Author: Chad Cookinham, Executive Director, Minds Matter Colorado
Key Takeaways
- Getting into college is a milestone, not the finish line. The first year of college is where many talented students lose momentum, often for reasons that have nothing to do with ability.
- Minds Matter Colorado is growing from a three-year high school program into a seven-year model, starting with a College & Career Success pilot supporting 10 alumni at CU Boulder.
- The pilot focuses on five areas: academic support, FAFSA renewal, campus navigation, belonging, and career readiness.
For 22 years, Minds Matter Colorado has measured success at a very specific moment: the day a senior opens an acceptance letter.
It is a moment worth celebrating. Every student who has completed our program has graduated high school on time and been admitted to a four-year college with scholarships. That record belongs to our students, their families, and the hundreds of volunteers who have given their Monday nights to this work.
But in my first weeks as Executive Director, one question has come up again and again, from mentors, alumni, and our team: what happens next?
This blog is our answer.
Why Acceptance Isn’t the Finish Line
The transition to college is hard for almost everyone. It asks 18-year-olds to manage their own schedules, find their own resources, handle financial aid on their own, and build a new community from scratch, often far from home.
For students who are the first in their families to go to college, it can be harder still. That is not because of ability. Our alumni are some of the most driven, capable people I have met. It is because so much of college runs on unwritten rules. Which office do you visit when a class is going badly? What happens if your aid package changes? How do you ask a professor for help, or find an internship, or know whether you are on track?
In high school, our students had answers close by. Every Monday night, they sat next to a mentor who knew their goals and could help them figure out the next step. Then they graduated, and that weekly support ended at exactly the moment the stakes got higher.
National research consistently shows a gap between the number of students who start college and the number who finish, and that gap is widest for students from low-income families. We did not want to keep sending our graduates into that gap alone.
What We Heard From Our Alumni
When we asked alumni what would have helped most in their first year of college, their answers were remarkably consistent. [Insert one or two short alumni quotes, first name + last initial, about the transition to college.]
What they described was not a lack of preparation. It was a lack of someone to call.
The Seven-Year Model
Our high school program will stay exactly what it has always been. Students join in 10th grade and are paired one-to-one with a volunteer mentor for three years. They meet every Monday night and attend two fully funded summer programs on college campuses.
What changes is the timeline. We are extending our support through the four years of college, creating a seven-year relationship between Minds Matter Colorado and every student we serve.
We are starting small and starting carefully.
The Pilot: College & Career Success at CU Boulder
This year, we launched our College & Career Success pilot with 10 Minds Matter alumni at CU Boulder. [Briefly describe how support is delivered, for example regular check-ins, a dedicated staff contact, or alumni mentors.] The pilot focuses on five areas.
Academic support. Helping students connect with tutoring, office hours, and academic advising before small challenges become big ones.
FAFSA renewal. Students must renew their FAFSA every year, and a missed renewal is one of the most common reasons students lose aid. We make sure it doesn’t slip through the cracks.
Campus navigation. Every campus has resources that can make or break a student’s experience, from advising and health services to emergency funds. We help students find them early.
Belonging. Students who feel connected to their campus are far more likely to stay. We help our alumni build community, including with each other.
Career readiness. From internships to résumés to networking, we help students start building toward life after graduation long before senior year of college.
Why We’re Starting Small
A pilot with 10 students might sound modest, and that is intentional. We want to learn what works before we grow. We want to hear directly from our alumni about what helps and what doesn’t, and to build something that lasts rather than something that sounds good on paper.
What we learn at CU Boulder will shape how College & Career Success expands to more alumni, on more campuses, in the years ahead.
What This Means for Our Community
For our students, it means the support they rely on in high school does not disappear on graduation day.
For our mentors, it means the relationships they build over three years of Monday nights become the foundation for something even longer lasting.
For our donors and partners, it means your investment in a student reaches further, from the first day of 10th grade through the first day of a career.
Because Minds Matter Colorado is about 98% volunteer-driven, every dollar already goes a long way. The seven-year model is how we make sure it goes the full distance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the seven-year model?
It is Minds Matter Colorado’s plan to support students for seven years: three years of high school programming, followed by four years of support through college.
Is the high school program changing?
No. Students will still meet every Monday night at George Washington High School, work one-to-one with a mentor for three years, and attend two fully funded summer programs.
Which alumni are part of the pilot?
The pilot currently supports 10 Minds Matter Colorado alumni at CU Boulder. [Add any detail on how participants were selected.]
Will College & Career Success expand?
That is the goal. We will use what we learn from the pilot to plan for growth to more alumni and more campuses.
How can I help?
You can support our students through a gift, volunteer as a mentor, or connect us with partners who can offer internships and career opportunities to our alumni.
Still in Your Corner
When a student joins Minds Matter Colorado as a sophomore, we make them a promise: you will not do this alone.
For 22 years, we kept that promise through high school. Now we are keeping it through college and into whatever comes next.
I am grateful to lead this organization at a moment like this one, and I am excited to build it together with our students, mentors, families, and supporters. If you would like to be part of what comes next, we would love to have you.
Learn more about Minds Matter Colorado and College & Career Success.
https://mindsmatterco.org/
