Seniors land thousands in scholarships through Vail Valley Foundation program

EDWARDS — Dozens of local Class of 2017 graduates received hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to help them fund their futures.

The Vail Valley Foundation’s YouthPower365 annual scholarship night saw local students receive scholarships ranging from one-time $500 awards to four-year scholarships.

The Vail Valley Foundation’s YouthPower365 Dollars for Scholars program started in 2001, when several Eagle Valley scholarship sponsors came together to create a single scholarship application for all sorts of post-high school institutions. The collaborative scholarship application is accessible for every high school graduate in the community.

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Besides four-year colleges, the program has awarded scholarships to students with less traditional career goals, including community college and vocational programs. Each scholarship donor develops its own criteria, and individual considerations and requests are respected.

“We can’t overstress how important it is to give support to our young people as they set out on this critical time in their lives,” said Melisa Rewold-Thuon, executive director of the Vail Valley Foundation’s YouthPower365. “Each one of those students worked hard to earn this support, and our community is making an investment in them because we see that as an investment in the future of our community, or any community where they might begin their careers, find their home or raise a family. We have such a quality community around us right now because of investments we made in our young people years ago. We owe it to the next generation, and ourselves, to continue growing our efforts in this kind of work.”

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The local program soon affiliated with Scholarship America Dollars for Scholars. Scholarship America is nationwide and helps community groups operate scholarship programs under Scholarship America’s charitable status.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 or rwyrick@vaildaily.com.