The Boettcher Scholarship is a four-year, full-tuition and partial living expenses, merit-based academic scholarship awarded to graduating Colorado high school students. This scholarship is among one of the hardest awards to receive; the scholarship is only awarded to 42 students in the entire state of Colorado. Each year more than 1,500 students apply to be Boettcher scholars. This year, senior Brendan McCune is among one of the 42 recipients of this award.

McCune is the first Boettcher scholar from Greeley West since Heidi Hurst in 2011.  Last year, Grace Chahal was an alternate for the award.

McCune had been notified of the award after a long shift at work on Saturday, March 27. McCune said it definitely brightened up his mood.

Paying for college tuition can be one of many things high school seniors have to worry about when transitioning from high school to college. This is certainly a weight lifted off the shoulders of McCune now that he doesn’t have to worry about how he’ll pay for his education. “I have been stressing for the past year or so about how I’m going to pay for college, so to have all that stress be taken care of was a big deal for me,” stated McCune.

Like any big scholarship, there are many requirements and expectations Boettcher scholars need to meet. The recipients of this scholarship are presenting the foundation, so they need to maintain a certain GPA and stay away from any criminal activity, along with many more requirements. Along with this, the Boettcher Foundation wants the recipients to stay connected with each other. So he will, “attend certain events with the other scholars. The requirements shouldn’t be difficult to meet, they are all things that benefit me as well,” said McCune.

Now that McCune has officially accepted the scholarship, he’ll have to make his hardest decision: choosing the school that he wants to attend.  He is heading to tour two of Colorado’s most prestigious universities:  the University of Denver and Colorado College in downtown Colorado Springs.