Elsa Martinez Tenreiro became president of the Denver Bar Association on July 1st. Elsa received her B.A. from the University of Colorado at Denver and her J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School in 1989. She went on to be an associate with Pepe J. Mendez and Associates.For her year of presidency, Elsa plans to focus on continuing to reach out to diverse lawyers and developing ways of bringing more civics to classrooms through the Democracy Education Committee. “Providing some kind of help to kids and education always have been strong interests,” said Elsa. “I’ve worked with some kind of public legal education since I graduated from law school.” Elsa was the recipient of Channel 9’s Outstanding Volunteer award and received the Metro Volunteer Lawyer of the Year award in 2004. She also received the DBA Volunteer Lawyer of the Year award in 2005. All three awards were for her countless hours giving back to the community. Elsa has volunteered with: Law Line 9; People’s Fair; Colorado Uplift; Community Resources, Inc; publications in the Public Legal Education department of the DBA; Metro Volunteer Lawyers Family Court Program; Mock Trial Subcommittees; CLE of Colorado; career fairs; school mediation programs (teaching kids to mediate programs themselves); 5678 Dance Academy of Performing Arts; and as a reading coach and avid volunteer at her children’s schools.