FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Graduating college debt-free is possible for Colorado students who are interested in the horticulture field, thanks to the Colorado Garden Foundation full-ride scholarship.
The nonprofit organization uses income generated from the Colorado Garden & Home Show and the Colorado Fall Home Show to help fund scholarship programs and horticulture grants throughout the state. Previously, Denver7 covered how one of these grants was given to the Mackintosh Academy’s greenhouse to help with major upgrades.
Jim Frinkle, Colorado Garden Foundation executive director, said board member Jerry Connell came up with the idea to put a student through college so they could graduate debt-free.
"It really is a full ride, and when we say full ride, it really includes tuition, books, fees, room and board. It includes everything, plus a laptop freshman year and so the kids after four years graduate completely debt-free, and so it's really been a big deal," Frinkle said.
Mya Kevil received the full-ride scholarship in 2022 and is currently a junior at Colorado State University (CSU), where she is studying horticulture and minoring in agricultural literacy. After researching the scholarship program, she said she applied so she could pursue an agricultural education.
"It was at the end of my senior year of high school," Kevil explained. "I was in my high school conference room, and I got the email and the call that I had gotten it. And I was just overjoyed, and I could finally stop worrying about all the logistics of my college career and finally start worrying about the opportunities it was going to present me with."
Ever since she was little, Kevil explained, she would garden with her Aunt Lisa and had a little garden bed with flowers and other plants. Over the years, she discovered her passion for growing crops and wanting to help the world be more sustainable with food.
"I always knew that I had a passion for horticulture, and even without the scholarship, I probably would have attended somewhere else and still gotten the degree I'm pursuing, but it would have left out a lot of opportunities for me," Kevil said. "So now, I'm truly connected to the agricultural education department at CSU, and it's going to lead me into the careers that I truly find passion for, because I love growing plants like this, but it doesn't quite mean as much to me if I can't share that knowledge with people."
Currently, Kevil visits the plant growth facilities several days a week to help take care of thousands of sorghum plants that are being used for research purposes to improve the crop.
While she still has another year left at CSU, Kevil plans to go into research on food crops while also educating people about this field. Evidently, she said it is thanks to the scholarship that she can truly focus on her studies and apply her degree after graduation.
"This scholarship is a full ride, four-year scholarship, and it's allowing me to study at CSU without constraints of my finances or worrying about loans, or worrying about working every day. I can truly focus on getting the education that I deserve and it's all funded by Colorado Foundation," Kevil said.
While the scholarship for this year is closed, Fricke encourages interested students to go to their website for details on the program. The next upcoming event for the nonprofit is Aug. 16 and 17 with the Colorado Fall Home Show. Details can be found here.
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