{"id":2443958,"date":"2019-05-08T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=305545"},"modified":"2019-05-09T07:03:05","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T13:03:05","slug":"aspen-high-student-jesse-lopez-rises-from-horrific-times-to-earn-prestigious-daniels-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-high-student-jesse-lopez-rises-from-horrific-times-to-earn-prestigious-daniels-scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen High student Jesse Lopez rises from horrific times to earn prestigious Daniels scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jesse Lopez<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was the fall semester of 2014, and Jesse Lopez was starting over.<\/p>\n

A new home. A new school. And new guardians.<\/p>\n

His first year in the Aspen school system, Lopez was entering eighth grade, which can be a taxing year academically, developmentally, emotionally and socially. Here Lopez was, facing those challenges as well as a new environment of peers, teachers and counselors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that I was behind academically, behind socially,\u201d Lopez, 18, recalled last week. \u201cI couldn\u2019t really fit in with my community. And I entered my first semester of eighth grade and said, \u2018I\u2019m just going to do whatever I\u2019m assigned. That\u2019s it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez conceded that he \u201cfloated\u201d through eighth grade, and \u201cI realized that wasn\u2019t going to cut it. I had to get serious and grind all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grind away is what he did and continues to do. It\u2019s reflected in his admission to Pitzer College in California, thanks to the school\u2019s financial aid and Lopez receiving a four-year scholarship from the Daniels Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Daniels Fund, according to its website, provides scholarships to students who \u201cdemonstrate exceptional character, leadership, and a commitment to serving their communities.\u201d The scholarships are awarded to more than 200 high-achieving students in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico. Lopez is the first Aspen student to become a Daniels scholar.<\/p>\n

He leaves for Pitzer, which is part of the Claremont Colleges, in August; he plans to major in physics.<\/p>\n

His story, however, isn\u2019t just about his getting a full ride to a selective California school, which Forbes placed as the 11th best college in the West in its 2019 rankings. It\u2019s also about how the Aspen community galvanized to support him during the most difficult of times.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely a collective effort from our entire community of teachers, students and the administration helping support his goals and dreams,\u201d said Melissa Lustig, a college counselor at the high school.<\/p>\n

When Lopez was introduced to Aspen schools, he was coming off the heels of a horrific, life-altering event for him and his older brother. Months earlier, on July 12, a cousin of the two Lopez brothers shot and killed their two parents at their El Jebel home. Mayra and Eliseo Lopez had worked diligently to raise their family, their lives cut short after 16 years of marriage. Mayra was 40, Eliseo 42.<\/p>\n

Their parents deceased, Jesse and his brother, Eliseo, both of whom had attended Basalt schools, and their dog moved into the Aspen residence of Blanca \u201cEdith\u201d Argueta Amaya and Antonio Amaya, the uncle of the Lopez boys and the brother of the slain father. They also joined their cousins, Eric and Amy, the Amaya couple\u2019s children.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Amaya couple, who are from El Salvador, Jesse Lopez took the guidance of Snowmass Village Bob Glah, a financial adviser and once a member of the Aspen School District\u2019s Board of Education. Glah connected with Lopez through his friendship with attorney Susan O\u2019Bryan of Alpine Legal Services, a Glenwood Springs-based nonprofit organization that provides legal aid in the Roaring Fork Valley.<\/p>\n

Glah and Lopez bonded early on, and the college application process was an eye-opening episode for both of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a minority person who is a first-generation college student doesn\u2019t have the supporting of the Aspen School District\u2019s college counseling department, how many of those kids can possibly do this on their own with no counseling?\u201d Glah said. \u201cYou can see how these inequities build through the system, but here Jesse is.\u201d<\/p>\n

But first, Glah had to inspire Lopez not to settle for complacency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I took him in his freshman year, I told him, \u2018You can go as far as you want to go, but you have to stay on track if you want to go where you want to,\u2019\u201d Glah recalled. \u201cAnd he made some key decisions. He had to double up on math, and he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has just owned this whole process. He had to work twice or three times as hard as Aspen High students just to play catch-up, whether it was in the English language or math. \u2026 He has done so much and come so far, and it\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez took part in both the high school\u2019s special education and International Baccalaureate programs, but it wasn\u2019t just a quench for learning he satisfied. By his junior year, he and friend Luca Morrow-Yeager became mentor-type instructors<\/a> to middle school students in a program titled \u201cAlways Thinking Like a Scientist,\u201d or ATLAS.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is remarkable how many community members have made his education a priority and how they delivered a life changing scholarship for him,\u201d Tharyn Mulberry, principal of Aspen High School, wrote in an email to The Aspen Times. \u201cJesse has been a standout student, and I have observed him teach classes on physics in the \u2018Think Like a Scientist\u2019 program. His promise was certainly evident then, and I am ecstatic he will be able to pursuit his academic goals with the Daniels scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon learning that he had been accepted to Pitzer College \u2014 his first choice for higher education \u2014 Lopez and his advocates also learned he would need more money. Enter the Daniels Fund, which was the \u201cgap closer,\u201d Glah said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of their mission is to support students who want to give back to the community,\u201d Glah said. \u201cAnd Jesse\u2019s interest and enthusiasm for science and working to inspire young students to engage with science and to learn more \u2026 really did resonate with them, and it showcased his humanitarianism and his desire to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez said he plans to go into the teaching field after college, but not until he serves four years in the U.S. Army. He also plans to participate in Pitzer College\u2019s Reserve Officer Training Corps program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to go into the Army for four years and continue my education,\u201d he said, adding he plans to focus on engineering in his graduate studies.<\/p>\n

Lopez credits his aunt and uncle for encouraging him to work hard. They don\u2019t pressure him to be the best, but expect him to give his best.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have a problem with me aiming high and missing,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they do have a problem with me shooting lower.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez uses that encouragement, as well as inspiration from Glah, his classmates, teachers, school counselors and others to stay motivated.<\/p>\n

Lopez wakes up at 4 a.m. every weekday to study math for an hour. Then it\u2019s physics from 5 to 6 a.m. He also stays fit by doing two hours of resistance training per day, and finds his outlet through fencing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad would wake up at 6 a.m. and go to work,\u201d Lopez recalled, \u201cand he wouldn\u2019t get home until 11 at night. I remember one night, when I was really hungry, I went to the kitchen and I saw my dad had a bunch of papers and he was drawing dragons. I asked him what he was doing. He said, \u2018I\u2019ve got to live my passion.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHe taught me that even though he worked hard every day and was stressed out, he would come home and do his passion, while he was also providing for the people he cared for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez said he took his parents for granted at the time. He doesn\u2019t now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realize I didn\u2019t give the adequate amount of love back to them,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I continue to give my love back to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Science and philosophy are two of Lopez\u2019 most enjoyable academic pursuits, but he also said he pushes himself to tackle the subjects that give him the most difficulty \u2014 such as classic literature. Eventually, he said, he wants to return to Aspen and help others \u2014 whether it\u2019s through teaching or other means.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor both Jesse and his older brother (who works and lives in Aspen), I never would have guessed four years ago they would have come into this situation,\u201d Glah said. \u201cThey\u2019ve proven their selves in their owns ways as amazing success stories, and a lot of it has to do with the school community.\u201d<\/p>\n

rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was the fall semester of 2014, and Jesse Lopez was starting over. A new home. A new school. And new guardians. His first year in the Aspen school system, Lopez was entering eighth grade, which can be a taxing year academically, developmentally, emotionally and socially. Here Lopez was, facing those challenges as well as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 22:33:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}