Skip to content

Five SVVSD grads receive Elevations Foundation scholarships

The Elevations Foundation recently announced it has awarded scholarships to five St. Vrain Valley School District graduates.
2020_08_10_LL_elevations_scholarship_winners
Elevations Foundation scholarship recipients, clockwise from left, Roman Garcia-Martinez of Skyline High School, Julea Trank-Greene of Niwot High School, Maedee Trank-Greene of Niwot High School, Bethany Keenan of Frederick High School, and Isaac Roberts of Lyons Middle-Senior High School. (Courtesy photos)

Graduates of 2020 faced an unprecedented finish to high school and are now looking forward to the next chapter of their lives: college.

The Elevations Foundation is helping five St. Vrain Valley School District students get there.

Roman Garcia-Martinez of Skyline High School received the Wm. C. "Bill" Sterner Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship “is named in honor of Wm. C. ‘Bill’ Sterner, Elevations Credit Union’s President and CEO from 2000 to 2008,” according to the website. It is awarded to a Colorado high school student who plans to attend the University of Colorado Boulder.

The remaining four SVVSD grads were awarded M.R. Hellie Memorial Scholarshisp, which are awarded to Colorado high school students planning to attend college. 

“This scholarship was established in honor of M.R. Hellie, Elevations Credit Union’s president from 1964 to 1986. Through his vision and leadership, Mr. Hellie was instrumental in expanding Elevations Credit Union’s member services and furthering the national credit union movement,” according to the website.

Recipients of the M.R. Hellie Memorial scholarship include Bethany Keenan of Frederick High School, Isaac Roberts of Lyons Middle-Senior High School and Julea and Maedee Trank-Greene of Niwot High School.

“Elevations has its roots in higher education, as Elevations Credit Union was originally founded as the University of Colorado Federal Credit Union in 1953. Elevations Foundation believes that everyone deserves the chance to attain their dreams through education. We provide scholarships to college-bound high school graduates to provide them a first financial foothold in their pursuit of that education,” said Phil Ferrante-Roseberry, executive director of the Elevations Foundation.

Scholarship criteria includes financial need, merit and academic performance, according to a news release. Students who wish to apply for the next round of scholarships can do so beginning Jan. 1.  

Julea Trank-Greene plans to use her scholarship to help her parents with the coming semester’s tuition. This fall she will attending the University of Colorado Boulder, where she is planning to major in business. She isn’t sure yet what exactly she wants to do in business but hopes to explore being a CEO or to work in business finance one day.


“I really like math. I really want to do something with math but not engineering math. For all of school, the math that I focused on was very different, I wanted to learn a different type of math. I haven’t had a chance to do financial math,” Trank-Greene said. 

When Trank-Greene applied for the scholarship she focused on highlighting her community involvement. “I really love participating in my community and volunteering. It is something I’ve always loved doing,” she said

She and her twin sister, Maedee, also a Elevations scholarship recipient, volunteered by organizing and supporting a food drive for the homeless in the winter and by participating in a school building project with the Mwebaza Foundation. This project was “one of the coolest things I have ever done,” Julea Trank-Greene said.  

“The Mwebaza Foundation’s mission is to enrich the relationships among our Colorado and African partner schools through cross-cultural exchange and service learning that enhances educational opportunities, fosters a healthy learning environment, and promotes self-sufficiency,” according to the website.

In this project the Trank-Greene twins helped to build a school out of shipping containers to be sent to Uganda. 

The Elevations Foundation has awarded $39,500 in this round of scholarships to 16 local students. Over the past 10 years the foundation has provided more than $564,000 in higher education scholarships, according to the news release.