Around 30 metro-area semifinalists for the Daniels Scholarship thought they were coming to the House this morning to hear a resolution recognizing the scholarship program.
Michelle Medrano, a senior at Prairie View High School.They had no idea that at the resolution’s conclusion, Rep. Rep. Dominick Moreno would announce that the students were all recipients of the Daniels Scholarship. There were plenty of tears and hugs and stunned faces.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, this is so great,” said an emotional Michelle Medrano, a senior at Prairie View High School in Henderson. She plans to attend the University of Colorado.
Melissa Kallander, a senior at the Denver School of Science and Technology, will use the scholarship to attend Boston University in the fall.
“This is the best day ever,” she said. “Can I call my mom?”
This week, the names of all 250 recipients of the Daniels Scholarship will be announced and posted on the Daniels Fund website. The recipients — from Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — will receive a four-year scholarship that allows them to attend any nonprofit college or university in the United States.
Some factoids on the Daniels Scholarships:
Rep. Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat, is the first Daniels Scholarship recipient to be elected to office.
Students are selected based on their exceptional character, motivation and drive, leadership qualities, willingness to work hard, passion to succeed, and commitment to give back to their communities.
Daniels Scholarships may be used at any two- or four-year not-for-profit accredited college or university in the U.S. Students must intend to complete a bachelor’s degree.
Daniels Scholarships are not full-ride. Instead they cover the unmet needs of the student. The scholarship amount is determined after all other financial aid sources have been applied. Scholarships cover all or part of a student’s required college expenses (tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, transportation, and miscellaneous educational expenses).
To date, more than 2,512 Daniels Scholarships have been awarded. With this announcement more than 2,762 students will have received the scholarship.
Seventy percent of Daniels Scholars attend school in our four-state region. The remaining 30% attend colleges and universities all over the country.
Daniels Scholars currently attend 214 colleges and universities in 44 states.