MANITOU SPRINGS — The Incline Friends scholarship is helping 3 high school graduates take their next step. For the second year in a row, the Incline Friends non-profit is awarding college scholarships to students who have shown an interest in outdoor recreation, environmental stewardship, and preservation of our natural resources.
“I love advocating for plants and for the environment, especially here in Colorado,” Elizabeth Rose said.
On Saturday, the three recipients, Keaton Morrison, Elizabeth Rose, Jesse Sellars were given their certificate.
“I was really happy. I felt like this was a scholarship that kind of just fit my interests and it fit my desires for the future. I liked knowing that I was receiving a scholarship from an organization that shared my interests and my love for the environment and my love for native plants,” Rose said.
Rose is a senior at Air Academy High School. She will attend Princeton University in the fall after graduating alongside Jesse Sellars from Air Academy High School.
“Next step yep, so next year, I'll be off to the University of Nevada Reno, where I'll study Business Management and minor in Spanish,” Sellars said.
Sellars said he wants to focus on outdoor recreational and environmental business.
“Even though they are two very different things and on different sides of spectrum. There's a whole lot of value and bringing those two things together. And because I am so passionate about it, it makes it it's not work for me like it's play. I'm working for the thing that I love and so it's really easy for me to do, and it's something that can make a big impact to in an area that's not really focused on very much in the business world,” Sellars said.
Keaton Morrison is graduating from Widefield High School and intends to study civil and environmental engineering.
“Maybe I could step foot in like property development and things like that and start moving towards like mixed use, like walkable neighborhoods,” Morrison said.
Morrison said his goal is to be debt-free when he graduates. He expressed his appreciation for the scholarship.
“It's really exciting like hearing back and then letting you know that you've got it is kind of like a relief and joy,” Morrison said.
The students were awarded with a scholarship of $2,768 dollars each, the same number as the number of stairs on the incline.
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