James Tharp named finalist for prestigious Daniels Fund Scholarship

James Tharp is a lot of things. He’ll tell you he’s a snowboarding guy; a soccer guy; a self-proclaimed math guy. He may be more of a physics or engineering guy.

When the Coal Ridge High School senior talks about community and bringing people together, structure is important. The kind of structure that comes from the world of physics or engineering.

“We all just have to be there for each other,” explained James. “A community is only as strong as its weakest link. So If you have a bunch of people that all hold and support each other up and they're all equally as strong - that's the strongest you can possibly be”

That’s what James strives to do - strengthen community.

James is Coal Ridge High School’s most recent Daniels Fund Scholarship finalist. The Daniels Scholarship Program allows recipients to attend any accredited non-profit college or university in the United States, and the program covers the expenses - up to $100,000 - that remain after all other scholarships and financial aid have been applied. According to the Daniel’s Fund, they seek free and entrepreneurial thinkers who are proud of their country and their community and will work hard to improve it.

The process to becoming a Daniels Scholar is challenging including a detailed application process with five essays, and an in-person panel interview. James is in the final stages of the process and must sit for the in-person interview next month.

James is not deterred by the interview process. His passion and his motivators will get him through just about anything.

“I wanna be successful for my friends and my family and have them have someone to look up to and be able to lean on,” said James.

James is determined to connect people in a meaningful way.

“I just want to build a bigger sense of community, and I don’t really mean on a  big global, country or state scale. Community can mean just me and my town, or me and my friends, then of my town and then like bigger, just like a sense of community and creating a sense of unitedness. I just want to spread that to more people because it feels really good to be part of community,” explained James.

James is taking an Advanced Placement course load at Coal Ridge, is a varsity athlete and holds down a part time job. He is considering several schools to attend after high school including Colorado State, University of Montana or University of Oregon, and all have one thing in common - proximity to snowboarding.

Regardless of where, or in what discipline, James is about building better people. It’s one of the things he has taken from his time at Coal Ridge.

“I think one of the best things about Coal Ridge is the  diversity of the people that I've hung out with. I like to bring a little bit of everyone I became cool with, because I feel like there's something to learn from most people. You just have to take the time to talk to them.”

Ultimately, he just wants to leave the world a better place.

“There's this quote that I've always heard, ‘First you have to take care of yourself and save yourself. Then you save your family, then you help and save your friends. Once you did that, then you can finally move on to bigger things. You can move onto your town and the  community. So that's what I want to do. I want to slowly start with my friends and help them out and help make sure they're good, set them straight, they have all their stuff together, and then just keep on going bigger and bigger and doing whatever I can.”