Announcing our 2022 college scholarship awardees

We’re excited to share that we’ve awarded $40,000 in scholarships to seven graduating high school seniors in BVSD. Applications were reviewed by a group of trained community volunteers, and student winners were selected based upon their academic achievement, financial need, and other eligibility requirements.

“This year we saw a deep field of scholarship applicants filled with students on their way to doing great things. We’re grateful to our scholarship review team for taking the time to learn about each applicant and make some tough decisions. Each applicant embodied a student empowered to soar and we’re proud to support our awardees as they take the next steps on their education journey.”

—Matt Tebo, IOE Program Manager

Our newest Earl & Barbara Bolton Scholarship, is awarded from a $500,000 endowment left to Impact on Education by its namesake. The couple grew up in Boulder County, attended Boulder Valley public schools, and were well known in the community for their love of aviation, history, education, and travel. The scholarship is intended for students planning to study engineering, forestry, nursing, or medicine in the state of Colorado.

Earl & Barbara Bolton Scholarship

The $5,000 Earl & Barbara Bolton Scholarship was awarded to Nia Sorel, a senior at Monarch High School. Nia plans to major in Integrative Physiology and Kinesiology at CU-Boulder beginning in the fall. This scholarship award is renewable for up to four years, with the potential to fund $20,000 of Nia’s college expenses.

“My fascination with biology and medicine stemmed, evoking a curiosity about what it would take to be a doctor. As my educational career continues, I crave a deeper understanding of medicine-based sciences; to interpret the human body and the effects of medical intervention.”

—Nia Sorel, 2022 Earl & Barbara Bolton Scholarship Winner

Dennie & Donna Wise Scholarship

One of Impact on Education’s longtime scholarships, the Dennie and Donna Wise Scholarship, was endowed by a former board member to support up to two students a year planning to pursue a vocational, technical, or community college education. 

A $1,000 scholarship was awarded to Jaime Ibarra, a senior at Boulder High School and to Julian Mastrine, a senior at Monarch High School. Jamie plans to attend Front Range Community College in the fall to pursue her interests in psychology and nursing, and Julian plans to study Automotive Service Management at Lincoln Tech in Denver. This scholarship award is renewable for up to two years, funding up to $2,000 of each recipient’s tuition. 

“I always want to make sure my people, and others are safe, that their mental and physical health is doing okay. I am bilingual and I can make a difference with the latino community with being able to translate and attend to Spanish speaking patients.”

—Jaime Ibarra, 2022 Dennie & Donna Wise Scholarship Winner

“I’m a young mechanic who loves a trade that’s dying. If we, as a new generation of mechanics, were able to change the whole idea around how a shop functions, then it could be a whole lot better.”

—Julian Mastrine, 2022 Dennie & Donna Wise Scholarship Winner

Additional scholarship recipients

Independent Order of Odd Fellows  – Boulder Lodge #9 Scholarship
Impact on Education administers a scholarship for the Odd Fellows Boulder Lodge #9. They are a long-established part of the Boulder community and wish to reward and assist graduating seniors in the Boulder Valley School District who demonstrate a strong commitment to their community and personal excellence. Each scholarship is renewable for up to five years, funding up to $5,000 per recipient.

This year’s awardees were Jessica Funk from Monarch High School, Gabriela Borlovan from Centaurus High School, and Amairani Chirinos from New Vista High School.

Panther Pride Excellence in Leadership
An additional award we administer, the $1,000 Panther Pride Excellence in Leadership, was awarded to Madelyn Hardee from Boulder High School.

We offer these scholarships to support Boulder Valley students in financial need who wish to pursue higher education. We’re able to provide this type of important financial support thanks to generous bequests left to the organization from local community members. If you’d like to discuss opportunities for planned giving, including bequests, gifts from a retirement account, charitable trust, or real estate, please contact darcy@impactoneducation.org.

Anahi Quintana receives Imogene Maxon Early Educator Award

The Imogene “Jean” Maxon Early Educator Award is awarded to a BVSD educator with up to three years of classroom experience who demonstrates the drive, stamina, and vision of a career educator.

We recognized four finalists for this year’s award at the 29th Annual Impact Awards on May 23, including:

• Henry Huettel, a first grade teacher at Kohl Elementary
• Kayleigh Esswein, an English and humanities teacher at Peak to Peak High School
• Anahi Quintana, a 6th grade ELA teacher at Broomfield Heights Middle, and
• Sophia Real, a first and second grade teacher at Columbine Elementary

Congratulations to Anahi Quintana

Dr. Lora de la Cruz, BVSD Deputy Superintendent, announced the 2022 Imogene Maxon Early Educator Award winner, Anahi Quintana. Her colleagues told us:

“Anahi works beyond the walls of her classroom to reach parents and community members and has an “all together now” approach to student success.”

About Imogene Maxon

Imogene Maxon was a lifelong educator who taught with the Boulder Valley School District. In 2020 we received a bequest from her estate and created the Imogene “Jean” Maxon Early Educator Award in her honor. Imogene believed strongly in the impact of teachers who spend a lifetime honing instruction and learning practices and positively impacting countless students within the classroom.

Angevine counselor Lisa Cech received Blake Peterson Lifetime Achievement Award

Humor, compassion and advocacy fueled Cech’s career in education

By Shay Castle

When Lise Cech still remembers the career advice her high school counselor gave. It was the same thing every other girl heard during their once- or twice-yearly visit.

“They would pretty much say, you can be a nurse or teacher,” Cech recalled. “No personality tests, no, ‘What do you want to do?’” 

Thankfully, despite the bad advice, education turned out to be the right career for Cech,this year’s Blake Peterson Lifetime Achievement Award winner. The Angevine Middle School counselor has spent more than half of her 30-plus years in education with Boulder Valley School District, after working with colleges in Illinois, California and Colorado.

Her time at BVSD has been marked by her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; leadership in creating a welcoming environment; and fierce advocacy for her students and peers. 

“Tomes could be written on the positive and immeasurable influence that she has had on kids,” wrote Angevine teacher Kylie Pyatt in one of 14 recommendation letters Cech received for the Blake Peterson award. “Lisa has supported, motivated, mentored, coached, counseled, laughed with, cried with, fed, listened to, encouraged, educated, helped, pushed, and deeply, deeply inspired me.”

Cech’s resume is as full and lengthy as the letters of support for her. The include creating Angevine’s Ally-Cat bystander intervention club and the school’s first Gay-Straight Alliance; serving as chair of the school climate committee; working as a lead equity trainer for BVSD; coordinating Safe and Drug Free Schools; and leading a year-long staff and faculty book study of Paul Gorsky’s “Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty,” in addition to training educators state- and nationwide in anti-bullying, mental health and DEI work.  

“Lisa Cech has been an educator well beyond the walls in which she has formally served,” wrote Angevine school psychologist Chrissy Lohn. 

“You would be hard-pressed to find a student who doesn’t have a story of how Lisa helped them or their family,” wrote Centaurus High School teacher Beth Bogner. “She is a legend!”

“Even though she is not my son’s school counselor, she could see he needed help,” recalled BVSD parent Christy-Schneider Little. “She provided him a safe place, techniques to help him work through some issues and continued to follow up with my son over the next few weeks to make sure he was okay. What even more impressed me was how she reached out to me, the worried parent. She let me know how he was doing and provided some thoughtful insights on how we can further support my son.”

Cech “provides a home away from home” for students, said Anna Gamble, Cech’s co-counselor at Angevine and one of five people who nominated Cech for the Blake Peterson award.

Beyond her extraordinary efforts for students, Cech is just as supportive of her peers, they said. 

“She really helped me become who I am in the field,” Gamble said. “She was able to help with my self-esteem and self-confidence, and lift me up.”

Cech’s first experience with education was coaching girls basketball as a teenager. She loves working with people, and has a special heart for middle school-aged kids and the struggles they face. She herself was bullied as a gay youth, an experience she drew on as she moved into DEI work. 

Cech notes that it was “a journey,” one she never fails to be honest about when instructing kids or adults on racism. 

“Talking about my own journey and the mistakes I made (let’s people know), ‘Oh, it’s a process,’” Cech said. “If you can disarm and let people see you, I think it breaks down some of those walls people might have. It cuts through that tension and fear.”

Her dedication to equity is driven by a deep empathy for those experiencing oppression.

“Injustice, it gets to my core,” Cech said. “My whole career in Boulder, seeing the inequities (made me question): Can you be part of a system and change it? That’s what I hoped to do and tried to do.”

“I was always saying, I’m still saying, ‘What are they going to do, fire me?’ I’m going to call stuff out in the hopes that things change.”

Gamble noted that it was Cech’s advocacy in large part that resulted in more mental health resources for Angevine, BVSD’s biggest and most diverse middle school.

“She’s not always the most popular voice in the room, but she is heard, and she is listened to,” Gamble said. “She’s got some fire.”

“Lisa is representation and love in action,” wrote Elizabeth Barcheck, assistant principal at Southern Hills Middle School.  “She seems eternally unfearful to shine light on the needs and complexities that middle schoolers face. Lisa is always willing to do what is right over what is easy.”

A little humor helps, too. Gamble noted Cech’s “flawless” presentation skills, whether to educators, parents or students. 

“She always has people laughing,” Gamble said.

Cech’s resume also includes stand-up comedy. 

“When I turned 30, my wife got me a standup comedy class as a present,” she explained. “As your final exam, you go on stage and do your 5-minute bit. I did really well, and it got into me. I did it for a couple years. I made money at it, but I’m usually in bed by 9, so lifestyle-wise, it didn’t quite fit.”

These days, her comedy is limited to the classroom — “If I can make my students laugh or laugh with them, we have a shared experience,” Cech said. “It creates connection.” — but she wouldn’t rule out a post-retirement career as a daytime comedian.

“I’ve got 40 years of material,” she joked. “Keep an eye out for me on the circuit.”

More likely is continued coaching and playing of pickleball, “my current passion.”

Cech has one year left in her decade-spanning career. She’ll spend part of it back on the district’s equity cohort, which she helped create, training teachers and administrators in equity and cultural proficiency.

In a high-burnout and turnover industry, Cech attributes her staying power to regular meditation and self-care, and her wife of 33 years, B.K..

“A good, solid relationship has really gotten me through most of it,” Cech said. “Having somebody as a steady, loving presence who really helped me through things.”

Cech was surprised to be recognized with the Blake Peterson Award. She’s enjoyed hearing from teachers who she had trained over the years, and students she worked with. 

“It feels good to get acknowledgement, which in education we don’t always get a lot of,” she said. “It feels like a good note to almost-end on.”

Meet our 2022 Impact Award Honorees

Every year, each school in BVSD chooses an impactful person in their school community who demonstrates exceptional collaboration, innovation, and dedication to our students.

These impactful individuals show an ongoing commitment to professional and personal growth and have powerful, often life-changing, effects on students and the rest of the education community through unfaltering and purposeful effort.

We hope you enjoy reading about our school honorees! Click each photo to learn more about why they were selected for an Impact Award.

IOE funding expands mental health support for BVSD students and staff

This post is an updated version of this article posted on February 25, 2022.

Children’s Hospital Colorado declared a pediatric mental health state of emergency in May of 2021, citing skyrocketing demand for mental health services among Colorado’s youth. In addition to the well-documented impact of the pandemic on mental health, our community also experienced a mass shooting and Colorado’s most destructive wildfire in 2021. 

BVSD is committed to providing mental health support for students from kindergarten through graduation. For young learners, sharing feelings and learning to work through problems will be all they ever know, and for older learners, having school-based support is critical to navigating mental health struggles.

We’re investing over $800,000 to support the ongoing mental health needs of students and staff throughout the Boulder Valley School District.

Mental health professional development for BVSD staff

School Age Care (SAC) staff serve a diverse group of students daily at 32 sites throughout Boulder Valley School District (BVSD). From grade levels to academic ability levels to emotional and behavioral health levels, SAC staff must manage each student’s needs and create a safe environment outside of school hours for students and staff.

Impact on Education funded six hours of Calming Kids professional development for BVSD School After Care educators to teach them strategies for managing student mental health needs and their own. The first sessions were held in 2021 thanks to a partnership with the City of Boulder’s Housing and Human Services Department, and additional sessions are planned for 2022.

Expanding BVSD’s team of mental health advocates

In the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD), referrals of students to Mental Health Advocates have risen by 86% this school year compared to the same period during the 2020-21 school year. 

Mental Health Advocates supplement what BVSD’s school counselors can provide since their focus is exclusively on mental and behavioral health. Within BVSD, Mental Health Advocates: 

• provide prevention and intervention services for students, supporting their social-emotional and behavioral development, student achievement, and crisis intervention
• provide both group and individual counseling support and work directly with students, parents, and staff members
• help families access external resources, including making appropriate referrals to community partners such as Mental Health Partners and Jewish Family Services

Impact on Education provided funding to hire four additional Mental Health Advocates to be deployed year-round in BVSD’s schools most impacted by the Marshall Fire. 

“We are seeing a significant increase when it comes to the social-emotional support our students need at this critical moment. Those impacted by the fire are working to process everything that happened. It was a deeply traumatic experience and it will take some time for these students to cope with the tremendous amount of loss and PTSD that everyone impacted by the fires are struggling through.”

Tammy Lawrence, Student Support Services Director

The additional support of four new Mental Health Advocates will ensure all of the schools impacted by the Marshall Fire have the intensive layer of mental health support needed, and expand BVSD’s capacity to respond to mental health referrals. 

The intensity of mental health concerns and the time required to provide support and intervention varies dramatically from case to case, but BVSD’s leadership is confident that adding these clinicians to the School District team was the most critical immediate step.

Funding to support mental health has come from our generous community partners

• Community Foundation Boulder County
• CDP Colorado Wildfires Recovery Fund
• AT&T
• United Healthcare
• Google
• City of Boulder Housing and Human Services Department

YOU CAN HELP …

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We are still actively raising funds to support the mental health needs of Boulder Valley students and staff. You can help by making a gift to support this work.

Helping BVSD students see all colors of the world

Students in the Boulder Valley School District deserve to know they belong, especially in school. One simple, yet powerful, way to achieve that is giving them art supplies that represent a range of skin tones. 

We are proud to partner with NAACP Boulder County to provide multicultural art supplies to BVSD classrooms so students can more accurately reflect themselves and others in their art and other work.

“All children deserve the ability to draw themselves in true form and that includes skin tone color. These art supplies make that vision become a reality which is priceless.”

Michelle Willingham
DEI Collab Group Leader, NAACP Boulder Chapter EDU Committee

Impact on Education funding will provide Crayola Colors of the World supply kits and workbooks to every elementary classroom in the next two weeks.

All of BVSD’s 31 elementary schools will receive Crayola Colors of the World art supplies and activity books for each of their classrooms. Each pack of crayons, markers and colored pencils contains 24 specifically-formulated colors representing people of the world. The subtle shades inside are formulated to better represent the growing diversity worldwide 

We’re also working to provide age-appropriate books to each classroom to promote healthy conversations around racial diversity and providing additional Crayola Colors of the World supplies to middle schools across the district in the fall.

BEFORE YOU GO

Impact on Education is an independent non-profit supporting the Boulder Valley School District. We depend on the generosity of our community to put our mission into action.

Will you help us provide opportunities and resources to local students?

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We support Boulder Valley public school students with community funding and resources in order to meet critical needs and eliminate opportunity gaps. Your support keeps us going strong and your donation will help us equalize opportunity, bolster academic success for local students.

How we’re funding opportunity for students across BVSD

One of the key ways we provide opportunity to high needs students in the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) is through our Academic Opportunity Fund. Our fourth and final funding round for the 2021-22 school year recently closed and we’re proud to share that we’re investing another $44,000 to meet the needs of BVSD students. This brings our total Academic Opportunity Fund investment to over $150,000 for the 2021-22 school year.

In Round Four, community volunteers helped evaluate 17 anonymized application requests and provide feedback on funding decisions. That data was then reviewed by Impact on Education (IOE) staff and final decisions were made.

• The average amount of funded requests was under $3,300, though requests ranged from $320 to $7,500.
• 14 projects will be funded directly by IOE, and we are working to meet some of the other needs through existing BVSD services.
• The funding will support twelve of BVSD’s elementary, middle and high schools. 

A variety of needs

From competition fees to tutoring programs, our Academic Opportunity Fund supported a variety of student and school needs including funding to:

• purchase guided reading bundles for elementary students
• fund tutoring sessions at multiple schools
• purchase Neuromaker Brain Computer Interface Kits for STEM learning
• provide professional development for trauma recovery
• help DECA members in financial need attend an international competition
• fund instrument repair and competition fees
• purchase graphic novels to help students with their reading comprehension
• expand a school-based tutoring program

Other ways we’re investing in student success 

The success of BVSD students sometimes requires more than our schools and teachers are able to provide during the day, and this is where we step in. With the help of our community, we can support students and families by providing equitable access to critical academic opportunities.

This summer, we’ll be working to help students in our Career Readiness Academy line up summer employment, preparing for an expanded early learning program for rising kindergarteners this summer, and kick off our annual Crayons to Calculators school supply distribution. Learn more about how we support Student Success.

Local community donates over 200 musical instruments to BVSD students

Of the many things lost in the Marshall Fire, musical instruments can be difficult and expensive to replace. Since the fire broke out, we’ve been working closely with Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) to help replace these instruments. 

An outpouring of support

Over 100 instruments that were lost in the fire have been replaced, and there are an additional 100 now in the BVSD inventory for students who need assistance getting one in the future. Over 50 individuals kindly donated their personal instruments, while:

• Future Arts Foundation, Bringing Music to Life, and Spark Music Lessons each ran donation drives, providing 100 instruments to BVSD
• Colorado Music Educator Association and Spark Music Lessons raised money to help offset the repair costs of all of these donated instruments
• Southwest Strings and Buffet Crampon each donated brand new instruments to help fill in the gaps
• Music & Arts and Rocky Mountain Music Repair donated repair services and various accessories and supplies
• Music & Arts, Rocky Mountain Music Repair, Sol Vista Violins, and Scherer Violin Shop provided students who had rental instruments a new one at no charge

Funding repairs and cleaning

Thanks to the community’s generous donations to our Marshall Fire fund, we directed dollars to ensure these donated instruments could be put to use. Impact on Education paid for shipping costs, instrument repair and professional cleaning, which met an immediate need and helped BVSD quickly provide instruments to students impacted by the fire.

Because our community came together to help, we’ve been able to stretch our dollars further and fund other urgent needs.

A small, but meaningful way to support recovery

Having a community willing to contribute really helped to reduce stress for our students and families about how to replace their instruments.

“My best hope is that these efforts enabled our students to get back to making music,” says Aubrey Yeh, Coordinator of Language Arts & Humanities with BVSD. “It was one less thing for families to worry about.”

She says students found handwritten notes inside instrument cases, sharing thoughtful messages of hope with some of the recipients. A few of the instruments were family heirlooms, having been passed through generations, and are now being passed to a new family.

BEFORE YOU GO

Impact on Education is an independent non-profit supporting the Boulder Valley School District. We depend on the generosity of our community to put our mission into action.

Will you help us provide opportunities and resources to local students?

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. The size and scope of rebuilding our community in the wake of a pandemic, a mass shooting and Colorado’s most devastating wildfire is overwhelming. Providing access to mental health resources is critically important as our community recovers. We need your help to provide mental health support today.

Helping students find their purpose and build confidence

Did someone teach you how to shake hands? When to make a phone call instead of sending an email? How to feel confident in a job interview? These are a few of things students in our Career Readiness Academy have learned over the past two months.

What is the Career Readiness Academy?

We launched the pilot of our Career Readiness Academy in January 2022. This program is designed to provide 20 low-income BVSD high school students with workforce readiness skills, training, and leadership development to help prepare them for success after graduation. 

The sessions are delivered in partnership with industry and community professionals who know firsthand how the application of these skills leads to success. So far, students:

• were guided through a self-knowledge journey and exercises to find their purpose with Ross Wehner of the World Leadership School,

• learned about professional communications and networking, including best practices for emails, phone calls, texting, and tips for expanding their networks, from Royce Hauw of Goodyear and Natasha Wright of Google,

• learned and practiced new skills through an evening of mock interviews with local HR professionals who shared their wisdom and experience.

How one student described the most valuable thing they learned:

“Communication, because I didn’t realize I could make a stronger impression from just shaking someone’s hand.”

Career Readiness Participant

What other skills will participants gain?

In the remaining four workshops, Career Readiness Academy students will learn about different skill sets and what jobs they may align with, the impact of social media, and participate in workplace simulations. We’ll also be working closely with our community partners to help students line up summer employment and put all of their new skills to use.

Is your company is interested in supporting our work?
Learn about corporate partnerships >>

Thank you to our Career Readiness Academy sponsors, Anchor Point Foundation, Seagate Technology, Premier Members Credit Union, Cielo Foundation Boulder, and Google. And thank you to IOE volunteer Cathleen Kendall for leading the preparation for our mock interview session last week and the 20 volunteer business leaders who participated.

BEFORE YOU GO …

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We support Boulder Valley public school students with community funding and resources in order to meet critical needs and eliminate opportunity gaps. Your support keeps us going strong and your donation will help us equalize opportunity, bolster academic success for local students.

We’re excited to introduce you to our new Program Manager, Matt Tebo. Matt will oversee programmatic initiatives, investments, and evaluation in close coordination with the Boulder Valley School District and other partners.

He brings five years of program management and capacity building experience from the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools, with a particular focus on early childhood education and career readiness. He holds a BA from the University of Colorado Boulder and an MBA from Nebraska Wesleyan University.

The importance of education

Matt believes human potential is unlimited but knows that opportunity is not. He wants to live in a world where public schools have everything they need to help students reach their potential. “Sometimes all they need is a little flexibility and we can help with that,” Matt says. “I believe strongly in the work of public schools and know how a foundation can support a District.”

On our educational journeys, each of us gets the rare chance to truly create from scratch and create new understanding for ourselves. “We rarely do it alone, so we also create a community,” Matt says. “I don’t know of a more worthy pursuit than learning with and from each other.”

More about Matt

Matt grew up in New Mexico and came to Colorado to run track and cross country at the University of Colorado Boulder. While here, he met his wife Jess – who is by far the best runner in their family. They chased their dreams in Seattle and Lincoln, Nebraska before moving their family back to Colorado. Matt loves Colorado for the outdoors and the opportunity to have their kids grow up near cousins, 2nd cousins, grandparents, great-grands, aunts, and uncles.

What makes him smile
Catching crawdads and wrestling with his kids (Abe and Frank). Going on a little run with Jess. 

Ask him about
Social entrepreneurship, distance running, or the beauty of the southwest (specifically New Mexico and Colorado)

Connect with Matt

• Send him an email
• Find him on LinkedIn

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