Happy Holidays from Friends of Colorado Student Leaders Institute!
We are so grateful for the continued support from all of our generous supporters. Please consider Friends of COSLI in your end-of-the-year charitable donations. $400 will sponsor a student, but every dollar makes a difference. Donations can be made via the Rose Community Foundation. |
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Letter from the Founding Executive Director
Happy Holidays from the Friends of COSLI Board of Directors,
A Project of the Rose Community Foundation
Dear Friends,
Last month, after our first student-driven newsletter, we had quite a few responses asking to understand more about what Colorado Student Leaders Institute (COSLI) is and how it started in Colorado. With that in mind, I am going to start with an “All About COSLI” lesson.
COSLI is a member of The National Conference of Governor’s Schools (NCoGs). There are around twenty-seven states with member programs, and some states have multiple programs. Each state is autonomous in how they offer programming but must adhere to some basic expectations. Members of NCoGs must offer a summer residential program to the state’s best and brightest students, and must have some degree of association with their home state’s governance. In Colorado, we were legislated in 2015 and are housed in the Colorado Department of Higher Education. It is meant to be non-political and to serve as an economic development tool, keeping our strongest students in state for college and/or career, as well as designed to create an educational program meant to enhance learning for students who would be benefited by this challenge. Legislators did not want it to be associated with any particular political leaning or to be considered a program directly related to any person in the governor’s office. So, instead of being called Governor’s School, the legislative sponsors challenged the first COSLI student board to develop an apolitical name for what had begun to be seen as an institute for high school students. Thus, COSLI.
Colorado is one of the few states that does not require a documented gifted and talented designation from the participants. Colorado students do have to exhibit an ability to be successful in a robust academic program by completing a comprehensive application meant to replicate what they would experience when applying for college. This summer’s application opened on October 1 of this year and will be closed on January 30. It can be found on our website at www.costudentleaders.org. We are able to accept up to one hundred students from across the state, and we work to be certain each summer’s class is geographically representative of our state in its entirety. In addition, Colorado is the only state that has the additional requirement that at least fifty percent of our students are free-and-reduced lunch eligible and/or first generation prospective college attendees. Some might mistake this to mean that this is an at-risk program. It is not. Indeed, at a recent conference, we were given a term to better explain this requirement--we are seeking those top students who have been under-resourced for their abilities and intellect. Our accountability rubric is robust. There is also a goal that eighty percent of our participants remain in-state for college and/or career and that ninety percent complete their post-secondary program within the traditional four-year timeline, though the national average is now six years. One hundred percent of our students thus far have been accepted into at least one college or university.
During the Institute, students spend twenty-eight days living and working at the University of Colorado Denver. Those who are successful earn three hours of college credit. During the month of the program, they complete four large projects--one is entrepreneurial with a team; another is to solve what they deem to be one of Colorado’s biggest problems, also with a team; as an individual, they must complete the beginning parts of a Colorado-centric National History Day project that they will enter in a regional contest; and, each student participates in a book club, reading a book chosen for each summer. Last summer’s book was Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt by Arthur C. Brooks. In addition, each week is filled with lectures, labs, field trips and work sessions meant to present to the students a wide variety of perspectives on topics chosen during the application process, via their essays.
What we have seen each summer is this large, diverse group of Colorado kids come together to form an entity as close as any family, connected by the rigorous expectations they face over the course of one month and a common statehood. They create an in-state network of lifelong friends and colleagues who become part of a larger, national group of governor’s school program alumni. It is a powerful thing to watch.
Next month, more on the mechanics of how we came to be. In the meantime, enjoy a wonderful holiday season and winter break with your friends and family! Thank you for continuing to enjoy what our community has to share.
Best,
Celeste T. Archer
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Letter from the Student Advisory Board President
Dear COSLI Community,
As the 2019 year is wrapping up, the COSLI team would like to announce something special. We are having a holiday reunion for all COSLI alumni from all sessions! The reunion will take place on December 7 from 3-5 pm at Lucky Strike on 16th Street Mall in Denver, and will include bowling, games, food, and more. Please RSVP on the EventBrite link. Please note, this is a gift from the COSLI family to you. All we ask is that you bring a non-perishable food item to contribute to the Auraria Campus Student Food Bank. We look forward to seeing you there!
Additionally, with the 2020 COSLI application open, we ask that you identify students who exemplify the COSLI image (leadership, hard work, civic responsibility, and community engagement), and direct them toward the program application. The Student Advisory Board would like to attract as many applicants as possible to offer to as many qualified Colorado students the same experiences and opportunities we were all blessed to enjoy. We are counting on all of you to spread the word! Applications are due January 30, 2020.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year,
Thank you,
Mohamed Ibrahim
Wiggins High School
COSLI Class of 2019
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Lesson Learned: George Sparks & the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Every COSLI class has the fantastic opportunity to tour the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) and to meet up with George Sparks, the charismatic President and CEO of DMNS. When the Class of 2019 met with Sparks, he discussed his journey throughout the expansion and development of this now globally-renowned facility. Sparks’s story of compassion and civic passion lit a torch of community engagement and love of our state within all of our hearts.
With more than 66,300 active member households and tons of unique exhibitions, events, and activities, the DMNS is easily among the largest natural history museums in the United States. When Mr. Sparks became President of DMNS in November of 2004, his primary focus was igniting the community’s passion, love, and understanding for nature and science. Sparks's personal passion for science was well-communicated to COSLI students, as well as in the question and answer session that followed. He answered questions ranging from the existence of aliens, to his all-time favorite books. During the discussion, Sparks focused on his experience building DMNS into what it is today and many of the challenges, as well as the high points he has faced throughout this time. He also hinted about discoveries yet to be revealed at DMNS in some of his remarks, as well as the continuous discoveries being made in science in general.
In the past fifteen years, many impressive discoveries and developments can be credited to DMNS. In the fall of 2010, during the Snowmastodon Project, archaeologists from the museum found a spectacular fossil site. Over the course of sixty-nine days, scientists and volunteers discovered thousands of fossils, skyrocketing understanding of climate change in America’s West. Next month, there will be more about the most important discovery made--something that happened this fall and that has made DMNS one of the most important venues in recent scientific discovery.
Our experience with Mr. Sparks leads us to say that George Sparks has not only made positive change in his local community through the embedding of a passion for science within young minds, but has had a significant impact on the Colorado community as a whole. COSLI is fortunate to have Mr. Sparks as Chair of the Friends of COSLI Board of Directors.
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Student Features
Note that all students who successfully complete COSLI are given automatic acceptance to the University of Colorado Denver.
Yael Sanchez was accepted to Johnson and Wales with a $21,000 presidential scholarship! Congratulations to Yael!
Yael has also launched his own photography business, and is working on expanding his outreach. See his information below. Think of Yael when considering family portraits or senior pictures.
Happy Birthday to our COSLI Alumni! May your day be full of smiles!
Love, your COSLI Family.
Eyni Ali--December 2 (Denver, CO)
Hagan Archer--December 3 (Denver, CO)
Isabella McCarty--December 3 (Elizabeth, CO)
Mohamed Ibrahim--December 3 (Wiggins, CO)
Jaks Praeger--December 11 (Denver, CO)
Elizabeth Valdez--December 24 (Ignacio, CO)
What else happened in December?
December 1, 1913--For over five days, Denver received an accumulation of forty-five inches of snow. This was Denver’s largest snowfall at the time!
December 14, 1946--The world’s longest chairlift opened in the Ajax Mountain Ski Area in Aspen
December 10, 1958--Edward Lawrie Tim was the first Colorado native to win the Nobel Prize for his work on metabolism.
We are so proud of our COSLI alumni! Contact Izzy McCarty (imccarty2021@esdk12.org) or Sheila Ta (sheilata93@gmail.com) with college acceptances as they start rolling in and any other cool projects or successes!
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Alumni Feature: Veniece Miller
Hometown: Fruita, CO
COSLI Class: 2017
College currently attending: University of Colorado Boulder
Major: Political Science and International Affairs
Scholarships/recognitions received since attending COSLI:
- Mildred Meyer Buck Endowed Scholarship in the Arts and Sciences
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Dorothy Martin Endowment Fund for the Center for Inclusion and Social Change
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Senior Class Council Scholarship
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TEDXGrandJunction Speaker
Current plans/career aspirations:
Veniece is a student at the University of Colorado Boulder pursuing a joint degree in Political Science and International Affairs. She is specializing in Middle Eastern Affairs and learning Arabic. As a Western Colorado native, Veniece has experience in community organizing and leading civic engagement in rural parts of the state. More recently, Veniece worked in the office of Senator Michael Bennet engaging with constituents and writing research briefs. Currently, Veniece Interns at the Colorado Office of the Attorney General. She hopes to attend law school in the future.
As a high school student, Veniece partnered with fellow COSLI Alumni, Lindsay Anderson, to create Kindness is Contagious--be on the lookout for more information about this opportunity in January’s newsletter. It is exactly as it sounds, a program to encourage and nurture more kindness in the world!
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Exciting Scholarship Announcement for COSLI Alumni!
With a large number of COSLI alums graduating this year, we are pleased to announce a new scholarship opportunity! The $2,500 IEA Public Service Scholarship is to be awarded to a student who will be enrolling in The University of Colorado Denver’s Bachelor of Arts in Public Service program, and who successfully completed COSLI or other such K-12 programs.
It is a great opportunity for all COSLI graduates who desire to attend CU Denver and major in Public Services. In fact, preference is given to students who completed COSLI. So, alumni, make sure to check out this scholarship! Students must be enrolled full-time in the School of Public Affairs, and must maintain good academic standing. It will be given in even amounts during both the fall and spring terms.
Deadline: March 31, 2020
More information on the Bachelor of Arts in Public Service
For more information about the program or the scholarship, contact Rebecca Gianarkis
(rebecca.gianarkis@ucdenver.edu).
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Alumni Interview: Elora Smith
Elora Smith, from The San Luis Valley, attended COSLI in the summer of 2017. She is an amazing and strong young adult, who exemplifies kindness. She is double majoring in Biology and Global Studies at Shenandoah University in Virginia.
What was your favorite part of COSLI?
"My favorite part of COSLI was getting to know other people around the state with desires to make the community, state, nation, and world a better place. I loved being able to not only learn about problems the state and world are having but also exploring ways to fix these issues with people who actually care about them. I loved discussing these issues with people that understood them better than I did. One of my favorite things was the book we were assigned, The Road to Character by David Brooks. It really opened my eyes to the meaning of human nature and what builds or aids in forming a person’s disposition."
What did you learn from COSLI?
"I feel like I learned so much from being in COSLI. The things I have learned are always with me to this day, and they have helped me become who I am. I learned how to communicate with people that have different opinions than I do. I got to see the pros and cons of every issue and understand them. I realized that people are people no matter what they think or what political party they belong to. There are pros and cons to everything and the only way to solve the world's problems is to understand that no one is right or wrong. What really matters is that we as people band together to make the world a better place. To create change is a messy process and you have to be willing to roll in that mess with others because you can't do it alone. We all have to work together and we have to be willing to negotiate on things to create that much-needed change."
What are you doing now?
"I am currently in Virginia attending Shenandoah University. I am majoring in Biology and Global Studies, as well as minoring in Religion. I am heavily involved in my Honor Program group, my Health and Life Science Club, the community here in Winchester, and my church. I am continuing my research with a professor here since my project is PhD level science. We are starting with writing a lit review and then finding good internships to get involved in before actually proceeding with the project itself. I was also just selected to go on a week-long trip to Bhutan to experience a new culture and plan to travel more in the summer with my school or on a missions trip."
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Opportunities and Events: December 2019
It’s the holiday season! Use your Winter Break to fill out applications to some of these amazing programs. Also don’t forget the scholarship for COSLI students that is mentioned above!
Celebrate the West is an art competition for high schoolers, funded by the Western Governors’ Association. Students make art inspired by “what their state means to them,” and the winner will receive $1200 as a prize. This is due by April 30, 2020. Find more information here.
The SUMMET Program at The Colorado School of Mines for high school juniors and seniors from underrepresented communities in Colorado and Oklahoma. This is an engineering and technology program where students get to experience college life and work closely in STEM fields. The application is due on February 3rd, 2020. More information can be found here.
The Research Science Institute at MIT is a cost-free summer program where eighty students get to spend five weeks working on STEM research projects. They are able to experience the entire process of research and work with experienced scientists to do in-depth research on many topics. Applications are now open, and are due by January 15th. More information here.
RISE Internship and Practicum is a STEM program from Boston University which offers high school juniors the opportunity to take part in either an internship, which involves an individualized research project, or a practicum, which involves a group project. Either way, students get mentorship from renowned scientists and have the opportunity to work for six weeks on a STEM research project, learning the process of research. Application opens December 15th. More information here.
Young Performers Program from Music @ Menlo is a summer program in California for advanced string players and pianists. Students will get to spend time working to improve their skills with accomplished artists. They will have the opportunity to learn more about chamber music and perform the music that they create and practice. The application is due January 1st. More information here.
The Bank of America Student Leaders Program is a summer leadership program which offers students an opportunity to have an eight-week summer internship at a local nonprofit during the summer. You can learn valuable skills and get involved in your community with this program! Application is due January 31st, 2020. More information can be found here.
Notre Dame’s Leadership Seminar is a ten-day program for young leaders to learn about and get involved in one issue that they care about. There are three options for students to study: Race, Global Issues, and Environment. This is a very prestigious program, with only ninety students accepted each year. The application is due January 27th, 2020. More information can be found here.
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