Author: Carol Mcgraw
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Best and Brightest: Turning struggles into academic success
Nicolas Villanueva says he has faced plenty of discrimination as a Mexican American. He has been hurt by racial jokes and unkind remarks. He was born in Colorado Springs after his parents came here seeking a better life. He did not speak English until he was 4 years old. For years, he was often mocked…
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Best and Brightest: Hard work keeps scholar ahead
Sydney Pavetti-Hankey is graduating a year early from Doherty High School. She has always been ahead. In 8th grade she took advanced high school English and math classes. This year she has been taking classes at Pikes Peak Community College, including advanced calculus. But there is another reason for the hard work beyond the academic.…
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Best and Brightest: Bringing determination to every situation
Arabella Quintanilla plans to go to Colorado School of Mines to study biochemistry and biomedical engineering. But while she’s there she has another goal: Get the school to start a women’s wrestling team. She is one of the top wrestlers in the state, and her math teacher Kyleigh Bloyd said Arabella is insightful, strategic and…
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Best and Brightest: Leadership skills motivate student to achieve
Amber Wright is known as a leader. Her resume is peppered with her leadership and organizational skills for such things as captain of the debate team, National Honor Society’s director of community service, Key Club, and co-editor of the school paper. At Palmer Ridge High School, one of her proudest community service moments was organizing…
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BEST WORKPLACES: Summit Wealth Group
Brand logos are sometimes mere designs. But in the case of Summit Wealth Group, both the name Summit and the logo — a thriving tree — have significant meaning for employees and clients. The company, an independent wealth management firm, was founded by Randy Morris, chief executive officer, in 2002. He chose the name Summit…
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BEST WORKPLACES: Colorado Springs Therapy Center
Katey Blehm started Colorado Springs Therapy Center in a converted storage room in a friend’s office in 2012. She was working solo, but soon that small space would not work at all. That’s because one day her entrepreneurial light bulb came on while watching her two children, then aged 4 and 2, take swim lessons.…
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BEST WORKPLACES: Vanguard Skin Specialists
When she met the young former prostitute in Cambodia it was “one of those moments when God puts a mirror up to your soul,” Leisle Chung, chief executive officer of Vanguard Skin Specialists, has noted in a biographical sketch. The 17-year-old girl had taken care of her mother and siblings by working in a brothel.…
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BEST WORKPLACES: Rocky Mountain Health Care Services
Matthew South, 32, an enrollment specialist at Rocky Mountain Health Care Services (RMHCS), has been with the nonprofit for four and a half years. He says it is the most rewarding work he has had in health care. It not only provides generous benefits, he said, but the satisfaction of helping elderly clients. “The heartfelt…
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Empty Stocking Fund: TESSA
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A woman had fled another state where her husband had beat her and threatened to kill her. In Colorado Springs, she heard about TESSA, a victim’s advocate agency. There she explained her plight to a confidential victim’s advocate, who offered her understanding and some peace of mind. The organization also provided her with donated clothes…
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Empty Stocking Fund: YMCA
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When some people hear the name YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region they think basketball, fitness classes, the swimming pools. “We aren’t only slim and gym,” said Jamie Holstein, vice president of Programming. This is captured in one of the non-profit organization’s mottos: “The Y is more than you know. It is a cause.” The…