Ahnika’s experience with instability and homelessness, coupled with the tremendous support of a Colorado Springs community that nurtured her during difficult times, created an insatiable drive to never give up. As part of the Greenhouse Scholars community, Ahnika has been inspired by Scholars, mentors, and other supporters to be a leader who engages and encourages younger, under-resourced students to pursue their dreams with tenacity.

In college, Ahnika is pursuing a career in economics so that she may create policies to address the inequities which have impacted her and countless others. Through Greenhouse Scholars’ Internship program, she earned positions working for longtime Greenhouse Scholars supporters, Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, and Zayo Group. From these experiences, Ahnika gained critical insights into excellence, leadership, problem solving and risk taking. Today, she is applying those lessons to her own personal and professional growth so that she may create the change she so deeply desires.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We rely on donations from you and other members of the Greenhouse Scholars community to support this program. Today, you can provide life-changing opportunities for deserving and high-performing students like Ahnika.

$10,000 – Sponsor a Scholar for one full year (like 8z Real Estate does for Ahnika)

$2,000 – Support a Scholar during an internship abroad

$1,000 – Allow a Scholar to accept an unpaid internship by covering living costs

$500 – Provide five Scholars with one-on-one coaching to find and make the most of internship opportunities

Any amount – Become a valued member of the Greenhouse Scholars community by supporting our Internship program

Contribute today

Just months before starting college, Kaleb and his mother were called into his doctor’s office to receive unfortunate news. Kaleb was HIV positive. Shortly after the diagnosis, Kaleb’s health worsened, requiring him to receive weeks of painful treatment. There were times when Kaleb thought that it would be easier to die than to fight for his life everyday, but his mother encouraged him to stay strong.

A week after treatment, Kaleb attended his first Summer Symposium, worried about the stigma of his disease and unsure what to tell others. During a seminar about vulnerability, Kaleb was inspired to share his story with other Greenhouse Scholars and was astonished by the love, acceptance, and support that he received.

Today, Kaleb is thriving and pursuing new leadership opportunities on his campus. He currently serves as Vice President of DePauw’s student executive board and works to give a voice to marginalized communities. At the most recent Summer Symposium, he spoke about his experience with HIV, the support that he received from Greenhouse Scholars, and his ongoing work as a community leader. You can watch his inspiring speech on our YouTube channel.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We rely on donations from you and other members of the Greenhouse Scholars community to support this program. Today, you can provide life-changing opportunities for deserving and high-performing students like Kaleb.

$10,000 – Sponsor a Scholar for one full year of the program

$2,000 – Give 20 Scholars a leadership development opportunity like rock climbing

$1,000 – Cover travel costs for world class speakers to come share their knowledge at the Summer Symposium

$500 – Provide 10 Scholars with the supplies to participate in the Summer Symposium

Any amount – Become a valued member of the Greenhouse Scholars community by supporting the Summer Symposium

Contribute today

Greenhouse Scholars hallmark event, Annual Inspire, is just 2 weeks away. This is the one time we bring together all of the Greenhouse Scholars and our community of supporters. Please join us for this incredibly special and inspiring experience.

During this memorable evening, you will hear how three of our incredible young leaders surmounted unfathomable challenges, from homelessness to an HIV diagnosis, and what our Greenhouse Scholars community of support has meant to them during their unrelenting journeys of personal achievement and community impact.

Event Details:
Tuesday, August 8th, 5-7:30pm
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) – Boulder, CO
RSVP Required: annualinspire.org
Tickets are complimentary | $50 Donation Suggested

Thank you to the guests and sponsors who joined us for a delicious and memorable meal at The Community Table on June 10, 2017.

Chef Ed Sura of NoMi Kitchen shared his appreciation of approachable, rustic dishes full of fresh, local ingredients in the form of an unforgettable four-course meal. The dinner featured a summer vegetable tart, seared Skuna Bay salmon, grilled flank steak with pickled garlic, and a black pepper strawberry shortcake.

In addition to raising over $70,000 (net) for the Greenhouse Scholars mission, the event also cultivated interest from four prospective mentors for our Class of 2021.

If you would like to join us as a host or corporate sponsor for next year’s event in spring of 2018 please contact Gret Luhrs at gluhrs@greenhousescholars.org or 312-784-3213.

We appreciate everyone who made the festivities so memorable – particularly our sponsors: Gresham Partners, Andersen Tax, and Aldridge Electric.

We also want to recognize our In Kind Partners; Chef Ed Sura of NoMI Park Hyatt, Banquet Sous Chef Shane Cawley from Park Hyatt, and Cream Wine Co.

In November more than 300 high school seniors submitted their application to Greenhouse Scholars in the hopes of creating a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Over the course of the next 6 months, 450 volunteers spent countless hours reviewing applications and interviewing candidates to identify those that exemplified our core values of leadership, relentlessness, accountability, and community.

We are incredibly proud to introduce the newest Greenhouse Scholars, 24 exceptional young leaders and role models who are our Class of 2021!  Please click here to read about each of our new Scholars.

Facts about the Class of 2021

• The Class of 2021 held a collective 50 leadership positions in high school as Student Board of Education board members, Presidents of their class and/or National Honor Society, founders of clubs, and captains of sports teams
• Their average household income is $33,500
• Their average high school GPA is 3.9
• This class contains our first Scholars — 4 in total — to attend Harvard University
• These Scholars held 27 part or full time jobs and internships while in high school; 5 Scholars worked 20 or more hours per week to support their families
• The Class of 2021 includes 5 Valedictorians and 2 Salutatorians
• 3 Scholars are entrepreneurs who have founded their own companies or filed a patent of a scientific research finding
• 6 new Scholars were inspired to apply to the program by current or past Greenhouse Scholars
• 100% are poised to create positive, lasting change for generations to come

Thank you to everyone who joined us for a memorable and impactful evening at Glass Half Full Colorado. With your support we raised just over $65,000 net for Greenhouse Scholars! This event had an immediate impact on the number of students we were able to accept into our incoming freshman class.

Photos from Top Drawer Photography are now available on our Facebook page and click here to view the video of our featured speaker, George Truong.

If you would like to join us as a host or corporate sponsor for next year’s event in spring of 2018 please contact Greg Max at gmax@greenhousescholars.org or 303-459-5473.

We appreciate everyone who made the festivities so memorable – particularly our sponsors: FirstBank, Zayo Group, Aerotek, Savills Studley, DigitalGlobe, and Greenhouse Partners.

Thanks also to the restaurants; Interstate Kitchen & Bar, Dish Gourmet, Chow Urban Grill, and Briar Common and beverage purveyors; Pedroncelli, Suerte, Enchanted Rock, Great Divide, Rebecca Creek, The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey, and Leopold Bros., who generously donated their time and talents.

On Saturday, April 22nd, Greenhouse Scholars’ community of supporters in Atlanta came together for a fun and festival backyard bbq at the home of hosts Michael and Laura Outlaw.

Food was provided by Atlanta’s own Fox Bros Bar-B-Q and guests enjoyed live music from Bobby J and the D’villes. Two current Greenhouse Scholars – Amadou, Stanford University, Class of 2019 and Jessie, Georgia Institute of Technology, Class of 2020 – and one Greenhouse Scholars Alum – Alhassan, Colorado State University, Class of 2012 – mingled with supporters.

Amadou, an aspiring surgeon and the child of immigrants from Guinea shared how grateful he is for the educational opportunities his life in America afforded him. Never losing sight of his educational goals, at BEST Academy in Atlanta Public Schools, Amadou sought every opportunity to get involved in the community by taking on several club leadership roles and graduating as valedictorian. When he joined the Greenhouse Scholars program, Amadou was paired with a Mentor, Stockton Croft, who he credits as instrumental in helping him navigate college and helping him make valuable networking connections including an internship this summer at Merrill Lynch. Greenhouse Scholars’ Flex Funding program enabled Amadou to work in a children’s hospital in Ghana last summer, an experience he described as life changing.

2017 marked the inaugural year for the Glass Half Full benefit in Georgia and the support was overwhelming. Guests bid on a variety of exclusive auction experiences such as spa and golf packages and donated to sponsor a Scholar; raising over $50,000 for the organization.

The video of Amadou’s speech has been viewed by and inspired more than 30,000 people on Facebook.

Click here to view photos
Click here to view videos

Greenhouse Scholars welcomes Chef Ed Sura as the featured chef at The Community Table on June 10, 2017 in Lake Forest, IL.

Chef Sura developed his appetite for cooking while growing up on a farm in Michigan. This sparked a deep appreciation of approachable, rustic dishes full of fresh, local ingredients.

Once in Chicago, Chef Sura built an impressive resume including some of Chicago’s most preeminent restaurants such as Michelin-starred Graham Elliot Bistro and his most recent venture at the acclaimed Perennial Virant.

In 2016, Sura was honored as a Semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Chef Award. Chef Sura is currently Executive Chef of the Park Hyatt Chicago’s NoMI Kitchen.

Tickets for this exclusive event are limited, click HERE to get yours now.

Noshin, University of Illinois Class of 2019, became interested in medicine during a visit to her birth country, Bangladesh, while in high school. Disconcerted by the substantial difference in medical technology between her homeland and the United States, Noshin decided to major in biomedical engineering, specifically cellular and tissue engineering, with a goal of using her skill set to narrow the increasing gap in healthcare availability between developing and developed countries.

At University of Illinois Noshin is a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society, a student group that organizes presentations for the school’s annual Engineering Open House. Noshin is leading a team of eight in one of the most highly anticipated presentations of the year, titled “Ghost Heart: The Future of Personalized Organs.”

The objective of the ‘Ghost Heart’ project is to introduce the biomedical advancement of personalized organ transplants—stripping organs of their original cells and reseeding them with the cells of the receiving patient to reduce the threat of bodily rejection—and inspire younger students to engage in the STEM fields.

To donate to this project and read about other Flex Funding projects, visit flexfunding.greenhousescholars.org/

Join Greenhouse Scholars for Glass Half Full, an evening of food, wine, and giving back on Friday, May 5th in Denver.

You will sample fine wines and craft cocktails, savor unique culinary creations, and bid on some once-in-a-lifetime auction experiences such as a private “Istituto Frasca per il Vino” wine class for 12 taught by Frasca Food & Wine’s Master Sommelier, Bobby Stuckey.

Guests of the wine class will be submersed in a two-hour intensive lesson, complete with workbooks and a specially curated wine flight. This is a can’t miss opportunity to learn in an intimate setting from one of the wine industry’s greatest and most approachable teachers; great for wine novices and experts alike!

The exclusive Glass Half Full event — our only fundraising event in Denver — helps to fund the incoming Class of 2021. Click HERE to reserve your tickets now to support the extraordinary young leaders of Greenhouse Scholars.