Reach Your Peak

The founder of the Reach Your Peak Scholarship Program, Mr. Bruce Shepard, found success in Colorado Springs industry, leading an influential real estate firm and the regional Chamber of Commerce, and co-founding the city's Economic Development Corporation. He knew that to ensure Southern Colorado's continued strength, the region's largest university needed to ease the path to higher education for students who needed financial support, yet fell through the cracks with traditional scholarship programs. So, in 2000, he and his wife, Anne Shepard, established the Reach Your Peak Scholarship Program. More than 100 donors have joined the Shepard's vision, providing personal examples of success to Reach Your Peak scholars.

Mr. Shepard passed away in April of 2015 and Mrs. Shepard passed away in August of 2017. They were both lifelong residents of Colorado Springs and lived a life dedicated to their faith. They felt serving others was their greatest calling and took pride in establishing the Reach Your Peak Scholarship. UCCS and the Reach Your Peak community misses them both greatly.

UCCS is the perfect home for the Reach Your Peak scholarship program. Though its students boast tremendous untapped potential, 40 percent of them represent the first generation in their family to attend college. UCCS benefits from the diversity and experience of its 11,200 strong student body, the university has a high percentage of Pell-Grant eligible (representing greatest financial need) and self-supporting students who often must develop and maintain a balance between family, work, and school.

Drawing from some of Colorado's neediest counties, UCCS offers a flexible, supportive learning setting that nurtures success among traditional and nontraditional students. Reach Your Peak is a natural offshoot of these ideals and of the high hopes donors have for our future leaders studying within sight of Pikes Peak.