Three Coal Ridge Seniors Earn Finalist Spots for Colorado’s Top Scholarships

Yahir Garcia, Chloe Coon, and Gracie Appleton are finalists for three prestigious scholarships, each recognizing students for their character, leadership, and academic promise: Yahir for the Boettcher Scholarship, Chloe for the Michael E. McGoldrick (MEM) Scholarship, and Gracie for the Daniels Scholarship.

Each scholarship is highly competitive. Each carries significant financial support. But more importantly, each recognizes the traits Garfield Re-2 and Coal Ridge strive to cultivate in every graduate: students who are academically prepared, empowered individuals, community-connected, and strong and determined.

These three embody that profile in very different, very personal ways.

Yahir Garcia

Boettcher Finalist | CU Denver BS/MD Admit

From nearly 2,000 applicants statewide, Yahir advanced to the final round of the Boettcher Scholarship. The Boettcher Scholarship is a merit-based scholarship for Colorado high school seniors that is awarded in partnership with our state’s four-year, nonprofit institutions of higher education and includes a $20,000 award to any Colorado four-year college or university.

But long before applications and interviews, his purpose was already forming.

Growing up, Yahir often translated medical information for his parents, carefully choosing words in hospital rooms and worrying that misunderstanding a phrase could impact their health.

“I don’t want other kids to have to carry the burden of translating life-altering medical information for their families,” he said.

Yahir has been admitted into the highly selective CU Denver BS/MD program, which accepts just 10 students per year and provides conditional acceptance into medical school. His long-term goal is to return to rural Colorado and practice primary care in communities that struggle to access physicians.

At Coal Ridge, he is president of the National Honor Society, founder of the Healthcare Careers Club, a soccer and track athlete, and a multi-job employee. He started the club so that younger students would know about internships and opportunities he had discovered on his own.

That is what Community Connected looks like.

That is what Empowered Individual looks like.

Chloe Coon

MEM Scholarship Finalist

The Michael E. McGoldrick Scholarship is a relatively new scholarship on the financial aid landscape. This scholarship program is dedicated to young students with a passion for education and adventure, and a desire to contribute positively to our society by enhancing and giving of their unique gifts and talents to make the world a better place. It is open to students across Colorado and Washington.

Chloe almost didn’t apply because of the magnitude and selectiveness of the opportunity.

“I thought it was so competitive that I wouldn’t even have a chance,” she shared.

Instead, she chose courage.

Her application reflected a student deeply committed to service. She volunteers at the One Door Family Resource Center, helping organize the community closet to create a welcoming space for families. An experience volunteering through her church changed her mindset about her own circumstances. 

“It showed me how lucky and privileged I am and how you don't really know how much people value help until you experience giving it,” she explained. “It really changed my mindset and made me more aware of the people in our community and what they need.”

In her finalist video, she spoke about losing a classmate to suicide and how important it is to speak up and check in with people, even if you don’t think it is necessary, which shaped her empathy and advocacy for mental health awareness.

Chloe balances AP coursework, CMC classes, volleyball, National Honor Society, and a part-time job, often completing homework during quiet moments at work.

She plans to major in biology at the University of Utah and pursue dermatology research, inspired by her own experiences with skin issues and the connection they have between self-esteem and mental health.

She is academically prepared.

She is determined.

And she understands that confidence and wellness are deeply connected.

Gracie Appleton

Daniels Scholarship Finalist

The Daniels Scholarship is one of the most comprehensive and generous college scholarships in the country. It supports high-achieving, values-driven students across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, covering up to the full cost of attendance at the college or university of their choice.

Daniels Scholars are selected not just for academics, but for strength of character, leadership potential, commitment to service, and alignment with the values Bill Daniels championed: integrity, honesty, respect, reliability, entrepreneurial spirit, belief in free enterprise, patriotism, and excellence.

For Gracie Appleton, those values were not something she had to study. They were something she already lived.

“I was very true to myself,” she said of the application process. “Bill Daniels cared a lot about ethics and integrity, honesty and etiquette, and belief in free enterprise. I feel like those are things I was raised to believe in and support.”

Coming from a rural community, Gracie felt a natural alignment with Daniels’ emphasis on self-reliance, entrepreneurship, and personal responsibility. Her essays reflected her desire to study interior design and eventually open her own business, not simply to build beautiful spaces, but to build something of her own.

Gracie maintains a full schedule of Advanced Placement courses, competes in soccer, and has held multiple part-time jobs since freshman year. Balancing school, athletics, and employment has required discipline and consistency.

She journals to process challenges and prepares carefully.

In many ways, her finalist status reflects exactly what the Daniels Scholarship seeks: a student who demonstrates academic promise, leadership, strong character, and a clear commitment to living her values.

The future is bright - regardless of the outcome

What unites these three students is not just academic strength. It is perspective.

They speak about community, service, integrity,  giving back to their community and lifting others.

These students are academically prepared, deeply connected to their community, and determined to make a meaningful impact wherever they go. Regardless of final scholarship outcomes this spring, they have already achieved something powerful: they have shown what is possible.