Parents Challenge is not another scholarship resource.  On the contrary, we are committed to partnering with parents and guardians to ensure that the young scholars in our community have access to the necessary resources, be it financial or otherwise, to successfully walk out the educational path that best suits them.

Since we commit to partner with families through the entirety of primary and secondary schooling, we also commit to fostering relationships with them.  As a result, we often receive updates from families with whom we have partnered in the past.  What follows is an update from the Torres family: Victor Jr., Yesenia, Victor III, Evan, Justin, Stephanie, and Aiden. 

As you read, we hope that you too will be encouraged and inspired.

“Personally, we (Victor Jr. and Yesenia) celebrated our 25^th Silver Wedding Anniversary last year and are getting closer to having an empty nest.”

“Of our five beautiful children, Victor III, a Daniels Scholar, graduated from Colorado College with a double major in Physics and Classics.  Since graduating, he has moved to Ames, Iowa where he is pursuing his PhD in Material Science at the University of Iowa and working as an Engineering Fellow.”

“Evan was also a Daniels Scholarship recipient and graduated from Colorado State University (CSU), Fort Collins. He is now engaged to his finance Miranda who was also a Daniels Scholar at the same university. They both virtually graduated in 2020.  Evan received a bachelor’s degree in Construction Management with a minor in Sustainability, and Miranda earned her bachelor’s degree in Phycology. They have two beautiful dogs and are moving to Montana in the Fall of 2021 to work in their respective fields of study.”

The Daniels Scholarship is a monetary scholarship that supports students living in the four-state region of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.  The scholarship may be used in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree at any accredited nonprofit college in the United States.  Through the Parental Empowerment sessions we offer, families are able to learn about scholarships such as this one that can support their high school graduates as they continue on into higher education.

Additionally, it is quite common to find some of our former scholars pursuing careers in our community, as Yesenia continues to explain below:

“Justin…graduated from high school and went on to attend the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. For the last two years, he has been actively working in this field as a sworn Community Service Officer for the City of Colorado Springs. Recently, he was accepted as a police officer recruit for the Colorado Springs Police Department.”

“Stephanie…was also awarded the Daniels Scholarship and is pursuing her degree in Human Services at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs with a minor in Criminal Justice. She too is actively working in her field and is currently employed by the El Paso County Department of Human Services where she makes an impact in her community, one client at a time.”

During the height of the pandemic, Parents Challenge supported the partnering families by providing, food, computers, or other resources that were necessary for a stable and effective online learning environment.  For many students, online learning was difficult, but we see that Aiden, the youngest of the group, was able to be successful:

“Aiden, our youngest, has also graduated high school and was awarded a full scholarship for his freshman semester at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He is pursuing his degree in Communications with a concentration in digital film. Although Aiden was unable to attend his first year of college on campus, he was able to maintain a 3.3 GPA going into his sophomore year.”

“The empowerment we as a family have gained, such as knowledge of community resources, ways in which we can advocate, and the understanding that we have choice has allowed our family to grow and take advantage of all opportunities available to us. Our children’s success remains our mission, and we are so grateful and thankful that Parents Challenge believed and invested in us.”