The Sam’s Club #3 promo-chaser, The Vegas Crew, and the non-profit founder: The Fourteener Fund

From hanging out at the Sam’s Club #3 on school days to planning their senior year trip to Las Vegas, ‘the boys,’ as they like to call themselves, have been inseparable since high school. With their similar background of perseverance and their shared value of giving back to the community, this friend group founded The Fourteener Fund: A non-profit organization founded to help students post-high school.

Camaraderie–having mutual trust and a tight-bonded friendship–is an important essence of life because within that camaraderie is the chance to walk through life’s obstacles with people who care and support one another. 

It is definitely prominent to these six 2014 alumni from Rangeview High School.

The friend group consists of six people: Bruce Ahn, Nathaniel Bradley III, Do Park, Nick Koeppen, Sean Downs, and Andy Stockinger. They knew each other before high school, but when they entered high school, that’s when they started to bond more closely. Involved in similar extracurricular activities like soccer, being in honors and other rigorous classes together, and having a unique sense of humor, they had a certain synergy — that’s why they became inseparable and have created crazy and sweet memories with each other. 

Going into college, they had one thing in common: financial adversity. On their Instagram page, profiles on each of them go into their story and how money was a huge struggle at first. However, they learned how to preserve and eventually received financial support through financial aid and scholarships. Now, most of them have finished college while a few are currently in graduate school–they are working towards a stable lifestyle. 

Eventually years after graduating from Rangeview and attending college, the group decided this year would be the best time to start their non-profit organization called “The Fourteener Fund.” The fund is their solution to assist up-coming college students who may suffer from the same problems they faced before.

“It is that a lot of us are in the space now where we are able to help other people,” Stockinger said on why the best time was the year of 2020 “Obviously in college, we were all also struggling financially so now that most of us are out of school or going on a way out of school, we have time and the resources to be able to start a non-profit,” he continued.

 As a collective effort, they had the idea to start a scholarship because they had such good memories that they wanted to give back to a community that supported them. 

The organization plans on giving away a $750 scholarship to a student graduating from Rangeview’s class of 2020 along with offering mentorship to help guide the student through college life. 

The application process is simple. First, applicants must fit within their criteria: they should have a weighted GPA in the range from 3.25-3.75 (students above the GPA range are still encouraged to apply) and demonstrate motivation plus commitment in extracurricular activities within the community. Then, they must respond to three different essay categories in 250 words or less. 

“Looking at what’s your purpose, we are mainly looking for what you plan on using your education for,” said Bradley when he talked about each section. “We’re also asking about perseverance because we feel like it’s a big thing we have in common since we have to persevere in different circumstances and situations to get our education in our environment.”

Besides perseverance, Bradley continued to explain one of the most essential parts of their scholarship essay prompt.

 “We’re also looking at camaraderie, cause you know, we strongly value our friend group. We wanna see how people’s experiences line up to ours and talk through what their fondest memories are,” Bradley said. They really want to emphasize that one factor does not outweigh the others; they look at the entire application as a whole to see if the person fits in who they believe in. 

This friend group values camaraderie heavily because they believe their long-term friendship has influenced them to become who they are and what got them to start thinking about doing this fund.

“I would say that one of the ones that really stick with me the most was when we went to Las Vegas together and it’s something we put together within a week,” Koeppen said as he reminisces. “We went to Starbucks, sat down for a single day, and said, ‘this is how we convinced our parents to let us go.’ Then we planned it for like maybe a week or two later. Eventually, we went and that was crazy because like it was one of the biggest things we’ve done, going out of state together, being by ourselves for a certain period of time, and making our trip was really cool.”

Even after high school and during college, they still keep in touch and meet up whenever they get the chance. 

“It’s been six years and we continue to chat, hang out, socialize and update each other on life so I would say this friendship, which I think I can comfortably speak on behalf of all of us, means a lot to each one of us. There’s definitely a support system that is irreplaceable,” Ahn said while discussing their friendship.

Post-high school, they all continued to pursue their career goals by going into higher education. The majority attend universities in Colorado while two of them attended the University of Miami and Cornell University. 

“I think generally the vibe of our group is that we’re a little bit on the introvert side; that’s definitely a very interesting dynamic, and I think a lot of us have very different interests,” Ahn said while describing the group. “Someone wants to do business, someone wants to do medicine, someone wants to do engineering and you know, English and so it’s a very diverse yet a very similar group.”

AP US History teacher at Rangeview, Kurt Siebenthal, admired these students, who he had five to six years ago. “It is really cool to see such academically sound former students that are also best friends work together on this type of endeavor. I always respected this group of friends. They were quiet scholars, but that was only because they were respectful young men in the classroom,” said Siebenthal.

With the variety of fields that the groups are currently in, the group hopes to not just provide financial assistance but also mentorship for the scholarship recipient. Park and Downs go into the guidance aspect with the scholarship– “we have not ironed the process out. However, we were thinking about maybe having a monthly check-in or a bi-monthly check-in if the recipient wants guidance since we are all in very different fields and can provide a lot of help,” Park explained. 

“We were also planning on probably having some sort of dinner with whoever we end up choosing,” Downs added on. “Perhaps in the fall depending on all of these COVID-19 circumstances, but that will be an opportunity for us and the scholarship recipient to get to know each other and share some knowledge perhaps.”

When applying, Koeppen said, “just really be yourself and be genuine. Obviously, this is our first year so we’re not looking for anything specific, we’re just trying to help. I think at this point, really seeing what people’s about, seeing certain situations that we’ve been in, and getting to know who’s applying and why they’re applying is really an inspirational thing for all of us.”

In the future, the group plans to expand its scholarship slowly but surely–increased scholarship funding, expand to other districts, and host fundraising events for scholars. They want to establish a program that not only provides financial assistance but also educational assistance as well so people can have an easier time navigating through collegiate studies with the help of this network. 

People can help support their organization and mission by donating to their website. If any senior from Rangeview wants to apply, visit here for a chance to relieve some of their financial burden along with building connections with an experienced camaraderie.

Editors Note: After the Zoom interview, Irl and I decided to play a game called, “Who is Most Likely to…” with the Fourteener Fund to get to know the group more and see a more fun side of them. In the video, you will get to see their fun personalities pop out and learn more about them, both individually and as a group.