A selection panel for the LEAD Foundation has named Charles Ernest John Rodosevich winner of the LEAD Foundation Community Scholarship award. This scholarship provides $1000.00 toward tuition to a student with learning disabilities and/or AD/HD who is a Colorado resident.

“Dyslexia has always been and will always be a part of who I am” Charlie stated in his scholarship application. “My own disability has made me very nonjudgmental and understanding of diversity. I understand that there is a need to educate the community about dyslexia.” Charlie has also discovered that dyslexia has a positive side: “I am gifted in math and science as well as music and art. I want to be an engineer and I have made the statement that math is my favorite subject and pastime.” Charles believes his dyslexia helps him to, “see the world in 3D color rather then linear.”

In addition to strong advocacy skills and tutoring, Charlie has learned how useful assistive technology, accommodations, and different reading techniques can be in compensating for a disability. He also believes in, “advocating for other persons who may be intimidated or discouraged by everyday processes that are biased on reading ability.”

Charlie is very focused on his goal to obtain a degree in engineering at Colorado State University, Pueblo. “My short term goal is with determination, hard work and organization to be successful in college and pursue a degree in engineering. My long term goal is to become successful in my chosen career field and a productive member of my community, I will endeavor to ‘play it forward’ and make a difference!”

Seven honorable mentions were also selected by the panel. They are:

Andrew Beardsley, a senior at Summit High School in Breckenridge, Colorado, is a talented athlete; lettering in hockey and football. Andrew compensates for his reading and writing disability with hard work, commitment and technology and is a strong self advocate. Andrew believes, “keeping a good attitude and trying not to be frustrated because of the extra hours it takes” has helped keep him on track in life. Andrew dreams of using his strengths in math and science to design sports equipment. He is planning to major in business and engineering at CSU.

Melissa Gille, a senior at Rampart High School in Colorado Springs, was diagnosed with a perceptual/communicative disorder at an early age. She remembers the “frustration of trying to recognize letters, let alone trying to put them together to form a word......and being estranged from other students.” Melissa feels her disability has made her into the, “stubborn, ambitious person I am today.” Melissa started advocating for herself in elementary school, when she requested to be allowed to stay back a year to “catch up.” Upon being told that was not possible, Melissa took it upon herself to make an appointment with the principle and convinced him to allow her to be retained. Melissa is now an outstanding writer and has been the editor of her school newspaper for several years. Melissa plans to major in Anthropology and wants to use her education to, “test and explore societies boundary lines, and most of all I want to tear them down.”

Dana Hamilton from Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs has chosen to take the “road less traveled.....demonstrating the courage to be independent, despite peer pressure or difficult circumstances”. Her sophomore year, while playing goalie on her high schools' varsity soccer team, Dana suffered a serious head injury. In spite of the pain that continued for weeks after the injury, Dana attended all the soccer practices and games to support her team . Dana writes that she, "learned the importance of leading and encouraging from the sidelines.” Dana was selected by the local American Legion Chapter to represent Air Academy High School at the Colorado Chapter of “Girls State”, which offers leadership training to high school girls. She was also selected for the “American Legion Good Citizen Award”. Dana believes her processing disorder has, “helped shape my character to be more determined, persevering and compassionate,” and that because of her disability and advocacy skills, her “interpersonal communications are better.” Dana plans to major in International Affairs and use her education to be an example for others with a disability and encourage them to pursue their dreams to succeed.

A learning disability is only one of the things that Marcie Ruth Molina has overcome. A senior at Denver School of Science and Technology, Marcie lost her mother at a young age and has lived with a foster mother since then. Marcie’s 11th grade American Literature Teacher describes Marcie as, “having a passion for justice...this is evident in everything from her desire for fair grading or discipline policies (which she is willing to bring up with teachers) to her contributions to The Gathering Place (a home for women and children escaping abusive men) to her long-term goal of joining the US Army criminal Investigation Division." Marcie discovered that after her diagnosis of a learning disability in the eleventh grade, the use of accommodations has, “really changed my grades for the better, as well as being able to show my ability on tests.” Marcie plans to pursue a maters degree, then to become a CID agent for the US Army.

Rebecca Nelson has dreams of helping the millions of people who suffer from genetic diseases and will capitalize on that passion by majoring in Biology. She is also involved with the award winning LHS band, the Jefferson County All-County Honors Band and an active member of National Charity League. Although Rebecca was not diagnosed with dyslexia until her sophomore year of high school, she was in the International Baccalaureate program at the time of her diagnosis. Like many others with dyslexia, Rebecca found reading out loud in class, “one of the most emotionally painful experiences of my life.” Rebecca spent the summer between her sophomore and junior year of high school working with a private tutor three mornings a week. As a result of her hard work and diligence, she brought her third grade reading level up to tenth grade. Rebecca approaches her dyslexia with hard work and humor, telling her classmates that she is “hooked on phonics.”

Sean O’Reilly is a senior at Golden High School. At a very young age, Sean spent countless hours working with parents, teachers and tutors to improve his reading. Sean describes his dyslexia as a different way of learning that is “more oriented around pictures and visualization,” and he takes pride in this difference. He views dyslexia, "not as a disability, but just a different way of learning focused around different abilities, not disabilities.” Sean is very active in his church and boy scouts where he has acquired the rank of life scout will soon obtain the rank of eagle scout. Sean is an avid mountain biker and would like to someday start his own company related to mountain biking. He also has hope of being a professional downhill mountain bike racer. He plans to attend CU Boulder in the fall.

David Sigel from Manitou Springs, Colorado and a student at Palmer High School is a gifted musician and exceptional student. Although gifted in auditory and verbal communication, David’s learning disability causes him visual and spatial difficulties. David’s history of advocacy includes personal communication with the teacher, always introducing himself after the first class. David also looks for “solutions”, a word he prefers over accommodations, to compensate for his learning disability. The difficulties a learning disability poses, has helped David to, “see myself as an individual, different from other students, and very aware of my learning preferences.” David has activity participated in his own IEP meetings since middle school. In addition to practicing classical and jazz violin and playing in a string quartet and jazz ensembles, David also attends classes at the Colorado Springs Conservatory. He serves as student liaison to the Conservatory’s community outreach and in 2006, David was selected as a “Mayor’s 100 teens”.