Scholarships…
At our 50th class reunion last September in Manson, our class gave enough money to fund two $1000 scholarships for the graduating class of 2011.
Here is another scholarship for the class and future classes. If you want to donate money to the school on a regular basis go here. This particular scholarship has a sad beginning but hopefully it will result in several happier endings…
Family Establishes Valerie Peterson Memorial Justice Scholarship
A new scholarship in Valerie Peterson’s memory has been established at the Manson Northwest Webster Junior/Senior High School in Manson, Iowa.
The college scholarship of $1,000 is offered by Valerie’s sister, Eileen Peterson, and brother, Cal Peterson, for a student from Manson High School who plans to study and make a career in law enforcement, criminal forensics or law. The scholarship’s goal is to increase the number of individuals in Iowa professionally trained and working in criminal forensics, law enforcement, victim support or law.
The criteria and granting of the scholarship is based on career plans to enter the fields of criminal justice, forensics or law, and takes into consideration prior volunteer work with crime victims or families of victims, plans to remain and work in Iowa in the justice sector, and other student scholarships.
Valerie’s case remains unsolved and was recently reviewed by the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation’s Cold Case Unit. The case is listed in the Iowa Cold Case database, on the Iowa Cold Case website and in the national database for Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted.
There have been tremendous strides in science and testing procedures allowing old criminal cases to be solved. Paint scrapings in Valerie Peterson’s case were tested at the time but damaged due to the infancy of the science in 1971. New procedures, such as DNA and chemical testing, assisted in the recent arrest and case resolution in a nearly 40-year-old unsolved case by the Iowa Cold Case Unit.
The DCI’s Iowa Cold Case Unit is currently funded through 2011. Many Iowa counties now have victim assistance counselors to help families face the emotional challenges during case investigation and through trial. This was also non-existent in the 1970′s. The Valerie Peterson Memorial Justice Scholarship’s goal is to support all of these types of efforts in the justice field.
For more information about the scholarship, please call the Manson High School at (712) 469-2245 or e-mail Manson Principal Shawn Holloway.
