At the Weld Community Foundation, we call this “scholarship season.” It’s that time of year when students from all over Weld County submit applications through our website, hoping for a chance to receive support for higher education. Over the years, generous donors have established scholarship funds in honor of loved ones, mentors or personal causes. Now, those funds are ready to be awarded, and the applications pour in.
Feb. 6 was the deadline this year, and in our office, we make friendly wagers. How many students will begin the application process? How many will actually finish? How many will, against all odds, start and complete the entire application today?
It was a hectic Thursday for our staff, and when the final numbers came in, we saw a giant increase in students applying. The need is great and the word is spreading. Our scholarship committees, made up of dedicated people from across our diverse county, have their work cut out for them.
As March begins, those scholarship committee members — more than 60 individuals divided among different awards — will dive into their work. Each will read through dozens of applications, weighing the stories, aspirations, and efforts of the students before them. At the outset, our program officer gives them a simple calculation: if they spend around 12 minutes per application, they will dedicate 12 to 15 hours to this process. It is no small commitment. Their time, their care, their discernment — it all adds up to something profound. We are deeply grateful for these volunteers who give so much during this season.
For those of us fortunate enough to have pursued further education, the moment of receiving a scholarship can be deeply personal. I still remember one in particular.
My senior year, I played soccer with a talented underclassman named Jason Roberts. He was one of those rare people who seemed to fit in everywhere — on the field, in the science club, in the orchestra. Jason had an easy kindness about him, he was well-liked in so many different circles of our large high school. Then, in September of 1996, he died suddenly of an undetectable heart defect. He was 15.
At the spring awards ceremony that year, Jason’s family presented two scholarships, meant for students who, like him, had a foot in multiple worlds — athletics, the arts, academics. I was one of the recipients. A classmate named Kelly was the other. I still carry that moment with me, knowing that in some small way, we honored Jason’s memory by moving forward into our futures.
“Scholarship season” at the Foundation closes in May with a reception. Donors who have created these scholarships — memorializing parents, children, teachers and friends — sit side by side with the students who will carry those legacies forward. It’s a moment of connection between past and future, a simple reminder that generosity, like education, spreads outward.
As the evening winds down, donors, committee members, Foundation staff, parents and teachers will watch with quiet pride as so many deserving students step into their futures. And with that, our scholarship season officially comes to a close — until next year.
Tim Coons is President/CEO of the Weld Community Foundation, a nonprofit that helps donors create charitable funds which strengthen our community through grants, scholarships, and program support. He loves the question, “What does it mean to be a true community?” info@weldcommunityfoundation.org.
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