Freshman campaigns for scholarship in memory of friends

Soon after the tragic 2008 automobile death of Longmont senior Kyle Metcalf and UC Denver freshman Caitlin Epple, much of the Longmont High School community was in shock—including Larkin Poynton, a close friend of both of them.

After a while, he and others in the community “took it as something bitter, but also sweet,” Poynton says. “The school united around them. Instead of saying ‘What are we going to do now?’ we decided, ‘Let’s have fun and live how they would have.’”

Unlike most teenagers, Poynton channeled his energy into philanthropy. He helped organize a local “Ride Yo Trike” event, collecting 75 donated tricycles for a holiday-giving program. In recognition of such spirit, the CU-Boulder-bound Poynton was awarded the Asa Iokepa De Neeve scholarship in 2009—which honors a Longmont High student who had passed away in 1999.

Once at CU-Boulder, after a Fall 2009 meeting with his scholarship donor (who works at the Leeds School of Business) Poynton took his desire to honor his late friends one step further.

Poynton set up a meeting with CU Foundation development officer T.J. Rapoport in January, who told him what he would need to do to establish a scholarship. Then he started doing it. Quickly. “Literally, from the moment he left my office after the first visit, it was me trying to keep up with Larkin,” Rapoport says.

Within a month, he had raised $5,000. A donor from California then matched that total, increasing the pool to $10,000. A Facebook page he set up on the scholarship grew to 1,258 members, and the list of donors on his scholarship blog grew to more than 90.

As of early May, the scholarship effort had raised $15,000—enabling the first scholarship, in the amount of $500, to be awarded this fall to a Longmont High student entering CU-Boulder in Fall 2010 who participates in art and music, volunteers in the community, and demonstrates a personal graciousness. “As a foundation whose purpose is to raise money to support CU, it’s inspiring to work with students like Larkin,” Rapoport says.

Many of these gifts have come in small increments from individuals whose desire to help surpasses their means. “It’s great when people give you $5—when they sacrifice their burrito for the week, or their Pepsi for the week. A family in Longmont whom my dad has known forever, who is not wealthy by any standard, sent me a check for $25. Those are the ones that mean so much to me.”

Poynton’s goal is to reach the $25,000 minimum to endow the scholarship—enabling a $1,000 annual scholarship to be awarded in perpetuity. It’s an impressive effort for a freshman who juggles fundraising with teaching choreography at a dance studio, duties as president of Libby Hall, hobbies such a drums and, of course, classes. But Poynton says he was just following his gut.

“There’s a piece of me that felt, ‘Larkin: You feel strongly about something. Do something about it,’” Poynton says. “My advice to someone who wants to start a scholarship effort like this: Reach out to everyone you can. Don’t give up. Persist. Persist. Persist.”

Jeremy Simon is communications manager at the CU Foundation. For more information on the Caitlin Epple and Kyle Metcalf Memorial Scholarship or other scholarships, contact T.J. Rapoport, associate director of development
at the CU Foundation, at 3O3-541-1455 ortj.rapoport@cufund.org.