The Greeley Central High School boys volleyball team headed to a tournament Friday morning when their bus unexpectedly turned around and returned to school grounds.
The bus pulled up to the school’s curb, crowded by a gathering that held up a large check for $80,000 made out to senior Taw Ke Blu Soe.
After interviewing multiple students, the Weld Community Foundation’s scholarship committee selected Soe as the 2025 Greeley Central recipient of the Wilbert Wiedeman Scholarship.
The Weld Community Foundation grants about 150 scholarships, totaling nearly $800,000, each year to local students. The Wilbert Wiedeman Scholarship, one of the foundation’s largest scholarships, ranges between $80,000-$100,000 over five years of a college career — a full-ride for most students.
Taw Ke Blu Soe, a Greeley Central High School senior, greeted by family, friends, staff members and Weld Community Foundation staff, steps off the bus Friday morning to learn he received the $80,000 Wilbert Wiedeman Scholarship. (Morgan McKenzie/Staff Reporter)Wilbert Wiedeman set up the annual scholarship through the Weld Community Foundation in 2021 because he wanted to support the type of student he used to be, according to Tim Coons, CEO and president of the foundation.
In Wiedeman’s eyes, academic performance doesn’t matter as much as staying active in school and the community. That’s why students from the 50th to 95th percentile of their class are considered for this special honor.
“He said, ‘I wasn’t the best student, but I loved my school,’ ” Coons said about Wiedeman. “ ‘I was heavily involved, and I wanted to do right by my community.’ This scholarship looks for that type of student.”
Soe, who was born in a refugee camp in Myanmar and moved to the United States as a child, stood out to the committee due to his impressive academic performance, community outreach and involvement in school activities.
Along with securing a GPA above 4.0 last semester and taking on four advanced placement courses during his final semester of high school, Soe participates in band, plays on the volleyball team, serves as a Key Club officer and even established a chess club, according to the foundation’s program officer, Megan Martinez.
Soe gives back to his Greeley community by organizing clean-ups and volunteering with his church, and he has also returned to his home, Myanmar, three times to distribute aid to those impacted by the war.
“He’s an amazing student,” Martinez said. “He’s so versatile. This committee of folks interviewed him last week, and they were just blown away.”
The annual Wilbert Wiedeman Scholarship goes to two graduating seniors, one from Greeley Central High School, where Wiedeman’s wife went, and Windsor High School, where he went. The Weld Community Foundation has yet to announce the Windsor recipient.
Soe’s father, Taw Taw Soe, said that as a refugee family with five children, they don’t have much income to afford college. He feels appreciative of all the people who helped their son make college a reality.
With a bright future ahead of him, Soe plans to attend Colorado University Boulder to study finance in the fall.
“This is a true blessing for our family,” Taw Taw said.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘True blessing’: Standout Greeley Central senior earns $80,000 scholarship )
Also on site :