Empowering Graduates & Building Lasting Futures

Scholarship Programs

Our scholarship portfolio encompasses both merit-based and need-based awards designed to serve the full spectrum of academic achievement and financial circumstance. From our flagship Westside Founders Merit Scholarship, which recognizes exceptional academic performance with awards up to $8,000, to the First-Generation College Pioneer Grant supporting students whose parents did not complete a four-year degree, every dollar is directed toward reducing the financial barriers that prevent talented students from pursuing higher education. Each scholarship undergoes a rigorous, multi-round evaluation by our volunteer review committee, comprising alumni professionals in education, law, medicine, and business, who ensure transparency, equity, and alignment with the foundation's educational mission. In the 2025–2026 academic year alone, we distributed over $340,000 across 78 individual awards, covering tuition, textbook stipends, and professional certification fees.

Career Mentorship Network

Our Career Mentorship Network pairs current students and recent graduates with established Westside alumni working across diverse professional fields, from software engineering and registered nursing to corporate finance, skilled trades, and K–12 education. Each mentoring relationship is structured around a twelve-month engagement cycle that includes monthly one-on-one advising sessions, quarterly professional development workshops, and access to our proprietary alumni career portal featuring internship postings, resume review services, and mock interview scheduling. Since the program's inception in 2004, more than 1,400 mentorship pairs have completed the cycle, with post-program surveys consistently showing that 89% of mentees credit their Westside mentor with helping them secure their first professional position or graduate school admission. Mentors donate an average of six hours per month, contributing an estimated $1.2 million in equivalent professional consulting value annually.

Community Investment

The Westside Alumni Foundation reinvests directly in the school communities that shaped our alumni. Our Community Investment initiative funds classroom technology upgrades, school library acquisitions, athletic facility improvements, and after-school enrichment programming across twelve partner campuses in the Westside Unified School District. Since 2010, we have allocated over $1.6 million in facility and program grants, including the construction of two dedicated STEM computer labs at Westside High School and the renovation of the performing arts auditorium at Lincoln Middle School. Every grant application undergoes review by our Community Investment Committee, which evaluates proposals based on demonstrated need, projected student impact, sustainability planning, and alignment with district educational priorities. We also organize an annual Day of Service where alumni volunteers contribute thousands of collective labor hours to campus beautification, tutoring events, and career exploration fairs.

$2.8M+

Total Scholarships Disbursed

1,400+

Mentorship Pairs Completed

12

Partner School Campuses

89%

Mentee Career Placement Rate

"When I graduated from Westside High in 2019, I had the grades to attend CU Boulder but not the financial means. The Founders Merit Scholarship covered my first two semesters of tuition and connected me with a software engineering mentor who helped me land an internship at a Denver tech company before my junior year. I am now a full-time developer and I give back to the foundation every month because I know exactly what that investment meant for my trajectory."

"My wife and I have contributed to the STEM Innovation Fund for eleven consecutive years. What keeps us renewing our pledge is the foundation's absolute transparency. Every spring we receive a detailed accounting of how our donation was allocated, which students it supported, and what academic milestones those students achieved. That kind of fiduciary discipline is rare in the nonprofit sector, and it gives us complete confidence that every dollar is working as intended."

"As a principal in the Westside district, I see firsthand how the foundation's community investment grants transform our school environment. Last year, a $45,000 technology grant allowed us to outfit a new computer science lab with thirty workstations, giving our students access to coding curriculum that simply was not possible before. The alumni volunteers who come in for career day events give our students tangible role models who walked the same hallways they do."