Blair Minnard struggled through her first year of middle school as her family lived in three local motels while homeless for eight months but bounced back to become a top student at Harrison High School with plans to become a biomedical engineer.

While her family was homeless, Minnard said she struggled to maintain her grades because she couldn’t find a quiet place to study or do homework, her family was living in some areas where they were surrounded by dangerous people, and she was sometimes asked by strangers for handouts. The family’s housing issues ended when they moved into an apartment with friends for three months before moving into their own home.

“My grades dropped as I couldn’t keep focus with my work because I didn’t have my fundamental needs being met. I was progressively starting to lose motivation because seeing my parents stressed increased my anxiety,” Minnard said in her application for The Gazette’s Best and Brightest scholarship. Her father told her to “Outlive your problems and never solve a temporary problem with a negative permanent solution.”

While a freshman at Harrison, Minnard mentored students at her former middle school during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of Peak Education’s Impact Service Project, helping her to realize that “being homeless was an experience that tore me apart yet pieced me back together into someone stronger,” learning that obstacles she may face are only temporary and help someone to learn and grow, according to her application.

Minnard wants to become a biomedical engineer to develop new tools to help Black people like herself live with chronic diseases – as a type 1 diabetic she must give herself frequent insulin injections. She hopes to develop new therapies, medical devices and treatments such as an artificial pancreas that manufactures insulin developed by a Massachusetts company that she recently read about – to make life better for diabetics and others.

Her career choice was inspired by a high-school engineering class where she “got hands-on experience with utilizing different machines and creating 3-D materials using a 3-D printer,” Minnard said in her application. “I aspire to develop medical devices and technologies that are accessible and affordable, ensuring that individuals from underserved communities, such as the Black community, have access to life-saving treatments and interventions.”

Minnard has become a leader at Harrison, serving as a student representative on the Harrison School District 2 District Accountability Committee as well as the Superintendent Advisory Panel. As part of that role, she has helped develop changes in the district’s dress code to eliminate provisions that discriminate against some body types and allow students to wear hats, instead barring clothing that is too revealing or promotes negative messages.

“My perseverance and resiliency since my family moved here from Louisiana has been key to my academic success and allowed me to make a great impact on the community in Harrison (School) District 2,” Minnard said. “I work hard in school and maintain my grades by trying to find the positive in every situation, which is my family. I spent time with my family and trying to learn more about Colorado Springs.”

Lindsay Leggett, Harrison High School’s college and career counselor, called Minnard “a world changer” who continued to be a leader in her school even as her family struggled with homelessness through her persistence, ambition and staying focused on her goals.