Yaelyn Chavez grew up going to the Greeley Stampede every summer to enjoy the carnival on a summer night with her family. As she grew up, she graduated from the kids’ rides to the big rides, but she never expected that the Stampede would provide her with the biggest ride of her life.
That life-changing ride started Thursday morning at Roosevelt High School in Johnstown.
Chavez, a senior, thought she was meeting with principal Dave Benson and teacher Jennifer Borison to discuss her graduation speeches. Chavez is the student body president and holds a slew of other prestigious accolades.
However, when she entered the room, she thought was for looking over previous speeches. She saw her family and faces from the Greeley Stampede Foundation.
“When I saw my family, I knew something was going on,” she said. “I recognized the interviewers from the Greeley Stampede (Foundation).”
Once she saw the Stampede folks, she had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
Chavez walked into a celebration for her being the first recipient of the All-Around Champion Impact Scholarship from the Greeley Stampede Foundation. The scholarship was announced this past November, and it provides up to $25,000 annually for tuition and fees to a four-year college to one graduating Weld County high school student.
Chavez was awarded a $100,000 check from the foundation.
“She’s got plans. She is dedicated. She is driven, yet she is also one of the nicest young people you want to meet,” said Tracy Damrell, Greeley Stampede Foundation Chairman.
Out of 118 applications for other scholarships the foundation offers, five were selected to be considered for the All-Round Scholarship. The other finalists were Corra Fetzer from Platte Valley High School, Tessa Johnston and Dante Parlin from Greeley Central High School and Ryan Sharp from Eaton High School.
The five finalists interviewed with the board members of the foundation. Damrell said it was hard selecting one recipient, but selecting Chavez left no doubts amongst the board.
“There’s no question in mind — and I think this is true for most of the members on the board — that when we look back on this in 10 years and see where she’s at, she’s going to be somebody who has real potential to change lives for the better,” Damrell said. “She’s going to make a difference in this world, and that’s what we’re so proud of.”
Chavez will leave Roosevelt soon, as well as Johnstown and Colorado. She will attend the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school in Philadelphia. There, she will enroll in the Wharton School of Business.
Her studies will focus on health care management and policy. She envisions having a career as a health care administrator, ideally becoming an executive administrator for a large hospital like UCHealth.
She learned in elementary school how to be in charge and lead. She was involved with student council, running club, after-school art, after-school choir and robotics.
If that sounds like a lot for an elementary student, it’s because her older sister, Yesenia, set the bar high. Yesenia graduated from Roosevelt in 2016. She graduated from Yale, received her master’s from Johns Hopkins University and now works in Chicago, her little sister said.
Seeing her big sister’s accomplishments inspired Chavez to forge her own path to success. The sisters were selected to receive the Boettcher Scholarship, which is one of the top academic scholarships in Colorado. It provides $20,000 per year for four years to any Colorado college. Yesenia also received a Greeley Stampede Foundation scholarship her senior year.
“I wanted to take advantage of the paths that not only Yesenia but my other older siblings have paved for me,” Chavez said. “But I also wanted to take my own steps in that path and leave behind my own legacy.”
It’s a legacy she credits to her parents, who came to the United States from Mexico with next to nothing. What they did bring was the drive and passion for their children to succeed. And for Chavez, it’s a gift she is forever thankful for.
“They’ve given everything for not just me but my siblings, as well, to be the best version of ourselves,” she said. “So, I’m entirely very much grateful for my parents. They’ve been a great role model not just for academics and wanting to be a good student but also to just be a good person.”
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