Past Scholarship Recipients

2024 Scholarship Awardees:

Jordanna Gagnon

Hi! I'm Jordanna Gagnon, 2024 Valedictorian and graduate of Gilpin County High School. In high school, I was a captain of our volleyball team, a part of National Honors Society, Student Council, Interact Club, a member of our soccer team, and the Lady Eagles basketball team manager in my senior year. I also spent time volunteering at the Gilpin Public Library my junior year, and played on a club volleyball team based in Clear Creek throughout all of high school.

Volleyball has always been my biggest passion. I started playing when I was eleven, and since then, the brightest part of my day in school was going to practice each day. Volleyball has brought me closer to my community, through games and fundraisers, and has given me something to work towards, with an amazing team to dedicate myself to. I applied for the Shelby Allen Memorial Scholarship because of my love of volleyball and desire to lift up my community, values that Shelby always embodied, and because I wanted to help honor Shelby and her amazing connection with everyone she knew.

I am a freshman at Colorado State University, working to earn a dual-degree in Psychology and Neuroscience. I really enjoy being at CSU, as, although the school is much bigger than Gilpin, I know that I am in a place where I can nurture my curiosity while continuing to be a part of the community around me. I have learned so much already from the amazing classes I've been able to take, and I am so excited to continue learning and becoming a better version of myself. In the future, I plan to pursue a career in the medical field, possibly looking to become either a neuropsychologist or an anesthesiologist. I hope to honor Shelby's legacy by continuing to foster my love of volleyball and by being a part of my community throughout school and beyond.

Trinity LeBlanc

Hello! My name is Trinity Leblanc, and I am a graduate of Nederland High School, and I grew up in Gilpin County. In high school, I participated in a variety of activities, including ski racing, girls' soccer, cross-country running, student council, and various art events. I also volunteer as a ski patroller at Eldora, where I developed skills in emergency medicine, leadership, and communication. Ski Patrol combines my love for skiing, helping others, and giving back to my community. Shadowing and leading medical calls helped me realize that I remain calm in intense situations and find medical emergencies interesting. I applied for this scholarship because, like Shelby, I have a passion for emergency medicine, sports, and teamwork.

I am currently a freshman at the University of Utah, pursuing the pre-nursing program. I enjoy all of my classes, especially biology and history of rock and roll. During breaks, I continue to patrol at Eldora. In my free time at school, I have joined several clubs on campus, including the free ride ski team, sewing, soccer, and swing dancing. The environment around Salt Lake City reminds me of the mountains surrounding Nederland. I plan on becoming a nurse, earning my BSN, and eventually working as a travel or ER nurse. While I love going to a big school and meeting new people, it has deepened my appreciation for my hometown's tight-knit community.

Lynda Icenogle

Hey, my name is Lynda Icenogle and I attended Gilpin County High School. In high school, I was an active NHS member since my sophomore year and an affiliate of the varsity cheer team from freshman year through my senior year. With my hard work and the dedication that I shared with my coaches and team, our little team of 5 was able to earn the title of CHSAA Spirit State Runner Up in 2022 in the 2a-3a GameDay division. Now, in this division, we were going up against teams that had on average 15-20 people, and in a competition like GameDay where crowd engagement is one of the highest scoring elements, we were at a major disadvantage and honestly I just wanted to perform to the best of my abilities and have fun. Winning truly wasn't my goal, even though it would be an amazing accomplishment. Hearing that semifinals announcement that we were moving onto finals was truly my "I made it" moment, and I felt like the hard work we put in choreographing our own routine and arguing about what to put where and why was truly worth it all. After performing again, we ended up winning second in state by only two tenths of a point behind first.

That next year, however; I felt like our team had an obligation to uphold and we had to prove that us winning isn't just an anomaly. I think that mindset set me up for failure the next year, we didn't make it to finals and I blamed myself for not doing enough. We had a 5 point deduction for going over the allotted three minutes we are given for our routine that excluded us from our ability to perform again at finals. Personally, since I was head captain, I felt that I let my team down too and I wasn't a good enough captain for them. That moment made me lose my spark and for a while I didn't want to continue my athletic journey.

After a few months, getting accepted to the Colorado School of Mines, and quite a few long discussions with my dad, I accepted the fact that I had another chance. This chance was never even a thought before. I found out that Mines had a nationally competing cheer team, and getting on that team was my new goal. I started going to recruitment clinics, talking to the coach, and keeping up with what the team was doing. I sent an application to be recruited for the team that included my highlights as a cheerleader and that same week I was informed that I didn't need to try out for the team, no, I was one of the few that got personally recruited. My spark was now a flame and I knew that everything I had worked for up to that moment was worth it. My "failures" no longer mattered to me, what mattered now was being an active member of this new team that I will get to call home. My athletic journey will continue on for at least another 3 years now. My first year as a collegiate cheerleader has almost come to an end with my first national championship in the bag. I can proudly say that my career goal is to not win, but to keep growing with the program I'm in, though, winning would be nice too.

Personally I applied to the Shelby Allen Memorial Scholarship because I personally knew both Cody and Shelby personally and I would have been honored to know that my journey can uphold the memory of how much they did for our community. I plan on finishing my degree of civil engineering at the Colorado School of Mines to hopefully make my dream career of becoming a Disney Imagineer come true. So far, I've learned that I definitely chose the right major for myself and there is nothing else I could see myself doing. I am truly in the right place and I am forever thankful for my opportunity to make this happen. I love the way that Mines sets its students up for success instead of trying to weed us out like larger universities, I feel like the people here want me to succeed not because it's good for them, but so I can know that I deserve to be here.

2023 Scholarship Awardees:

Annabel Ivey

Hi, I'm Annabel Ivey, a proud graduate of Nederland Middle-Senior High School. During my time there, I enthusiastically participated in various sports, including volleyball, soccer, cross country, nordic skiing, and alpine skiing. Additionally, I was a member of the Loquations choir and the theater program. Engaging in these activities not only helped me overcome my fear of being a beginner but also taught me the value of teammate camaraderie. My passion for athletics drove me to apply for the Shelby Allen Memorial Scholarship, as I believe my participation has played a defining role in my identity, and is something I owe to the community I grew up in.

Leaving the small town of Nederland made me truly appreciate its value. Currently, I'm studying economics at the University of Arizona among nearly 50,000 other students. Transitioning to a larger community has been both a significant adjustment and a fantastic adventure.

Although I miss the competitive sports scene, I've recently taken up rock climbing. Making the most of the year-round summer temperatures, I've discovered a community of passionate people and a refreshing new environment. While I may not be able to participate in all the sports here, I'm incredibly grateful for the experiences in Nederland and the confidence they've equipped me with for all my future endeavors.

Abigail Smith

My name is Abigail Smith and I attended Gilpin County High School and graduated in 2023. I was very honored to be considered for and awarded the Shelby Allen Memorial Scholarship. I was an avid athlete throughout my entire life, I high school I ran track, and played basketball and volleyball. I was also part of the National Honor Society and a member of the Student Council. Participating in these activities gave me lots of structure throughout highschool and they also taught me how to manage time, work on a team, be a leader, and commit to something. I was a captain of my basketball team for 3 years and the sport really gave me a family. This is why I felt inclined to apply for the scholarship, in hopes to influence others to learn from sports and be a part of your community because it will help you out for the rest of your life.

I am currently attending Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where I am planning to major in sports management. I am also part of Moravian Women's Basketball team and while I was unable to play this year due to injury, I am looking forward to playing next year. Moravian University is a beautiful campus, full of motivated students, most of whom are also athletes. I enjoy being around people who have goals like I do, to not only stay active academically but also physically. The campus is a very great community, connected very well with alumni in order to help students excel. The campus has many other engaging events and learning opportunities that make it even more enjoyable and I can't wait for my years here in the future. Being so far away from home has taught me to value relationships I have with people even more, and that one little call or update goes a long way. My goals for the future are to graduate college, play my remaining years of basketball and take advantage of every little moment I'm here before I begin to work. While I'm not exactly sure what I want to do, I would like to work somewhere in the professional sports world, because sports have shaped me so much.

2022 Scholarship Awardees:

Ivy Brundege

Hello! I’m Ivy Brundege. I attended Nederland Middle Senior High School and graduated in 2022. In high school, I loved to participate in every activity I could find. This included numerous sports, such as cross country running, nordic skiing, and volleyball. I was also a member of the student council, and occasionally participated in theater as well. My favorite thing about all of these activities was how connected it made me feel to the community, and how much I was able to learn about myself through them. This is what inspired me to apply for the Shelby Allen memorial scholarship. I had found such a community through athletics, through being mentored as a freshman to becoming a mentor myself as a senior. This is the legacy that sports in our school has.

I’m now studying at Virginia Tech with majors in computer science and computational neuroscience. I’ve loved the experience of being somewhere new and being pushed out of my comfort zone, especially on a large campus with thousands of other students. Most of all, I’ve really liked exploring all the things I can do on campus, such as intramural sports teams, hiking clubs, and all sorts of events. I think that the biggest thing that I’ve learned so far is that even though I’ve left Nederland, I’m not completely separate from it. I can still maintain my connection to both communities, both in Colorado and here in Virginia. As for the future, I plan to return to Colorado every summer, and ultimately move back after graduation in order to pursue a career in research or software development.

Halle Yocom

My name is Halle Yocom. As a 2022 graduate from Gilpin County Undivided HIgh School, I was honored to be considered for and awarded one of the Shelby Allen Memorial Scholarships. Each year of high school, I participated in cheerleading, theater, Student Council, and Interact. In addition to those activities, during my senior year, I participated in basketball and was on Gilpin's first Women's Soccer team. My participation in these activities taught me dedication and commitment. My leadership skills further developed when I was appointed co-captain for our cheerleading team my junior and senior year. These opportunities made me feel qualified to apply to this scholarship.

I am currently majoring in integrative physiology and minoring in Chinese Language at the University of Colorado Boulder. The University of Colorado offers me a variety of opportunities to explore and expand my interests through clubs and classes. I have found that the campus radiates positive energy that is infectious and encouraging. In Boulder, I enjoy the many available hiking trails and the variety of restaurants around campus. In only one semester, I have learned so much and most importantly, I have learned to appreciate, even more, where I have come from and how it shaped me into the person I am now. My goal is to graduate college and apply to physician assistant school, where I can learn more about healthcare and how to provide it to those in need.

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