Jared Polis Foundation Education Report: People

Students today have busy and demanding schedules, so being involved, let alone successful, in extracurricular activities can be very challenging. But despite the difficulty, there are many students who successfully take on the challenge and excel both in and out of the classroom.

A 2007 graduate of Iver C. Ranum High School in Denver, Mimi Van Chau has actively participated in several community- and school-based programs that have helped shape her character and optimistic view of the world.

In seventh grade, Mimi joined the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Pre-Collegiate Development Program, which provides academic enhancement programs for first generation and underrepresented middle and high school students. “It is tremendously rewarding to help these bright, motivated students reach their higher education goals,” says program director Sue McGilbray Lentz.

In ninth grade, Mimi became a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters, a nonprofit youth mentoring organization. Then in the eleventh grade, while visiting her local library, Mimi noticed a group of young children hunched over the tables, working away. She learned they were part of a tutoring program run by Growing Home, a Westminster-based nonprofit organization that provides assistance to homeless families. She signed up as a tutor and has volunteered with this program ever since.

All this work in the community did not stop Mimi from being engaged in school programs as well. She cultivated her interest in international issues as a member of her high school’s Amnesty International chapter, and was president of the Math Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) club, which encourages “minority and female students to prepare themselves for a college education and to major in mathematics, engineering or science.” Mimi speaks with enthusiasm about a MESA-sponsored engineering design contest in which groups of students competed to build the tallest, most structurally sound “Spaghetti Tower” out of marshmallows and dry spaghetti. The winning team’s tower had to withstand a simulated earthquake.

While she remains very interested in engineering—and took summer courses at the Colorado School of Mines—Mimi is drawn to medicine. “I like variety in my work and I like to see results immediately,” she says. With a strong interest in international issues and helping others through medicine, she hopes to have the opportunity to live and work abroad and become involved with another well-known international organization, Doctors Without Borders, after completing medical school.

Motivated, energetic, and encouraged by her mentors at the University of Colorado, Mimi applied for a prestigious mentorship and scholarship program called Greenhouse Scholars—a nonprofit organization that provides personal, financial and academic support to high-performing, under-resourced students and helps them develop the ability to lead positive change in their communities. She was accepted.

As the first person in her family to attend college, Mimi was attracted to Greenhouse Scholars because of the program’s mentorship component. “I think every young person needs someone older and more experienced to look up to and learn from,” she says. Mimi just started classes at Stanford University and will meet with her mentor at least two hours each month during the next four years. We wish Mimi all the best and congratulate her for all she has already accomplished in the community.

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