Seniors Robin Emerson and Sara Thurber rewarded with the DPS Retired Employees Fund Scholarship.
Each year, the top-ranked students in each senior class from every Denver Public High School have the opportunity to apply for the DPS Retired Employees Fund Scholarship. At Thomas Jefferson High School, that means that Robin Emerson and Sara Thurber were both eligible to receive this valuable honor.
The DPS Retired Employees Scholarship was started in 1996, allowing retired DPS employees to show their interest in the future development of the students, even after they leave their jobs. Put simply, retired DPS employees set aside a portion of their retirement money every year, creating scholarships for students.
What started as a small project of two $1,000 scholarships has now grown into a life-changing 10 scholarships, worth a renewable $6,000 each year, allowing for a possible $24,000 value over a standard four-year college plan.
For Emerson and Thurber, the process started out with TJ Counselor Laura Trujillo informing the students of their qualifications, and getting started on the application. After a complete evaluation of each student’s academic accomplishments and their community service and involvement, selected semi-finalists were asked to participate in a rigorous personal interview conducted by the scholarship committee.
Emerson and Thurber were semi-finalists representing TJ, and commented on the intensity of the personal interview. “It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever had to do,” said Emerson. “We had about ten minutes to review the questions, and then had to keep talking and answer every question in a 20 minute period,” she added.
Both Emerson and Thurber received their acceptance letters on the same day and were honored at a recipients’ luncheon. “I was very nervous, and not to mention I had the flu. It was a huge relief when it was all over,” stated Thurber. “It feels very good to win this award. This makes paying for college much less of a burden,” she added.
Emerson, plans to enroll at the Colorado School of Mines, and Thurber has been accepted at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. They both must maintain a high GPA and write a progress letter every semester to reap the full benefits of the scholarship.
