Cottey College

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Cottey College is a junior women's college located in Nevada, Missouri. It is owned and operated by a women's organization, the P.E.O. Sisterhood. Currently, 324 students are enrolled.

Cottey was founded in 1884 in Nevada by Virginia Alice Cottey (later Stockard). At the time, it was called Vernon Seminary and included grade school and high school programs as well as college.

Until the 1960s, first-year students were known as juniors and second-year students as seniors. At that time, juniors became freshmen and seniors remained seniors, or Fcc and CSC, respectively. Traditions such as the senior duck have their origins in the early 20th Century. Seniors have passed down denim jackets with ducks painted on the back for approximately 40 years; most traditions, however, remain surprises to the freshmen.

Cottey is a single-sex school, but the faculty includes both men and women, most of whom hold the terminal academic degree in their field. Associate degrees in the arts and sciences are offered, and some students opt to earn both degrees.

Cottey's sports teams are the Cottey Comets and compete in intercollegiate basketball and volleyball. In addition, the Swimmin' Women compete largely as exhibition, since no other two-year colleges in the area have swimming programs. Cottey's teams compete in Region XVI of the National Junior College Athletic Association playing mostly teams in their region and some of the community colleges in eastern Kansas.

Students have the opportunity to lead, begin, or learn in many areas. They can learn how to play new musical instruments or speak different languages, lead aerobics classes on Saturday mornings, or start up a new club. The college has a nationally recognized Center for Women's Leadership and a structured leadership program for students. The leadership program also offers programming to area high school students and those in the surrounding region.

Cottey students are housed in large suites, which have several bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen arranged around a large living room. Between 8 and 12 students live in each of 34 suites on campus.

Cottey also takes every student in her second year on an international experience for free. Students spend one week in a European city – London, Paris, and Madrid have been past destinations – and the school covers the flight costs, transportation costs within the city, lodging costs, and even some extraneous costs such as special dinners and tickets to shows.

Cottey students generally represent 40 states and 15 different countries, making the college a geographically diverse environment. 95% of Cottey women transfer to four-year institutions, including schools such as Smith, Stephens, Wellesley, Salem, and Stanford.