DENVER — When Renae Bellew was a student at Kennedy High School in Denver, she was invited to apply for a scholarship she had never heard of started by a new nonprofit at the time, The Daniels Fund.
"Interviewed for this program like I didn't quite understand or I didn't understand exactly what I was interviewing for," Bellew said.
The year was 1999, and The Daniels Fund was just taking form. Bill Daniels was a pioneer of the cable television industry. He wanted to give back to the community, so The Daniels Fund was created, offering scholarships to students in need. 9NEWS has been a partner with The Daniels Fund over the years.
Bellew had planned to live at home in southwest Denver and attend community college. She said that's what her family could afford, until she got that phone call telling her she was in the first class of Daniels Scholarship winners in 2000.
"I had a scholarship to go anywhere I wanted, and my life changed," Bellew said.
The money allowed her to go to the University of Colorado in Boulder, where she would understand a world far from Kennedy High School.
"I knew that I was going to have access to opportunities and experiences that I would have never dreamed of or thought of," Bellew said.
Bellew said she grew close to a group of other Daniels Scholars who attended CU, and said that support and other wraparound services helped her succeed while in school. But it did create a feeling she didn't expect.
"I had my moments of guilt around, why me?" Bellew said.
The Daniels Scholarship covers the full cost of attendance at what it calls "partner schools" within Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico. It will cover the costs of schools outside of this region for up to $25,000 per year.
When Bellew graduated from CU, she went back to Kennedy High School to help students find their own path to college.
"To come full circle and be back at my school doing exactly what I envisioned I would do as soon as I stepped foot on that CU Boulder campus, that was remarkable," Bellew said.
Now, she manages programs for the Denver Scholarship Foundation, paying it back to students in the same ways she was helped years ago. Bellew said that feeling of guilt has turned into something else.
"Today, it motivates me. That's what drives me. That's what energizes me," Bellew said.
The deadline to apply for the Daniels Scholarship is Oct. 15.
"I certainly encourage you to submit the application. You never know what will become of it," Bellew said. "But, if you do get it, you could have access to some of the same opportunities."
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Education stories from 9NEWS