.nmpeo.org.