Special Report: Successful college readiness program coming to Pueblo in 2024

For the past 17 years, Minds Matter Colorado has gotten low-income students scholarships at four-year universities with a 100% success rate.

Minds Matter Colorado, established in 2004 in the Denver metro area, is working to expand “corner to corner” across the state according to Savinay Chandrasekhar, CEO of Minds Matter Colorado. The program is set to make its way to Pueblo by at least 2024; making Pueblo students who will be 9th graders in the fall of 2023 eligible for the mentorship program.

“The reason we want to serve every eligible kid corner to corner across Colorado is because we have this program that is 100 percent successful,” Chandrasekhar said. “So many of the resources, the support organizations, so many of the tools that are available to us are concentrated in the Front Range and primarily the Denver metro area.”

Minds Matter Colorado is a chapter of the Minds Matter organization founded in 1991 by Ivy League graduates working in New York City. Last fall, the Colorado chapter opened its first site outside the Denver area, at Harrison High School in Colorado Springs. Minds Matter Colorado assists students through “People, Preparation, and Possibilities.” 

“Every student is matched with two college educated adults who volunteer to mentor those students for three years, through 10th, 11th, 12th grade,” Chandrasekhar said. “The second part is preparation. The mentors and the mentees work side by side on all the college-ready skills that students need to succeed in college.”

Preparation, done weekly on Monday nights during the school year, includes career exploration, interview preparation, SAT preparation, and help with scholarship applications. Students in the Minds Matter program are also given the opportunity to experience “possibilities” like summer programs at prospective college campuses.

“Students take college courses on those college campuses, live in the dorms and the dining halls, and have that full kind of transformative college experience,” Chandrasekhar said. “With those three things 100% of our students get into four-year colleges and universities, and 100% earn scholarships.”

To qualify for Minds Matter Colorado, a student must qualify for free and reduced price lunch, have at least a 3.25 unweighted GPA, and demonstrate that they are committed to being involved with the program.

“Every student who applies gets interviewed and they have to demonstrate to us that they get it, they want it, and they have the capacity to do it,” Chandrasekhar said. “They understand what Minds Matter’s expectations are, they are committed to meeting those expectations, and they will prioritize Minds Matter in all of the other stuff that they are doing in their lives.”

Puebloans looking to learn more about Minds Matter Colorado are invited to virtually attend the program’s spring fundraising event, Celebrate, on Saturday, April 24 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. More information about how to attend the event can be found on the Minds Matter Colorado website at www.mindsmatterco.org/celebrate.

“If there is an appetite and interest from people in the Pueblo community for us to come and serve, let us know,” Chandrasekhar said. “Get on our mailing lists; shoot us an email. Contact us. They can email me or contact me directly at savinay@mindsmatterco.org.”