Bryan Jurado and Justin Dausman rewarded scholarships

Two Rocky Mountain seniors have been selected to receive prestigious scholarships. 

Bryan Jurado has been awarded the Michigan State Starr Scholarship and Justin Dausman has been awarded the Daniels Fund Scholarship.

Jurado said the Michigan State Starr Scholarship has been a goal of his since freshmen year.

“I ran indoor track for Lovell, and it was there when I met then senior Elizabeth Price. She got the scholarship and told me about it,” Jurado said. “What appealed to me about Michigan State University was the honors college and the flexibility it provides students.”

The scholarship pays all regular cost for eight semesters at Michigan State University, including tuition, fees, books, room, board and incidental expenses as defined by the university. The STARR Charitable Foundation Scholarship was established by an anonymous private donor to provide unique educational opportunities to high school seniors in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the state of Wyoming.

The process to attain the scholarship is extensive, requiring letters of recommendation and a series of essays. A personal interview is the final piece of the process. 

To qualify for the scholarship, seniors must attain a 3.0 or better grade point average.

“I think what fueled my ambition was my parents’ background,” Jurado said. “As immigrants they came here looking for a better life and a better education for their sons. I really wanted to fulfill their goal and not have them worry about how they were going to pay for my college tuition.”

Jurado also credited the support from Rocky Mountain counselor Tim Jones and his business teacher Skye Mader, who solidified his interests in marketing and computer science. 

The Daniels Fund Scholarship covers educational expenses that remain after any other scholarships, financial aid and the expected family contribution have been applied. 

Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of exceptional character, leadership commitment to the community, academic performance and promise, well-roundedness and emotional maturity defined for the program by Bill Daniels, founder of the Daniels Fund. 

More than 2,200 students completed the application for the Daniels Scholarship Program. Nearly 130 of this year’s recipients are from Colorado, 24 from New Mexico, 28 from Utah and 32 from Wyoming.

Dausman hopes to use the scholarship to get a bachelor’s degree in history before going into law school. He hopes the road ends with him setting up shop as a privacy rights lawyer.

“It’s awesome because instead of having to focus on how I am going to pay for this, I can focus on actual schoolwork,” Dausman said. 

Dausman praised the community of Cowley and Rocky Mountain Schools in giving him the fortitude and discipline needed to succeed. 

“My community helped me so much, from doing church service projects to irrigating every summer with my dad, to my teachers going the extra mile to explain things to me,” Dausman said. “I know it sounds weird, but one of my biggest helps was going to seminary every morning, and having to get up that extra hour earlier gave me a lot of structure and helped me get things done better throughout the day.”

Rocky Mountain High School counselor Tim Jones said Dausman and Jurado set an example to younger students.

“They send the right message,” Jones said. “Getting involved makes a difference. Being a leader makes a difference. Taking difficult classes makes a difference.”

By Ryan Fitzmaurice