Guardian Scholars & Sholarship Program

Together we can create a world of hope for the future.

Modeling after the succesful Guardian Scholars Program started by Ron Davis in Orange County, California in 1997, students are equipped with the educational and interpersonal skills necessary to become self-supporting, competent adults. Success is dependant on a team effort that combines participating colleges, donors, mentors, and the determination of the student. The Guardian Scholars Program is a comprehensive model that has achieved national recognition because of its graduation success rate for disadvantaged youth, and its financial leverage. Our students come from challenging backgrounds that lack the financial resources and emotional support for college. Our scholars have already overcome significant psychological, emotional, displacement and financial challenges.

Guardian Scholars are provided the financial resources to attend college and most importantly, tender loving care from college advisors, The Youth Foundation, donors and caring mentors. The combined effort of colleges, donors, mentors, and of course the student creates success. The Guardian Scholars model maximizes state and federal financial aid, foundation financial support and many warm hearts providing an emotional safety net.

Program Highlights

• We keep in regular contact with all of the Guardian Scholars throughout the year, sending e-mails, care packages, providing words of wisdom, and moral support.
• We provide free workshops to students on topics of interest such as interviewing skills, credit and finance, resume writing and defining success.

Eagle Valley Scholarship Collaboration

Who is The Eagle County Continuing Education Community Collaborative? The Collaborative is a group of community members who have collectively made an effort to streamline the giving of financial awards to high school students from Eagle County for continuuing education. The Collaborative is made up of:

• The Vail Valley Foundation
• Vail Eagle Valley & Western County Rotary Clubs
• Eagle River Scholarship Fund
• The Youth Foundation Guardian Scholars
• 1st Bank
• Vail Resorts
• Eagle Valley Chamber of Commerce
• American Gypsum
• Eagle County Soil Conservation District
• American Legion Auxiliary #105-Ruth Beasley Memorial Scholarship
• Vail Valley Jet Center
• Crissa Lea Swinford Memorial Scholarship
• Joey Norpayak Memorial Scholarship
• Vail Summit Orthopaedics
• Wal-Mart Scholarship
• Les Streeter-Walter Kirch Memorial Fund Scholarship
• The Ferguson Family Foundation
• Bond McCoy Scholarship
• Jake Brock Memorial Scholarship
• Gateway Land & Trust
• Lessons Learned Scholarship
• Project Graduation Battle Mtn. High School
• Colorado Mountain College Scholarships
  • Karri Casner Scholarship
  • Hero Scholarship
  • 1^st Bank CMC
  • Beaver Creek Resort Company
  • R.A. Nelson & Associates Scholarship
  • Culinary Arts Scholarship

What does the Collaborative do?

In 2001, several Eagle Valley scholarship sponsors came together to advocate for broader access to higher education for Eagle County students. In order to make sure that all students have equal access, a single scholarship application was developed. The collective group believes that while higher education is a big challenge, every student who has the desire to work toward a college degree should have that opportunity. The Eagle County Continuing Education Collaborative is working to make the dream of higher education a reality for as many students as possible.

While there are scholarships for 4-year university programs, the scholarship collaboration realizes that that is not in the plans for many students. The scholarship committee takes this into account and has awarded scholarships to students with less traditional career goals, such as junior college and vocational programs. Each scholarship donor develops their own criteria, and individual considerations and requests are respected.

The collaborative scholarship application is distributed to every high school senior in our community at all five Eagle County high schools:

• Battle Mountain High School (RE50 school district)
• Eagle Valley High School (RE50 school district)
• Red Canyon Alternative High School (RE50 school district)
• New America School (RE50 school district)
• Vail Mountain School
• Vail Christian Academy

 

Eric's Story