On Thursday, Greeley West High School senior AJ Lopez was awarded the Daniel’s Fund Scholarship.   The Daniels Fund is a full ride scholarship that allows students to go to any college they want without paying for it. Over 200 students in the Western part of the United States win the scholarship.  Lopez was West’s only finalist.

Lopez is an AVID student at Greeley West and was the quarterback for the football team.  He also carries over a 4.0 GPA and is a volunteer for the Special Olympics.

The award doesn’t just come to these students without hard work. Lopez went through a long and hard process of writing nine essays and filling out questions on the application. He also had to go through an interview that was with three Daniel’s Fund committee members.

Lopez explained that he didn’t just go one day and do an interview. He actually rehearsed three times in practice interviews.   Two of those practice interviews were with teachers that work at Greeley West and the last practice interview was held at Northridge High School.

Before he found out that he received the Daniels Fund, Lopez he was 70% sure he was going to the University of Colorado in Boulder.  Now that he has this scholarship opportunity, Lopez will be attending CU no matter what.

Lopez’s oldest brother also got the Daniels Fund and went to CU because of the scholarships offer. “I did not want to think I was going to get it just in case I was to not get chosen, but after I was told I got it I was very surprised,’ said Lopez.

Lopez was very excited to have received this scholarship and opportunity and had some advice for future applicants:   “Definitely have a reliable teacher to help you with the essay questions.  There is no way to do it on your own,” Lopez said.