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This July, ����ֱ�� Boulder’s Precollegiate Development Program (PCDP) celebrates its 40-year anniversary. The program gives social and academic resources to ����ֱ�� middle and high school students — particularly first-generation students who live in geographically diverse communities — to help them prepare and succeed at the post-secondary institution of their choice. 

Over the past 40 years, PCDP has helped approximately 1,800 student and family participants from 60 middle and high schools. Ninety-eight percent of them attended college (73 percent at ����ֱ�� Boulder). In 2003, the program’s success led to a partnership with the Roaring Fork Valley School District to create the state’s first rural precollegiate partnership program. In 2009, ����ֱ�� Boulder helped create a similar program in ����ֱ��’s Summit County School District.

Here, five PCDP alumni speak out about their experiences. 

Tyler Ting (BioChem; MechEngr’15)
Director of Regulatory Affairs at Avio Medtech Consulting
Carbondale, ����ֱ�� 

“The precollegiate program gave me a lot of confidence that, despite the fact I was a first-generation student, I would have the tools and resources to succeed. Also, I was introduced to two of my lifelong mentors, Herb and Kate Feinzig, through the program.” 

Hon. Joseph A. Salazar (���dz�’93)&�Բ�����;
Chief Legal Counsel for Adams 14 School District
Thornton ����ֱ�� 

“The first day of the summer program, my dad expressed his astonishment that his son was going to attend college classes at ����ֱ�� Boulder. He hadn’t finished high school. He was a printer. He grew up in the San Luis Valley, Denver and Brighton. What did he know about this world? His first visit was my third, and I saw myself in his expressions. I was so damn happy that my dad was excited about this journey. My mama was excited, too. She is a fiercely strong woman, and she was my guiding light to seize this moment and do something with it.”

Estefania Vigil (��������’13)&�Բ�����;
Financial Reporting and Technical Accounting Wenior Manager at EY
Basalt, ����ֱ�� 

“The program provided me with the resources necessary to make attending a higher education institution an attainable goal, as well as provided a lifelong mentor whom I can still call upon for advice. I also currently hold a position on the precollegiate advisory board as it instilled in me the desire to pay it forward in the form of mentorship.” 

Wenming Ye (CompSci’99; MS’00)
Senior Product Manager Lead for Google Cloud 
Boulder, ����ֱ��

“My family immigrated to the United States in 1992. We lived off Folsom Street, and I was curious about college life and research work that was done at ����ֱ�� Boulder. The PCDP program provided me with a comprehensive understanding of the university system, enabling me to navigate the campus more effectively two years later. Most notably, it led to a system administration job with the director of the Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, where I developed a keen interest in high-performance computing systems. This interest played a crucial role in securing positions with the Microsoft HPC team and later at Microsoft Research, where I developed strong interest in machine learning and deep learning.”  

Nicole Lucero-Holub (�������Ѳ�����’93)&�Բ�����;
Vice President of Human Resources for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science 
Englewood, ����ֱ��

“PCDP gave me the opportunity to experience the challenges of college-level coursework, prepare for the ACT and gain exposure to campus living. I had comfort knowing that I wasn't alone on campus as there were other PCDP graduates and friends, program staff and mentors, and not to mention Hispanic alumni that I’d get to meet at alumni events. … My mom always taught me that through my success I have a responsibility to pay it forward to our Hispanic community. After my freshman year in college, I became a counselor at the ����ֱ�� Denver Precollegiate program in 1989.”

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Illustrations by Ryan Olbyrsh