Two local Chang Chavkin scholars are preparing to graduate from Montezuma-Cortez High School in May and head to college, where they will pursue their dream careers.

Talon Johnson will study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Izabella Balfour will studying nursing at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction.

Johnson will study aerospace engineering at the prestigious school, which had an admittance rate of about 4% in 2021.

“MIT offers a unique combination of opportunities through internships and research. It also has a culture of STEM and curiosity that aligns with my interests, so it seems to be a perfect fit,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the team at Chang Chavkin encouraged him to reach high and apply for MIT, and that their encouragement and belief in him helped him decide to go for it.

Nancy Roseman, executive director of the scholarship program, worked with Johnson and expressed her excitement to see him accepted to MIT.

“Talon is a very imaginative and talented young man who has an intense passion for engineering and design. His passions and his innate talent seemed to us a perfect fit for MIT, so we encouraged him to apply. The significance is that Talon applied to one of the finest schools in the country and was accepted. He was admitted to one of the most selective schools in the country. He earned it, and we couldn’t be more happy for him,” Roseman said.

“Talon is amazing. He has so many interests, but they go back to childhood, right? I mean, he wanted to figure things out and have his hands on things and learn about how everything works so working with him was wonderful,” Director Valene Baskfield added. “He's an absolute hands-on guy. When he went for the dream and got it, I think he just really was like, he's capable and he wanted it. When a kid wants it and they're capable, that's when we get really excited because then we know that we've accomplished what we hoped when we got started.”

His interest and passion for space travel, aeronautics and engineering were other factors that encouraged Johnson to apply, knowing that MIT is one of the leading schools in those fields.

“I had an interest in aircraft and spacecraft for a long time and have followed the history of space travel. I'm interested in astronautics, and I've been enjoying mathematics and physics,” Johnson said.

Another Chang Chavkin scholar, Izabella Balfour, has been preparing to become a nurse for years and is excited to finally make that step into her dream career.

“In eighth grade, I started taking high school classes to kind of get ahead of the schedule. I've known for quite a few years too, that I wanted to be a nurse, so I've just been taking a lot of prerequisite courses,” Balfour said.

After seeing CMU’s campus and touring their nursing program, Balfour said she knew CMU was the place to continue pursuing her education.

“So, I looked at a lot of colleges,” Balfour said. “I've even like gone as far as New York, but I really like being close to home. My family means a lot to me … so I ended up looking at CMU’s campus and fell in love with it. Their nursing program is in an old community hospital and so it's like real-life scenarios. They have like a ton of machinery like mannequins that can have actual symptoms. It's very high-tech AI and I loved it.”

Baskfield noted Balfour was someone who perfectly aligned with Chang Chavkin’s ideals, and it was exciting to see her thrive after working so hard for so many years.

“Izabella has been delightful. It's so amazing to work with a kid who knew as early as she did what she wanted, and has literally been on a path ever since to get there. She started figuring out what the prerequisites were for nursing in eighth grade and basically matched her schedule with those prerequisites. I mean, I feel like college is basically going to be a duplicate for her because she has done so much to prepare herself and worked so hard. She’s just beyond ready for what’s next and what she wanted,” Baskfield said.

“She’s a barrel of positivity. She loves to know that she’s going to be helpful in the world. And really, her sights have been on this for so long that I think her feeling so prepared is part of the excitement for her. She has known and worked toward this goal for so long, that she is completely prepared and ready and excited,” Baskfield added.

The Chang Chavkin scholarship program is a new program in the area and had its first scholar last year. The program serves high-achieving students who would be first-generation college students.

The scholarship program was started by Laura Chang and Arnie Chavkin and is meant to support first-generation students in rural communities.

“They really want to reach first-generation rural students who with support both college advising and financial support could go maybe further than what was on their radar initially. I mean, rural schools don't necessarily have the capacity to meet individual needs when it comes to college advising. So, we’re just looking for those individuals who will take our advising and go for a good match school that meets their potential,” Baskfield said.

The scholarship panel doesn’t only look at student grades, academic achievements and drive. Baskfield said they also look for students who have strength of character and leadership.

“Strength of character can come in a lot of different ways,” Baskfield said. “Some of our kids babysit siblings after school and some work jobs. Some have leadership roles in the community. But we're just really looking for a kid that we can have an impact with.”

Once a student is accepted into the program, they receive counseling and are given resources and help for applying to colleges. They receive help with college applications and essays, and are encouraged to apply to schools they may not have considered on their own.

Those who work in the program also work to build a genuine, personal relationship with students.

“We want to engage students, personally and individually. So, we start with getting to know them and building trust and understanding what it is they're capable of but also what it is they want, and then we just keep moving forward from there. So, our relationship doesn't end when they go to college. They call me when they’re having roommate issues. We learn as we go what our kids need. So basically, we hope by the time they head off that they feel they and their family feel comfortable calling no matter what they need between now and graduating,” Baskfield said.

The Chang Chavkin program is open to first-generation students in Colorado who are incoming seniors at Montezuma-Cortez High School and Dolores High School, among other Western Slope schools.

While scholars have already been chosen for the 2023-2024 school year, juniors who wish to apply for their senior year (2024-2025) can apply when applications open at https://changchavkinscholars.org/colorado/.