In the News

Grades Not a Requirement For This Scholarship

This story was posted at Yourhub.com announcing a $1,000 community grant given to the scholarship. The story can be viewed online at: http://denver.yourhub.com/GOLDEN/Stories/Community/community-giving-nominations/Story~146146.aspx

Contributed by: Karen Groves/YourHub.com on 11/3/2006

Susan Hoffer, an Evergreen resident, submitted the story "Grades aren't important for this scholarship." It is named for her brother, John Weston Frederick Griffiths, who had learning disabilities that made being a student difficult, and ultimately, overwhelming.

The former Golden High School student committed suicide in February 1997. He was 20 years old.

According to Hoffer and her mother Joyce Griffiths, the scholarship was set up after his death to help students with learning disabilities continue their education.

When she learned of the $1,000 grant from YourHub.com Hoffer said, "My mother and I were over the moon when we got the news. And we received the call a few days after Weston's birthday Oct. 29, so it meant a great deal." Weston Griffiths would have turned 30 this year.

Griffiths and Hoffer worked with counselors at Golden High School to set up a scholarship that doesn't require good grades. "The more I look at the statistics, the more I realize how often people with disabilities don't graduate." Hoffer said.

"There needs to be someone out there getting them through the school so they can graduate. And so they can receive the scholarship," Hoffer added.

Hoffer and Griffiths agreed that said they would use the money to continue to grow the fund. Hoffer said, "Now maybe we can give two scholarships. Ultimately it would be fabulous to make it a continuing scholarship, so that each year a student who has won one, could apply again. We want to be able to give it to one new student each year."

The scholarship was started eight years ago with the cooperation of Golden High School counselors, Debbie Cooper and Josi Martonivich. Griffiths said, "They helped us organize it. It became part of the awards ceremony at the end of the school year. "

Griffiths is a retired teacher from Wheat Ridge. She said, "It was always important us that education be stressed. But kids with disabilities get lost in the shuffle, they're lost. My son wasn't even diagnosed until he was a junior in high school."

Griffiths added, "I think the scholarship is to emphasize first, that a student does not have to go to a four-year college after high school and that they are still worthwhile members of society. I don't want them to go through life, using their disability as an excuse or let it become a burden to them.

Griffiths said Weston was attending a community college in Santa Rosa, CA and had a 3.4 grade-point-average. "He was doing very well," she said.

Although the counselors who were originally involved are no longer at Golden High School, both Hoffer and Griffiths said the scholarship has helped Golden students go on to attend Metro State and Western State University.

"It's very exciting that they all go on to something else. It is the idea that these kids need to know they don't have to work at MacDonald's the rest of their life or that there is something wrong with them. Society is pretty harsh on kids who don't get good grades. We tend to let them fall by the wayside."

Good Grades Not a Requirement For This Scholarship

This article was submitted to the Rocky Mountain News YourHub and was one of 15 winners chosen from 500 entries to receive a $1,000 community grant. The story can be viewed online at: http://denver.yourhub.com/GOLDEN/Stories/Community/community-giving-nominations/Story~139410.aspx

October 18, 2006--Evergreen

February 23, 1997 I received a devastating phone call that literally knocked the air out of, and ripped a part of my life from me. My baby brother Weston had hanged himself. He was only 20. For Weston there would be no more of his passions: skiing, hunting, hanging out with friends or going to school. Wow, I never thought I’d include school in a list of things my brother enjoyed.

Struggling with life and especially school from his mid-teens, Weston was bipolar (manic depressive) and taking medication when he could stand it. He dropped out of Golden High School his sophomore year. One year later, of his own will, amazingly he returned to Golden, was diagnosed with a learning disability and graduated. Beyond our family’s expectations Weston went on to attend Santa Rosa Community College in California where he maintained a 3.4 grade point average. Our family attributes this miracle to the efforts of Debbie Cooper and Yossi Martonovich, Golden High School counselors at the time, and the strength and desire Weston was able to find within himself.

In memory of Weston and in celebration of his triumph of overcoming his odds on finishing high school and continuing to higher education, my mother Joyce Griffiths established the nonprofit John Weston Frederick

Griffiths Scholarship. This scholarship offers Golden High School graduating seniors with a learning disability money to attend technical school, junior college or college. Why is this scholarship so important? Because students with learning disabilities not only face the challenge of coping with their disability but many are not receiving the assistance required to be successful in life. We hope this scholarship will provide its recipient an incentive or opportunity to continue their education that they might not have had

otherwise.

According to the US Department of Education, 2.8 million children in US public schools (or 5 percent of the public school population) have learning disabilities and receive special education.

Per the National Dropout Prevention Center 38.7 percent of students with a learning disability age 14 and older dropped out of high school in 2000-2001. The National Longitudinal Transition Study states that only 14 percent of students with learning disabilities (compared to 53 percent of students in the general population) have attended a

postsecondary school program within two years of leaving high school.

A 2002 study by Ohio Board of Regents showed that people with a college degree on average

earn 80 percent more in their lifetime than those with only a high school diploma.

What is a learning disability?

Per the National Center for Learning Disabilities’ (NCLD) Web site: “A learning disability (LD) is a neurological disorder that affects the brain's ability to receive, process, store and respond to information. The term learning disability is used to describe the seeming unexplained difficulty a person of at least average intelligence has in acquiring basic academic skills. These skills are essential for success at school and work, and for coping with life in general. LD is not a single disorder. It is a term that refers to a group of disorders.”

The John Weston Frederick Griffiths Scholarship is my favorite non-profit not only because it is near and dear to my heart, but because it is not based on grades or academic achievement like most scholarships – but instead recognizes a student’s effort to overcome their challenges and encourages them to continue this pursuit.

Since 1999, eight scholarships have been awarded. Applications are available from Golden High School counselors and are due by April 1, 2007. For more information, e-mail suzihoffer@yahoo.com.

For more information on learning disabilities:

National Center for Learning Disabilities: www.ncld.org

Learning Disability Online: www.ldonline.org

Getting Ready for College – A Guide for Students with Learning Disabilities: www.kidsource.com/Heath/gr.html

For more information on suicide prevention:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

If you are suicidal, call toll-free, 24 hours a day: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

John Weston Frederick Griffiths Memorial Scholarship