It’s that time of the year again for Pekin Altrusa to award high school students scholarships to help pay college tuition or other college expenses. Pekin Altrusa has awarded students at Pekin Community High School scholarships for over 20 years. Thanks to generous donations and members of the Pekin Altrusa Club, Pekin Altrusa will award six $500 scholarships to six different Pekin Community High School students this year! 

The Reinhard/Leifheit—Business Scholarship is named after Elsie E. Reinhard :1902-1995 and Florence F Reinhard Leifheit: 1905-1995. Both sisters are from a prominent Pekin family. Their father, Phillip Reinhard, immigrated from Heidelberg, Germany. He founded the millwork firm of Phillip F. Reinhard and Son in 1913. He then established the firm Reinhard and Meyer Lumber Co with Theodore Meyer in 1925. Phillip was the Proprietor of Reinhard Lumber Company. His wife, Fannie served as President of the company. Florence was Secretary and Elsie was Treasurer.

The Judith Streid—Education/Language Education Scholarship is named after Judith Streid: 1/1/1941- 8/29/2020. Judith moved to Pekin in 1963. She received a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University (ISU). She earned her master’s degree in Secondary Education in Latin from ISU as well. She taught Latin and English at Pekin Community High School. Judy was PCHS Outstanding Contributor of the Year in 1990. In 2011, she received the lifetime achievement award from the Illinois Classical Conference for her decades of inspiring Latin students. Being very involved in the Pekin community, she was selected as Grand Marshal of the 2016 Pekin Marigold Festival.

The Richard N. Luft—Education/ Political Science Scholarship is named after Richard N. Luft: 3/14/1938 –8/18/2023. Richard Luft was a graduate of Pekin Community High School. His mother, Beulah, was a teacher for the Pekin School System. Richard began his career as a teacher but quickly realized that his passion was politics. He served as Tazewell County Auditor, Illinois House Representative, Illinois State Senator, and was appointed Commissioner of Banks and Trust Companies for the State of Illinois. Thanks to generous donations, there will be four Richard N. Luft scholarships awarded to four different Pekin Community High School students. 

Students discovered they were recipients the last weekend of April. Huge thanks to our donors and scholarship committee members who spent hours reading through applications to make final decisions. Thanks again Pekin! To help fund scholarships and other Pekin Altrusa programs, please mail checks to PO Box 3, Pekin, IL 61554.