Denver Urban Scholars Celebrates Graduates!
by Susan Duncombe, Program Director
On May 27th, the Denver Urban Scholars community gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of our 13 high school graduates and 17 eighth grade graduates. Our high school graduates add to our more than 500 graduates in our 20 year history.
The evening was a wonderful celebration of the successes of our scholars as well as of the mentoring relationships. The theme of the evening was that the path may not have always been a straight one for this group of graduates, but they persevered to graduate high school or complete their GED. Our high school graduates have been accepted at Community College of Denver, Arapahoe Community College, Community College of Aurora, Metro, University of Colorado at Denver, Colorado State University, University of Colorado at Boulder, and the Citadel in South Carolina.
The awards for twelfth grade student and mentor pair of the year went to scholar, Ruby, and her mentor, Nadine. Ruby’s son was born in December, but she graduated from high school early and plans to attend Emily Griffith in the fall.
Each scholar and mentor was honored by their case manager during the evening and given an opportunity to speak, and then before the close of the celebration, family and community members were given an opportunity to speak. Scholars, mentors, family members and community members spoke of the value and the impact of the DUS program – the relationships that had been built, the support that had been offered, the life lessons that were learned to prepare scholars and mentors alike for the next part of their journey.
A big thank you to Scott O’Sullivan and the O’Sullivan Law Firm for sponsoring this event. It was an incredible evening spent celebrating the accomplishments of our students. An emotional celebration, there were tears shed throughout the event. One scholar even said, “I know you don’t think that you are a big part of my life. But, you are. Without you, I would not have made it this far.” We look forward to continuing to support these scholars on their journey – to high school and into post-secondary success.