In November, students who traveled last year will have the opportunity to give presentations about their experiences. We invite community members to attend to hear how these experiences change lives!
Wed. Nov. 5, 2014: DCIS at Montbello students will give their presentations from 6:00-8:00 pm at DCIS at Montbello (5000 Crown Blvd)
Thurs. Nov. 20, 2014: DCIS at Baker students will give their presentations from 6:00-8:00 pm at Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center (721 Santa Fe Blvd)
On November 5, several groups of students from DCIS-Montbello gave presentations about their recent travel experiences using DCIS Foundation scholarships. Their stories and photos were very impressive – we loved hearing about ways travel changed these students’ lives! We heard from students who travelled to France, China, Greece, Italy, Spain and Washington DC.
Want to know what we heard from these young travelers? See quotes below – and check out our photo album on Facebook!
“It took me out of my comfort zone.”
“The trip explained life in a way that I could see things from a different point of view.”
“I learned a lot about history – more than reading about it in a book.”
“This was my first time out of Colorado.”
“Even though the world is really big, there are not that many differences in people.”
“Now I take my education more seriously.”
“This trip made me really grateful for all we have in the U.S.”
“This was a once in a lifetime chance for me.”
Run the Colfax Marathon for the DCIS Foundation May 16 and 17, 2015! (**hurry and register before Jan. 28 for reduced pricing**)
By running, you help raise funds to support the work of the DCIS Foundation!
Step 1: Register to participate in the Colfax Marathon Races at http://www.runcolfax.org/register/ and choose the Denver Center for International Studies Foundation from the drop-down menu.
Step 2: Create a fundraising page on the Colorado gives website at https://www.coloradogives.org/
(instructions are provided) and create a link to your
fundraising page.
Step 3: Share the link for your fundraising page on your social media sites and encourage friends to help meet your fundraising goal.
Step 4: Monitor the total amount of donations received (by visiting your fundraising page) and when you have reached your goal, the DCIS Foundation will reimburse your Colfax Marathon regular registration fee.
Reach the following fundraising goals for the DCIS Foundation,
and we will reimburse your regular entry fee!
Your support of the DCIS Foundation’s dinner will help to ensure international and cultural opportunities for our students from kindergarten through the 12th grade.
Date:
Thursday, April 23rd, 2015
Time:
6:00p.m. Cocktails / 7:00p.m. Dinner
Location: The Denver Athletic Club, GrandBallroom, 1325 Glenarm Place, Denver
Tickets: $125 per person
RSVP and Order Tickets: Visit EventBrite to let us know you’ll be joining us and to secure your seat at the table
Sponsorship Opportunities: We are actively seeking sponsorships at a variety of levels – see Sponsorships below for details!
Honorary Chair: Zee Ferrufino, Owner and CEO, KBNO Radio
A distinguished leader within the Denver business and Hispanic communities and an accomplished businessman, Zee Ferrufino embodies the spirit of the “American Dream.” A native Bolivian, he first came to the United States more than 30 years ago, thanks to a scholarship awarded by the U.S. Air Force. Determined to achieve greater freedom and opportunity, Zee decided to immigrate to the U.S., returning to Denver, Colorado, which reminded him closely of his hometown of La Paz. In 1976, he proudly became a U.S. citizen. [Read more]
Keynote Speaker: Jamie Van Leeuwen, PhD, MA, MPH, CAC III
Jamie Van Leeuwen currently serves as the senior advisor for Governor Hickenlooper after almost four years as deputy chief of staff and director of community partnerships. Leading up to the Hickenlooper administration, Jamie worked as the policy director and served on the transition team for the Hickenlooper for Colorado gubernatorial campaign. He is also the founder and CEO of the Global Livingston Institute, a non-governmental organization in East Africa designed to engage students and community leaders, with an aim to develop innovative solutions to poverty. Jamie is a senior research fellow with the Buechner Institute at the University of Colorado-Denver School of Public Affairs. He became a Fulbright scholar in 2013. [Read more]
Emcee: Nelson Garcia, 9News
“The World as a Classroom” Spring Dinner Sponsorship Opportunities
Platinum Sponsor – $10,000
Gold Sponsor – $5,000
Silver Sponsor – $2,500
Table Sponsor – $1250
All Sponsors:
For Information: Contact Shannon Clifford, 303-895-9072
Platinum Sponsors 2015
Raccoon Creek Golf Club & Restaurant
Table Sponsors
LeVon Terry
Nina McGibney
George Ballaseux
Poorvi Parkhie
Dan Lutz
Chet Sisk
Linda Lidov
Mica Garcia de Benavidez
Scott Foust
Derek George
Tom Evans
Kristi LaBarge
Melanie Grant
Dianna Vigil-Sclavenitis
Ann Connelly
Kristina and Carl Ashkin
AHEPA
DCIS-Baker PTSA
Denver Center for International Studies Foundation Awards $32,340 in Scholarships
March 17, 2015, DENVER – The Denver Center for International Studies (DCIS) Foundation announces it has awarded $32,340 in scholarships to Denver Public Schools students during the 2014-2015 school year. More than 500 students from ECE through 12th grade who attend one of four DCIS campuses in Denver’s Baker and Montbello neighborhoods will use the scholarships to pursue a range of global and local travel, language immersion, community service and cultural exchange experiences this spring and summer. For many students, these trips offer a first-time chance to leave the city of Denver, the state of Colorado, or the United States.
“The DCIS Foundation has seen the power of travel and the way it transforms students, expanding their perspective on how the world works,” said Dan Lutz, founder of the DCIS schools and a member of the foundation’s board of directors. “When students get out into the world, they’re able to absorb so much more of what they learned from text books and in the classroom. They come back with their eyes wide open, looking for new ways to apply their learning and take action in their own communities.”
Locally, scholarship recipients will participate in and attend Denver Discovery Camps, experience the performing arts, and explore Colorado and Utah. Travel scholarship recipients will journey to England, France, Spain, Peru, Argentina, Italy and Thailand. All recipients have undergone a rigorous application process and had to meet a number of eligibility requirements. Each student must maintain a minimum grade point average, initiate fundraising efforts, gather references, write an essay, and complete a face-to-face interview with the scholarship committee, as well as attend a scholarship orientation and complete an application. The DCIS Foundation’s scholarship committee completes two yearly rounds of award-making.
With the help of the DCIS Foundation, high schoolers have traveled to countries all over the world – from Western and Eastern Europe, Asia and South America, to the Far East and Africa. Middle schoolers have traveled to other states or countries including Washington DC, New York, Costa Rica and China. Elementary school students have taken group excursions to the Colorado History Museum, the Grant Humphries Mansion and Rocky Mountain National Park, among other locales. Student experiences are documented on the DCIS Foundation’s website.
The foundation wants its number of awarded scholarships to grow. “We have a goal to reach even more students with opportunities. With our system’s recent expansion to include four schools, we believe it is possible to reach every student in some way,” Lutz said.
Founded by Lutz as a center within West High School in 1985, DCIS moved to its downtown Denver (DCIS-Baker) campus in 2006 and offered 6th through 12th grades. Building on that success, two new schools opened in 2011 in far northeast Denver: DCIS-Ford and DCIS-Montbello. And in 2013, DCIS-Fairmont opened its doors downtown. Today, the four DCIS campuses serve 2,400 students.
To raise money for its scholarship program, the DCIS Foundation will hold a fundraising dinner with the theme, “The World as A Classroom,” on Thursday, April 23, 2015 at the Denver Athletic Club. The featured keynote speaker is Jamie Van Leeuwen, a senior advisor to Governor Hickenlooper and founder and CEO of the Global Livingston Institute, a non-governmental organization in East Africa designed to engage students and community leaders, with an aim to develop innovative solutions to poverty. Tickets and reservations are available through EventBrite.
About the DCIS Foundation
The Denver Center for International Studies Foundation creates a world of opportunity for students by taking them out into it. It enables ECE through 12th grade students in four Denver Public Schools to take their knowledge from the classroom and apply it to real-life – through travel, language immersion, community service and cultural exchanges. These experiences transform students into confident, informed and compassionate individuals. They also help students develop into globally competent people who are leaders and problem-solvers and take action in their communities. Learn more at www.dcisfoundation.org.
###
Media Contact:
Linda Lidov / 303-358-6279
When high-school students Jack Virnich and Jennifer Arreola-Soria go on stage in April to talk about their travels to Japan and China last year, they likely won’t be reading a laundry list of museums they visited or boat rides they took. They did do those things – and thoroughly enjoyed them.
But what Jack and Jennifer cherish most about their trips abroad was not the tourist attractions. It was the deep human connections they made, the absorption of new knowledge, and a more profound understanding of the world from vantage points they never could have imagined from their school desks.
Read the full article here!
The DCIS Foundation board of directors had its annual retreat in Estes Park yesterday. We’re proud to say that we accomplished all of our goals last year, and are so excited about the year ahead!
Here are the goals we met: 
1. Tell our story: We updated our website with a new “student stories” page, produced a video, created a 3-year foundation report, boosted our social media pages and honed our messaging.
2. Cultivate alumni: We hosted an alumni dinner, hosted an alumni event and designated specific alumni tables at our annual gala event in the spring.
3. Meet or exceed the fundraising budget: WE DID IT! We exceeded our fundraising budget by **6%**.
4. Seek out opportunities to expand cross-cultural experiences: We enabled 14 low-income DCIS-Baker high school students to attend a cultural play at Su Teatro; enabled every single DCIS-Fairmont student in grades 1-5 to participate in local cultural experiences and overnight field trips; supported DCIS-Ford’s Global Arts Club; supported DCIS-Ford’s Chinese New Year Celebration; met with DCIS-Ford to explore additional cross-cultural experiences and ideas; sent a class of DCIS-Baker students to Canyonlands for a cultural writing experience; and supported two DCIS-Baker students on their trip to Africa with the Global Livingston Institute.
5. Increase board meeting attendance: We boosted attendance from 69% in 2013-2014 to 84% in 2014-2015.
Friends, thank you for all of your support this past year. We look forward to many great things to come as we expose more DCIS students to travel and culture opportunities, both at home and abroad!
Please join us on September 23, 2015 for an evening with Ambassador Christopher Hill. This amazing event will include a presentation, a question-and-answer session, a book signing, a silent auction and international food tastings.
What: DCIS Foundation Global Speakers Event and Book Signing
Who: Ambassador Christopher Hill, 2 students, and Honorary Belgian Consulate, Frank Schuchat
Date: Wednesday, September 23rd
Time: Silent Auction and Food/Beverage Stations-6:00p.m., Program-7:00p.m.
Location: DCIS Baker (574 W 6th Ave, Denver, Colorado 80204)
Ticket Price: General $30, DCIS Students and Staff $15
Order tickets here
Ambassador Christopher R. Hill is the Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at The University of Denver, a position he has held since September 2010.
Hill is a former career diplomat with worldwide experience. A four-time ambassador, nominated by three presidents, his last foreign service post was as Ambassador to Iraq, April 2009 until August 2010. Prior to Iraq, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2005 until 2009, responsible for bilateral relations with all East Asian countries including China, Japan, Australia and all of Southeast Asia. He was also the head of the US delegation to the Six Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Earlier, He was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, and prior to that assignment he served as U.S. Ambassador to Poland (2000-2004), Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia (1996-1999) and Special Envoy to Kosovo (1998-1999). He also served as a Special Assistant to President Clinton and a Senior Director on the staff of the National Security Council, 1999-2000.
Save the date! Fall presentations are happening in November. This is a unique opportunity to hear directly from scholarship recipients about their travels over the past year – and get a first-hand glimpse at how travel has transformed them.
Join us on one or both of these dates:
Nov. 4 at 5:30 pm to hear DCIS-Montbello students present (DCIS-Montbello – 5000 Crown Blvd).
Nov. 18 at 6:00 pm to hear DCIS-Baker students present (Su Teatro – 721 Santa Fe Dr.).
Hope to see you there.
Please join us for our annual “The World As a Classroom” spring dinner!
Your support of the DCIS Foundation’s dinner will help to ensure international and cultural opportunities for our students from ECE through the 12th grade.
Date:
Thursday, April 27, 2016
Time:
6:00p.m. Cocktails / 7:00p.m. Dinner
Location: The Denver Athletic Club, GrandBallroom, 1325 Glenarm Place, Denver
Event Chair: Melanie Grant
Tickets: $125 per person
RSVP and Order Tickets: Contact Shannon Clifford, 303-895-9072
Sponsorship Opportunities: We are actively seeking sponsorships at a variety of levels – see Sponsorships below for details!
“The World as a Classroom” Spring Dinner Sponsorship Opportunities
Platinum Sponsor – $10,000
• Full-page, black and white ad in program (camera-ready artwork to be provided by sponsor)
• Introduction of officer during program
• Logo on DCIS Foundation webpage with link to company website
• Mention on DCIS Foundation social media pages
Gold Sponsor – $5,000
• Half-page, black and white ad in program (camera-ready artwork to be provided by sponsor)
• Verbal acknowledgement during program
• Mention on DCIS Foundation social media pages
Silver Sponsor – $2,500
• Quarter-page, black and white ad in program (camera-ready artwork to be provided by sponsor)
Table Sponsor – $1,250
• A table of ten with table signage (camera-ready artwork to be provided by sponsor)
All Sponsors:
• Share our commitment to excellence and forever changing the lives of our children and communities
• Name/Company included in written event materials including invitation
• Logo highlighted in video presentation projected on large screens at event
• Inclusion in all press releases
• One table of 10 with signage
For Information: Contact Shannon Clifford, 303-895-9072
Platinum Sponsors 2016
Raccoon Creek Golf Club & Restaurant
Table Sponsors
LeVon Terry
Nina McGibney
Poorvi Parkhie
Kristi LaBarge
Dan Lutz
Linda Lidov
Derek George
Tom Evans
Emily Benson
Maria Monclova
Jill Lohmiller
George Ballaseux
Melanie Grant
Dianna Vigil-Sclavenitis
AHEPA
Denver Sister Cities
DCIS Alumni
DCIS Alumni
Dear friends, community members, alumni, parents, teachers and business leaders,
Are you passionate about discovering other cultures, ideas and people around the globe? Does the idea of sending students on travel, cultural and language immersion trips thrill you? If so, consider joining the Denver Center for International Studies Foundation board!
We’re always on the lookout for new board members, and are currently looking to fill some positions. Several of our committees could benefit from your skills – but most of all, your energy and passion for our mission. We’ve just had our most successful year yet! This school year we awarded $39,122 in scholarships to 469 students, and raised over $125,000 for next year’s excursions and programs. Help us continue that momentum!
If you are interested and want to learn more, please contact us at 303-895-9072 or DCISfoundation@gmail.com. Also, check out our video if you haven’t seen it yet: https://vimeo.com/126949733. We look forward to hearing from you!
We are pleased to announce that the DCIS Foundation’s annual fall fundraiser is on the books! Here’s what you’ll find at this year’s event:
Date:
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2016
Time:
Cocktails and silent auction start at 6:00 p.m.
Program starts at 7:00 p.m.
Location:
Four Mile Park, Grant Family Education Center
715 South Forest Street, Denver, Colo. 80246
The main parking lot is located on the north side of the Grant Family Education Center, facing Exposition Avenue. Parking spaces for those with disabilities are available close to the main entrance.
Speakers:
Helen Thorpe, Author of Just Like Us and Soldier Girls
Student panelists representing DCIS-Montbello and DCIS-Baker
Tickets:
$25: students, staff and alumni
$35: general admission
Purchase at EventBrite
Please join us for this fun and memorable event to benefit the DCIS Foundation! Proceeds will support our scholarship program for the upcoming school year.
About Helen:
Helen Thorpe is an award-winning journalist who lives in Denver, Colorado. Her magazine work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Texas Monthly, and 5280.
Her first book, JUST LIKE US: THE TRUE STORY OF FOUR MEXICAN GIRLS COMING OF AGE IN AMERICA, was published in 2009. It won the Colorado Book Award and was named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post.
Her second book, SOLDIER GIRLS: THE BATTLES OF THREE WOMEN AT HOME AND AT WAR, was published in 2014. TIME named it the number one nonfiction book of the year, and The New York Times said: “Through minute, almost claustrophobic, detail — using military and medical records, as well as therapists’ notes and personal correspondence —Thorpe achieves a staggering intimacy with her subjects.”
Save the dates for fall scholarship opportunities!
Mandatory Orientation:
DCIS Montbello: Sept. 13 during lunch in the conference room
DCIS Baker: Sept. 15 & 16 during lunch, location TBD (stay tuned!)
Scholarship Applications Due:
Sept. 28
Student Scholarship Interviews:
Week of Oct. 10
The DCIS Foundation has published its annual report for the school year 2015-2016. 
Check it out to learn about our work last year and the impacts of our scholarships on DCIS students!
Download Annual Report 2015-2016
Join the Denver Center for International Studies Foundation for an evening of inspiring speakers and delicious food with a global flair. The DCIS Foundation Spring Dinner raises funds to help take global education beyond the classroom and provide travel and cultural exchange opportunities for students of the DCIS schools. These unique experiences increase international understanding, promote community involvement and help students become exceptional world citizens and leaders.
When:
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Cocktails: 6:00 pm
Dinner: 7:00 pm
Where:
Denver Athletic Club
1395 Glenarm Place in Denver
Cost:
Tickets are $125. Purchase yours today on EventBrite.
Attire:
Business/Cocktail
Can’t attend but would like to contribute? Feel free to sponsor a teacher!
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”
Travel opens up myriad opportunities for students in the Denver Center for International Studies program – exposing them to new cultures, new languages, new relationships – and forming a new understanding of the world and their place in it. Here are the stories of five young students whose lives have been transformed by travel.
Denver Center for International Studies Foundation from DCIS Foundation on Vimeo.
Join the DCIS Foundation Board of Directors!
Interested in travel, global education and promoting cultural understanding? You can support DCIS students as a member of the Denver Center for International Studies (DCIS) Foundation’s board of directors. We are especially interested in candidates who have knowledge and experience in these areas:
• Finance
• Bookkeeping
• Investment
• Grant writing
• Researching grant opportunities
• Fundraising
• International travel / education
Board positions are open for a 2018-2020 term. The board meets monthly.
If you have the skills and experience we need – or are interested in learning more – we’d love to hear from you!
Please contact:
Shannon Clifford
Executive Director
Denver Center for International Studies Foundation
303-895-9072
shannonclifford@comcast.net
Scholarship Application Information for 2018
Heads-up for DCIS-Baker students interested in scholarship opportunities from the DCIS Foundation!
The DCIS Foundation requires that every student who wants to apply for a scholarship attend an orientation meeting and participate in interviews. Important upcoming dates for DCIS-Baker students follow – mark your calendars!
Application Preparation Orientations (Parents Welcome)
January 15th, 5:30p.m.-6:30 p.m.: MUN Room
January 16th, 12:30p.m.-1:30 p.m.: Community Room
January 18th, 12:30p.m.-1:30 p.m.: Community Room
Interviews
February 6th, 3:00p.m.-5:00 p.m.: To Be Determined
February 8th, 3:00p.m.-5:00 p.m.: Community Room
February 12th, 3:00p.m.-5:00 p.m.: Community Room
The DCIS Foundation is pleased to present our annual report for the 2016-2017 school year. Download it here.
Igniting Global Understanding, Shaping Tomorrow’s Leaders
New Venue! The Denver Museum of Nature & Science | 2001 Colorado Blvd., 80205
Thursday, April 26, 2018 | Cocktails: 6:00 p.m. • Dinner: 7:00 p.m.
…Featuring Matthew Taylor | Author, Professional Actor, Storyteller and Humorist
…Highlighting the transformative travel experiences of DCIS students
…Honoring several members of our community with the DCIS Foundation Ambassador Awards
Purchase Individual Tickets – $125 | Sponsorship opportunities available (see below)
Trinity Hansen, a recent DCIS Foundation scholarship recipient, spent the summer of 2017 in Shanghai, China. She lived with a host family, studied the language and immersed herself in Chinese culture. Reflecting on her time abroad, she wrote:
“I am extremely humbled by my experience. Not only in the way that I have become more appreciative of what I have, but I have also realized the privilege of travel. It is unfortunate that not everyone is able to take advantage of such incredible opportunities and I would like to encourage people to try. Financial restrictions seem daunting but it is entirely possible. I would not have been able to embark on my journey of a lifetime without the DCIS Foundation scholarship, so I would like to take this time to say thank you. I am eternally grateful, I will remember my trip for the rest of my life, and that is invaluable.”
Experiences like Trinity’s transform students into confident, informed and compassionate individuals, enhancing their own self-image and their image of the world. These opportunities encourage students to become problem solvers and leaders who take action in their communities.
It is our hope that you will commit to being among the people and organizations that support our work. We are excited to announce the DCIS Foundation Passport Dinner will take place Thursday, April 26, 2018 at a beautiful new space – the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Last year the Foundation’s annual dinner raised more than $62,000. This year, with your help, we will surpass that amount and make an even bigger difference for the students of the DCIS schools.
Sponsorship Opportunities are available! Are you a Globetrotter? Travel Bug? World Traveler? Read more below, or contact us at dcisfoundation@gmail.com for more information.
We look forward to seeing you at the Museum of Nature & Science!
ABOUT MATTHEW TAYLOR
MATTHEW TAYLOR – award-winning author, professional actor, storyteller and humorist – has been entertaining audiences throughout the United States and internationally for the last 25 years.
Transplanted to Colorado from the small sailing village of Itchenor, England, Matthew is a partner of A.C.E. Entertainment, which has written and produced over 50 original shows, and is currently touring their smash hit, “Girls Only – The Secret Comedy of Women.” Encouraged from the popularity of the A.C.E. show, “Tales of an Englishman,” Matthew continued to commit his stories to paper, which have now been compiled into the book, Goat Lips: Tales of a Lapsed Englishman. Released in the spring of 2015, Goat Lips has received the 2015 Independent Publishers Book Awards Gold Medal for Humor and is a National Indie Excellence Award Finalist.
Matthew has a long history of coaching theater, storytelling and the art of improvisation. He formed Persuasion through Narrative in 2010 to teach communication skills through the use of narrative, and has quickly gained a strong reputation, especially within the legal profession and educational institutions.
Matthew loves to bike, ski and sail, and is proud to be a husband and a father of two fabulous children (who continually keep him on his toes and laughing constantly).
Learn more at www.matthewtaylor.com.
AMBASSADOR AWARDS
We will be honoring several outstanding members of our community with our Ambassador Awards:
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Globetrotter – $10,000
World Traveler – $5,000
Domestic Destination Explorer – $2,500
Travel Bug – $1,250
Ready to shape the leaders of tomorrow? Please complete our Sponsorship Commitment Form DCIS 2018.
Return completed forms to Shannon Clifford, dcisfoundation@gmail.com, or mail to P.O. Box 9044, Denver, CO 80209.
Sponsors, please send us a high-resolution logo by April 6 to receive all applicable marketing benefits.
