Pueblo Kiwanis Club presents four-year, $4,000 scholarship to CSU-Pueblo, PCC students

PUEBLO –Three area students attending Colorado State University-Pueblo and Pueblo Community College (PCC) -- Kolbie Michelle Connally, Nichole Lee Beaudin, and Mollie Allison Skelton -- each will receive a four-year, $4,000 scholarship from the Pueblo Kiwanis Club thanks to a change in the organization’s scholarship program.

According to Scholarship Coordinator Gloria Bowser, the Pueblo Kiwanis Club previously offered several $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors who participated in Key Club or Builder’s Club activities and who were pursuing a post secondary degree at any institution of higher learning.

She said the Club agreed that in order to help students beyond their first year and to encourage students to attend local institutions to offer one $4,000, four-year scholarship annually to one student each year who enrolled at PCC and CSU-Pueblo. The committee has the option to give two scholarships to one school, depending on the applicant pool.

Students eligible for the scholarship must be graduates of a high school in Pueblo County that offers a Key Club experience (Central, Centennial, East, South, Pueblo West, Pueblo County, and Technical Academy). Scholarship applicants must have been an active Key Club member during their senior year with a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA) and enroll full-time at either PCC or CSU-Pueblo. Students must maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA and full-time status to retain their scholarship through the four-year duration. The scholarship is automatically renewed for a total of four (4) years if recipient continues to meet the criteria requirements.

Students who transfer to another school (with the exception of students going from PCC to CSU-Pueblo) will forfeit their scholarship.

Both schools incorporated the Pueblo Kiwanis Scholarship into the electronic and/or printed scholarship applications and provided the Club with a list of students who met the above criteria. The committee then narrowed the field for personal interviews. Students will receive $1,000 per year with the award split between fall and spring semesters.

The first three recipients of the new Pueblo Kiwanis Scholarship are:

A graduate of Centennial High School, Mollie Allison Skelton intends to pursue either a business, marketing, or health career at Pueblo Community College. Born and raised in Pueblo, she was active at Centennial in DECA, Key Club, yearbook staff, Spanish Club, band, cheerleading, and dance. She also was a Park Teen at Parkview Medical Center and a lifeguard Mineral Palace Pool.

Pueblo West High graduate Nichole Lee Beaudin will major in psychology and minor in Spanish at CSU-Pueblo in the fall. She averaged 45+hours of volunteer time a week helping Desert Sage Elementary School faculty prepare lessons and tutoring students in math, reading and spelling. She served as Key Club Treasurer and also was involved in dance, softball, junior ROTC, Spanish Club, and National Honor Society. She was accepted into the President’s Leadership Program.

County High graduate Kolbie Michelle Connally will pursue a major in pre-nursing and a minor in leadership studies at CSU-Pueblo, where she has been accepted into the President’s Leadership Program. In addition to Key Club, she was senior class secretary and has been involved in dance, cheerleading, choir and with Parkview Hospital’s STEP program.


Colorado State University - Pueblo is a regional, comprehensive university emphasizing professional, career-oriented, and applied programs. Displaying excellence in teaching, celebrating diversity, and engaging in service and outreach, CSU-Pueblo is distinguished by access, opportunity, and the overall quality of services provided to its students.