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Article titled 'An Undocumented Student's Path to College' shares local high schooler's story

It's not often an article in a student newspaper catches our attention. But this one did.
Generic view of a classroom

DENVER — "Going to college is a dream for many teenagers in the US. For undocumented students however, that is all it is. A dream."

 A student at Bruce Randolph School in Denver published those words in the student newspaper last week in an article titled An Undocumented Student's Path to College. 

"It's a sensitive subject," said Samantha Garcia, a college adviser for the Denver Scholarship Foundation. Her office is in Bruce Randolph School. She's spent the entire year working with high school seniors at the school preparing them for college. 

“Our advisers really develop an extraordinary relationship with our students," said Lorii Rabinowitz, the CEO of the Denver Scholarship Foundation (DSF). 

DSF serves 21 public schools in Denver. The foundation works with every high school senior in those schools on plans for college, scholarship opportunities, FAFSA applications, and entrance essays.

"We believe in access for all students in Denver to higher education," Rabinowitz said. 

Including the ones who are in the country without legal documentation.

"My uncle brought me here when I was 3 and I have lived in Colorado since," the student wrote in his article. "Before the school year started I was completely unsure of what I would be doing once the school year ended. I remember looking at the $20,000 price tag on a college pamphlet and wondering how I could ever possibly go to college."

That's where the Denver Scholarship Foundation and the Future Center come in. Since 2006, DSF has served more than 6,300 Denver students. Last year alone, the foundation awarded about 5.2 million dollars in scholarships.

“At Denver Scholarship foundation we work with students beginning in high school all the way to and through college graduation," Rabinowitz said. "74 percent of our students are the first in their families to go to college.”

Thanks to their help, the student is going to attend the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in the fall.

To learn more or donate to the foundation, visit Denverscholarship.org.

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