I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to be a 2021 Grossman Scholar!

I don’t know exactly how it started but what I do know is that it started when I was young. I developed a burning passion for the environment, I don’t know how to describe the feeling that I had when flipping through those nature books other than it felt like my destiny. I would never have thought that I would be here today, nineteen years old, graduated from Boulder High School with a 3.462 GPA, going to Front Range Community College to get an Associate of Science to later major in Zoology in a four year University, and a Grossman Scholar!

You see, before I came to the United States, the land of opportunity, with my adoptive family, I was a little girl living in Haiti. I was one of six children to extremely impoverished parents desperately trying to give the best life to their children. I remember I went to school once and I absolutely loved it, and when I went to first grade in the United States, I vowed to myself that I would complete my education. Here I am, four more years left to go before I fulfill my promise to my eight year old self.

To further my passion for the environment, I worked for City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, Junior Rangers Program from when I was fourteen to seventeen. I enjoyed spending time outside with other teenagers preserving land through trail maintenance, stewardship and resource management service. I am so thankful to receive the Grossman Scholarship, I cannot express my gratitude enough for giving me the opportunity to give back to the environment that does so much for us. 

Mardoche is one of four students to receive VOC's Grossman Scholarship for the 2021-22 school year. VOC offers two $10,000 and four $5,000 scholarships annually to eligible Colorado residents who have demonstrated a commitment to caring for our environment's natural resources and intend to pursue post-secondary education through an accredited environmental, natural resource, climate, or outdoor industry related education program in Colorado.

Applications for the 2022-23 school year are open through 11:59pm on March 31, 2022.