Celebrating Dreams Come True - “I Have a Dream” Foundation of Boulder County hosts a special graduation ceremony for their Dreamers

While still in elementary school, Dreamers stood in front of their family and friends and vowed that they would “go all the way to college and make it big.” “I Have a Dream” staff and Class Sponsors (Debra Lane, Steve Brett and Linda Shoemaker) made the commitment to never give up on them, no matter what. After a decade of hard work, perseverance, and many obstacles, 14 Dreamers from the “I Have a Dream” Foundation are fulfilling their dreams of high school graduation and are on their way to college and “making it big.”

This group of children was “adopted” into the “I Have a Dream” Foundation of Boulder County, a dropout prevention program that uses academic programs, long-term mentoring relationships and the guarantee of a tuition-assistance scholarship to help at-risk youth achieve their dreams. According to Boulder Valley School District, only 60% of these low-income, at-risk students (majority of them Hispanic) were expected to graduate from high school. That was before “I Have a Dream” intervened with its early dropout prevention program. Today, “I Have a Dream” is proud to report that 90 percent will graduate high school this spring, and 93 percent are continuing on to post-secondary education.

They all had obstacles and economic barriers to overcome, but in the program they all have one thing in common – opportunity. Each Dreamer is eligible for an “I Have a Dream” scholarship, which provides up to $4,600 per year to the higher education setting of the student’s choice.

The “I Have a Dream”® Foundation of Boulder County is hosting a special graduation ceremony for the Dreamers at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at the CU Stadium Club in Boulder. They will be awarded scholarships for higher education and will be acknowledged for their achievements in the “I Have a Dream” program.

“We are so proud of our graduating Dreamers,” said Lori Canova, chief executive officer. “It’s encouraging to see how far they have come and we are excited to see how far they will go.”

WHAT: Graduation celebration event celebrating the accomplishments of graduating Dreamers
WHEN: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 29th, 2008
WHERE: CU Stadium Club overlooking Folsom Field
WHO: 14 Dreamers will celebrate their accomplishments and receive a four-year “I Have a Dream” tuition-assistance scholarship:

GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR PHOTOS AND INTERVIEWS


About The “I Have a Dream”® Foundation of Boulder County Since 1990, the “I Have a Dream”® Foundation of Boulder County has helped 400 children from low-income areas achieve their education and career goals by providing long-term personal and academic support, tutoring, mentoring and four-year tuition-assistant scholarships to each graduating student. The organization adopts entire groups of students from elementary schools, or from low-income public housing sites and works with these children and their families through high school. Currently, there are five “I Have a Dream” classes in Boulder County, in Boulder, Longmont and Lafayette. The program doubled expected graduation rates for its first two graduating classes of students, and awards over $90,000 in scholarships each year.

The program follows the national model established in New York in 1981 by founder Eugene Lang. Since then, 180 Projects nationwide have helped more than 14,000 students. The “I Have a Dream”® Foundation of Boulder County’s main office is located at 2515 E. Sterling Circle, Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80301. For more information, call 303-444-3636 or visit www.ihadboulder.org.