Ann E. Wibbenmeyer, Herald Staff Writer
Kristen Wells is a Boettcher scholar, the second Lake County High School senior in two years to receive this honor.
Wells said that she will either be attending Colorado College in Colorado Springs or Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. She plans to major in English and sports medicine.
This merit-based scholarship will cover all full tuition, fees, a book allowance and an annual stipend for living expenses. It is good for eight semesters at a Colorado public or private four-year college or university as long as Wells maintains a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.0.
She is one of 40 Colorado seniors to be awarded the scholarship this year out of more than 1,200 applicants, said Wells.
What made the difference for getting the scholarship, said Wells, was coming from a smaller community, where getting involved in more activities is easier than at bigger schools. She has been able to participate in band, sports and National Honor Society at the same time, whereas at bigger schools this may not be possible.
Most of the scholarship recipients, she said, come from more rural areas.
Taking classes at Colorado Mountain College the last couple of years was also helpful, she said.
“I have a drive to continue my education and a passion for learning,” she said.
The application for the scholarship came out in November this year and is 21 pages that included four essays to be written.
Wells said that she wrote about her Link-Leader experience as a way in that she made a difference in someone’s life. A volunteer experience that she enjoyed and wrote about was the winter-clothing drive she did this fall. Wells wrote about Kim Watchorn, a former English teacher at the high school, as a person who made a large difference in her life.
From that point, 200 applicants were asked for three letters of reference each. Then only 72 applicants were chosen to be interviewed for the scholarship.
Wells had her interview on Feb. 11. The experience was a laid-back one, she said, and after talking to another applicant and one of the directors, she said she was not nervous for the interview.
This article was reprinted from the Feb. 26 edition of the Leadville Herald Democrat.