The document discusses two upcoming events related to children's education and well-being in Las Animas County, Colorado. It announces that the local VFW post will hold its annual patriotic essay contests for students. It also announces an upcoming presentation by the Colorado Children's Campaign to discuss the status of children's health, education, and economic conditions in the county based on its annual Kids Count report. The report found that children in Las Animas County face greater challenges in these areas compared to state averages, such as higher poverty rates and Medicaid enrollment.

1. Education
The Chronicle-News Trinidad, Colorado Thursday, September 25, 2014 Page 3
CALLING ALL STUDENT WRITERS
Annual area patriotic
essay contests to be held
Special to The Chronicle-News
The Trinidad VFW Post 984 will again be sponsoring the Voice of
Democracy and Patriot’s Pen essay competitions for all local school
students (grades 9-12). This year’s themes are: “Why Veterans are Im-portant
to Our Nation’s History and Future” for the Voice of Democ-racy
and “Why I appreciate American Veterans” for the Patriot’s Pen.
All students are encouraged to participate in this patriotic endeavor.
The deadline to turn in essays is November 1. For more information
please contact VFW Commander John Rios at 719-846-6094.
COLORADO CHILDREN’S CAMPAIGN
Gov. John Hickenlooper speaks to a gathering of primary school students, teachers, and
administrators at Rose Hill Elementary, in Commerce City, Colorado, Wednesday, May 15, 2013.
Hickenlooper is a staunch advocate for the Children’s Campaign in Colorado.
Kids Count event
to be held at Mt.
Carmel Center
By Steve Block
The Chronicle-News
Keeping track of children’s well-being
is a very important task, and an upcoming
lunch and presentation will provide plenty
of information about kids’ health, educa-tion
and economic status. Officials of the
Colorado Children’s Campaign will present
the 2014 Kids Count in Colorado report from
11 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Wednesday, October
8 at the Mt. Carmel Community Center, lo-cated
at 911 Robinson Ave.
The free event is co-sponsored by the
Huerfano-Las Animas Early Childhood
Council, and lunch will be provided. 2014
marks the 21st year of the annual Kids
Count in Colorado report, which has be-come
a trusted source of data and informa-tion
on Colorado children that’s used by
child advocates, community leaders and
lawmakers as a tool to inform policy de-bates
and community discussions on issues
affecting children. This year’s report was
released by the Children’s Campaign on
March 24, at a news conference with Gov.
John Hickenlooper at the state Capitol.
The report is titled, “The Big Picture:
Taking the Whole Child Approach to Child
Well-Being,” and it details issues impacting
children that overlap policy areas. An infor-mation
book will be available for meeting
attendees, and includes data pages for each
of Colorado’s 64 counties.
Please RSVP to Jennifer Sanchez Mc-
Donald at: jennifersm0295@gmail.com, by
October 6 to reserve a place at the meeting.
Sanchez McDonald is the coordinator of
the Huerfano- Las Animas (HuLA) Early
Childhood Council, and said in a Tuesday
phone call that a question and answer peri-od
would be included in the meeting, along
Associated Press
with discussion about child wellness issues.
“The meeting will begin with a kids’ pre-sentation,”
Sanchez McDonald said. “This
is a chance to inform our citizens about
the status of the well-being of our children.
We’re hoping that the many people who
care about how our kids are doing will want
to attend.”
The report ranks Colorado’s 25 most pop-ulous
counties in the areas of health, educa-tion
and family economic sufficiency, using
recent data. Just as in the 2013 report, Doug-las,
Elbert, Broomfield counties topped the
list of Colorado counties with the best child
well-being outcomes. Montezuma, Adams
and Denver ranked at the bottom of the list
of the 25 most populous counties included
in the rankings. The report can be found on-line
at the website: www.coloradokids.org/
data/kidscount/2014kidscount.html.
Data from the report shows that in 2012,
Las Animas County’s median household in-come
was $38,713, as compared to the state
median household income of $56,880. The
data shows that for fiscal year 2012-2013, the
percentage of children in the county ages
0 to 18 who were enrolled in Medicaid was
50.4 percent, as compared the state average
31.4 percent of kids enrolled in Medicaid.
The data shows that in 2012, the percent-age
of children in the county under age 18
who were living in poverty was 27.8 per-cent,
as compared to the state average of 17
percent of kids under age 18 living in pov-erty.
2012 rates in the categories of births
to single women, births to women with less
than 12 years of education and teen births
per 1,000 were also much higher than the
state averages.
The county’s high school graduation
rate in 2013 was 80.1 percent, while the
state’s high school graduation rate was 76.9
percent in 2013.
The Colorado Children’s Campaign is
a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and ad-vocacy
organization focused on improving
the quality of, and expanding access to,
child health, K-12 education and early child-hood
experiences. The Kids Count project is
supported by donations from the El Pomar
Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foun-dation.
TSJC STUDENTS
Local Kane Scholars
to attend Trinidad State
By Greg Boyce
Special to The Chronicle-News
Two young women from Trinidad have
been selected as Kane Scholars. The an-nouncement
was made by the Trinidad
State Junior College Educational Founda-tion
in conjunction with the Kane Family
Foundation and the University of Colorado
at Colorado Springs (UCCS). The 2014 re-cipients
are Rebecca Bowman and Chelsea
Rhodes. Both are graduates of Trinidad
High School.
Bowman participated in numerous clubs
and activities in high school. As a three-year
member of Key Club, she held the
positions of secretary and president. She
also was a member of the Yearbook Club,
serving as editor for two years. In Future
Business Leaders of America (FBLA), she
qualified twice for state competition. A fa-vorite
activity was the Student Leadership
Team, which worked to create an environ-ment
where leaders can grow. Her teachers
recognized her positive attitude, noting she
is one who leads by example.
Additionally, Rebecca participated in
choir for one year, band for two years, plus
track and field. Honors and awards Bow-man
has received include membership
in the National Honor Society (NHS), the
Masonic Junior Achievement Award, the
KCRT Beacon Award, and Student of the
Month. She volunteered her time at the po-lice
department, at the local animal shelter,
and at Trinidad Animal Clinic. Bowman
hopes to finish with a Bachelor of Science
in Nursing degree, specializing in pediatric
nursing.
Rhodes was treasurer in the National
Honor Society (NHS), secretary in Student
Council, and was on the Student Leader-ship
Team at Trinidad High School. She
was salutatorian of her graduating class.
Rhodes has volunteered at Fisher’s Peak
Soup Kitchen, Sangre de Cristo Hospice &
Palliative Care, and the Trinidad Church
of Christ. Since 2008, she has participated
in an annual mission trip for Casa de la Es-peranza
Children’s Home, an orphanage in
Anahuac, Mexico.
Rhodes participated in volleyball and
track at Trinidad High School. As part of a
relay team, she qualified for four events in
the 2013 state competition. She was named
All-Conference in track and received the
Domenick Ozzello award. After completing
her studies at Trinidad State Rhodes plans
to complete her bachelor’s degree in Nurs-ing
and become a pediatric nurse practitio-ner.
The merit-based scholarship program
was made possible through the Kane Fam-ily
Foundation and its benefactors, Wanden
and Andy Kane. The Kanes were ranchers
from the Fountain area who believed in
independence through education.Together
for more than 50 years, the couple had come
from vastly different backgrounds while
sharing a love of the Western lifestyle and
an appreciation for learning. Their vision
was to help others. The foundation allows
their vision to continue by helping thou-sands
of Colorado residents achieve the
dream of a college education. More than 120
students now participate in the program
that is administered by the Kane Family
Foundation with assistance from the Trini-dad
State Educational Foundation Office.
The Kane Family Foundation trustees
announced the merit-based scholarship,
one of the largest and most generous in Col-orado,
in January 2006. The program was
expanded in 2008 to include students from
Trinidad State and the three other southern
Colorado community colleges. Students are
Chelsea Rhodes photo courtesy of TSJC
selected based on their high school academ-ic
record and their demonstration of high
motivation and potential for continued
academic success as evidenced by a writ-ten
essay and personal interview. The Kane
Scholar program covers each student’s
books, tuition and fees for up to four years
of study toward pursuit of a bachelor’s de-gree.
Students selected for this Kane Family
Foundation scholarship attend Trinidad
State and then transfer to UCCS while con-tinuing
to receive the scholarship, provided
they maintain the required Grade Point
Average. Based on average current costs
of a bachelor’s degree at a public college
in Colorado, a Kane Scholarship is worth
more than $35,000.
Rebecca Bowman photo courtesy of TSJC
WILDCAT ROYALTY
Aguilar High School celebrates
Homecoming Week September 15-20
Homecoming Queen
Ariana Catherine Coca
Ariana is the 17-year-old daughter of
Stephanie and John Coca. She participated
in basketball her junior year with the boys’
team and was also yearbook editor. She was
also the recipient of the Masonic Outstanding
Junior Award.
Ariana plans to attend Trinidad State
Junior College’s nursing program after she
graduates from high school to become an RN.
Homecoming King
William Edward Lane
William is the 17-year-old son of Jim A.
Lane and the grandson of Debra K. Lane.
He has participated in FFA, Forensics,
and the Venture Shooting program. He
received second place honors in Health in
the regional Science Fair.
William plans to attend Full Sail Univer-sity
or an Art Institute to become a Com-puter
Animator and Game Designer.
Photos couresty of Aguilar High School