DENVER (March 30, 2007) - The Denver Scholarship Foundation (DSF) announced today that it has named five Future Center Coordinators to serve in Denver high schools as post-secondary advisors for students.

The Future Center Coordinators will join the DSF team on April 16, 2007, bringing an array of talents and experience in education on the local and state levels.

The Future Centers are post-secondary resource centers, located in Denver high schools, that serve as hubs for students to achieve success during and beyond high school. The Future Center Coordinators, working with school-based counselors and other pre-collegiate services, will assist students and families with admission, financial aid and scholarship applications, along with teaching underclassmen the importance of high school academics. The goal of the FutureCenter is to enhance the college-going culture in Denver's public high schools.

"We are forming one of the most dynamic teams of post-secondary advising experts in the country," said Dr. Janet Gullickson, DSF's Executive Director. "These five individuals, together with our current staff, exemplify the expertise and passion we're looking for to transform the community of Denver and beyond. They are sources of support and messengers of information to our Denver families, turning hope into outcomes. Their role in fulfilling the mission of our Board of Directors and founders is crucial."

The Future Center Coordinators are listed below with their school assignments.

·Raymael Blackwell (GeorgeWashingtonHigh School) Mr. Blackwell served as an advisor and counselor for the Upward Bound Program at ColoradoStateUniversity in Fort Collins for the past three years. While at CSU, Mr. Blackwell facilitated individual and small group academic support sessions for a large caseload of high school students. He holds a bachelor of science degree from ColoradoStateUniversity.

·Cynthia Castillo (ThomasJeffersonHigh School) Ms. Castillo worked as a college advisor for The Princeton Review's High Horizons project in Denver since 2004. Ms. Castillo assisted all of North's students to prepare them for post-secondary education and has close to 10 years of experience as a teacher and advisor in three states. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Florida.

·Robin Russel (liaison for all DPS charter, alternative schools) Ms. Russel had been the director of community outreach and college counseling for P.S.1 CharterSchool in Denver since 1998. Ms. Russel helped create a YouthEmploymentAcademy to teach job readiness and literacy to urban youth. She brings more than 20 years of experience as an educator in public and private schools, along with the non-profit sector. Ms. Russel holds an MBA from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Virginia.

·Beatrice Salazar (WestHigh School) Ms. Salazar was a financial aid counselor at Metro State College of Denver for the past five years. At MSCD, her main duties were to authorize and disburse financial aid awards under policies and regulations of financial aid eligibility. Ms. Salazar also has been involved in student affairs at the Auraria Campus since her undergraduate years on campus. She holds two bachelor of arts degrees from the University of Colorado at Denver.

·Armando Somoza (EastHigh School) Mr. Somoza is completing a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Denver. He also has worked at the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women where he was a youth coach and facilitator of the Kellogg Foundation's Leadership for Community Change project. Mr. Somoza earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He will be working at his alma mater, EastHigh School.

The Denver Scholarship Foundation's vision is for all students of Denver Public Schools (DPS) to complete an education beyond high school and to support the DenverPublic School system in becoming the best urban school district in the U.S.

The program currently provides immediate support and scholarship opportunities to nearly 900 students who will graduate in May from Abraham Lincoln, Montbello and SouthHigh Schools. Future Centers opened at these three pilot schools on January 9, 2007, and are under the direction of Future Center Coordinators Curtis Esquibel (Abraham Lincoln), Charles Edward Dukes (Montbello), Yessica Holguin (South) as well as two coordinators who will serve high schools beginning in April, Renae Bruning (John F. Kennedy) and Ximena Quintana (North).

DSF will expand beyond the pilot schools to all DPS high schools for the graduating class of 2008. The foundation's goal is to be one of the largest privately-funded college access programs in the country with annual funding of $20 million in scholarships for nearly 6,000 DPS graduates participating in higher education in Colorado.

The foundation was co-founded in November, 2006, by Denver residents and business leaders Tim and Bernadette Marquez, who donated a multi-million dollar challenge grant to increase the ability of urban Denver students to earn a post-high school education.

The foundation's board includes the Marquez's, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Denver Public School Superintendent Michael Bennett, Donnell-Kay Foundation Executive Director Tony Lewis, DPS School Board President Theresa Peña, President of Hexagon Investments Scott Reiman, and former Colorado Governor Roy Romer.

For more information about the Denver Scholarship Foundation, please visit www.denverscholarship.org or call 303.951.4140.

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