(Aug. 24, 2009) The University of Colorado Denver downtown alumni scholarship lunch held earlier this month honored the students who were selected to receive the alumni scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year. About $132,000 total was distributed to the outstanding students at Rock Bottom Brewery on the 16th Street Mall.
Alumni scholarship recipients included 49 undergraduates and four graduate students. On hand also were 77 corporate donors and alumni volunteers, many of whom also donated money and assisted in the acquisition of funds from others sources.
“The event provided a venue for the recipients to receive their checks from the Alumni Association and to meet and thank their donors,” explained Carol Heller, director of the alumni association.
Cathy Kaledo, chair of the scholarship committee, was “overwhelmed with the quality of the students that were selected.” In addition, Gedeon LaFarge, president of the Alumni Association, noted it was “rewarding to see how genuinely grateful the students were to receive both financial and moral support from the Alumni Association.”
Undergraduates received $2,500 and graduate students received $3,000 each for the year.
Denton Crofts, president of Hatton Point Inc. and a member of the alumni association board of directors, presented a computer to student Moses Ongalo, who had to cross town to do his homework on a computer. Crofts is hoping other companies will join him in this annual gift. In an emotional show of gratitude, Ongalo said he hopes to move back to his native country, Africa, with his family to provide nursing services to those in need.
The Alumni Association notes the event was many of several held at Rock Bottom, a strong supporter of the scholarship program.
Photo: Student Moses Ongalo, left, chats with alumni volunteer Annie Davies MacLachlan, director of marketing in the School of Public Affairs, before being awarded a new computer.