Author: Ellie Cole

This is the last of 20 profiles of The Gazette’s Best and Brightest Class of 2017.    Jessica Shand first picked up the flute in fourth grade because she wanted to be a part of the ensemble. She thought it looked challenging and had the most keys. The first couple of weeks she played it…

This is the eighteenth of 20 profiles of The Gazette’s Best and Brightest Class of 2017. – In sixth grade, Sara Khammash remembers friends of her family who used to live in Colorado Springs telling her stories about being doctors. She was very interested. “You know what, I want to be a doctor,” she said…

This is the ninth of 20 profiles of The Gazette’s Best and Brightest Class of 2017. Shepherd Kruse loves rockets. In fact, he has even experimented with making rocket fuel in his mother’s kitchen by mixing sugar and potassium nitrate. It even worked after a few attempts. He will point that he hasn’t caused kitchen…

This is the fourth of 20 profiles of The Gazette’s Best and Brightest Class of 2017.     In March of her junior year of high school, Anna Borden noticed a tiny lump on her neck. She and her family didn’t think much of it, but it continued to grow. She went to the doctor…

This is the first of 20 profiles of The Gazette’s Best and Brightest Class of 2017. Amy Wang has always loved puzzles. What started as a love for putting together actual puzzles and solving Rubik’s Cube has evolved into a passion for math. In eighth grade, she began working with a math tutor and family…

Chris (name changed for privacy reasons) has been in and out of the system in Colorado Springs since he was 13 years old. He is now about to turn 20. This past Thanksgiving and Christmas were the first times he has been able to spend both holidays with his family, thanks to the support of…

This is one of a series of stories about the nonprofit agencies that receive money from The Gazette/El Pomar Foundation Empty Stocking Fund campaign that runs through Jan. 20. Two agencies in Colorado Springs, The Home Front Cares and Partners in Housing, work hand in hand as they each serve a specific niche in the…