The students we serve
Homegrown Pathways serves high school students across Montrose, Delta, Ouray, Mesa, and Gunnison Counties. Most of our direct Spark Lab work reaches students in grades 9–12 during the school day, embedded inside existing courses.
Montrose and Delta Counties — our two primary service areas — are in the bottom half of Colorado counties by average income. The students we serve reflect these economic realities, and often come from low-income households and communities where career exposure, professional networks, and seed funding are scarce.
Rural students face a specific version of the opportunity gap. Career exploration, at best, often focuses on awareness: students learn about jobs, but rarely have the chance to test an idea, build a network, or access someone willing to invest in them. Meanwhile, there is limited programming that empowers you to contribute to the future of your local economy. We address that exact gap, and in doing so connect students to pathways that would otherwise seem invisible or out of reach.
Our Students’ Stories
Eko has always loved the arts, designing all of her own clothing, painting, drawing, and more. Through Spark Lab, she pitched to start free community arts classes that she would lead, and that would allow all generations spend time together and express themselves.
Her endeavor, called Eko Locations Art, has since held those classes all over Delta County, bringing together young and old for lessons in painting and crafts. She has also gained more revenue for Eko Locations by learning to sell her own art. Her long term goal is to study medical science and art making in a university setting.
Grey loves all things science, and would love to be an astronomer. To start saving money for college, he pitched and won money to start a hot sauce business using a family recipe, “100% Pure.” Since launching, the hot sauce has been flying off the shelves!
His next step is to save up for a telescope, so that he can launch an astronomy club to connect with other science-curious peers. The hot sauce is just one step in Grey’s journey to the stars.
Kacee is a junior who spends his free time cleaning community trails and running an outdoors club he started himself — the Out-the-Door Gang — so his friends can afford to go on school trips outdoors. “Kids learn better outdoors” Kacee loves to say, but for too many in his area (himself included), it just costs too much to visit Colorado’s amazing parks and mountains.
When Kacee pitched his club at the Spark Lab Pitch Event, he won a grant from the local district that has subsequently funded outdoor recreation trips across the area for his friends and classmates. His short-term goal is to start an Out-the-Door Gang in every school district on the Western Slope. His long-term goal is to be the mayor of his town.