Our Story
The Beginning
In response to a drive-by shooting in 1997 that left two Harrison School District students dead and two others imprisoned, our co-founders, Dr. H. Dalton Connor, a periodontal surgeon, and attorney Steven U. Mullens set out to design a program to positively impact the lives of students in southeastern Colorado Springs. Through a collaborative effort with Rick Price, the principal of Carmel Middle School, Peak Education was founded with the mission of empowering students to take ownership of their educational journey and receive the support and mentorship to overcome any barriers that may impede them from reaching their full potential.
Initially conceived as a scholarship-based incentive program, over more than two decades Peak Education has evolved into a mentoring and college access organization that provides long-term engagement with students and families focused on four strategies for success: developing college and career readiness, building students’ capacity for leadership, fostering full family engagement in their students’ journeys, and creating broad-based community connections.
Our Why
Low-income graduates from Colorado Springs high schools are less likely than peers across the state and nation to enroll directly in college. Despite nearly 75% of all careers following high school requiring college or postsecondary training, only 43% of low-income high school graduates enroll in a postsecondary option from Colorado Springs. This is significantly lower than the national (67.9%) and statewide (56%) postsecondary enrollment rates.
So, Peak Education aims to disrupt the status quo by closing these opportunity gaps in our community. We believe that every student deserves to reach for their full potential and that all willing learners can do so. We do this by working to enact change at multiple levels beyond the individual students that participate directly in our program. Our work impacts families, schools, and our city to further access to education as well as social and economic inclusion.
What We Do Today
Since Peak Education's founding over 23 years ago, we have built off our founder's mission of ensuring that our scholars are empowered to take ownership of their educational journey and receive the support and mentorship to overcome any barriers that may impede them from reaching their full potential. By starting programming in 7th grade, we change a student and family’s expectations about what is possible in terms of educational and career attainment. Our high school program prepares students to apply to college and provides them with the skills to be successful when they enroll. Once in college, we provide them with the support to graduate and leverage their degree to begin a meaningful career. All of our programming and curriculum is supported by strong mentoring relationships with our students.
Our Students
Our Purpose
Peak Education works with educators in our partner schools to identify high promise students. Peak Education scholars are willing to make a commitment to being involved with Peak Education programming, working toward achieving their full potential, developing their leadership skills and actively creating a compelling future for themselves.
Middle School Enrollments
High School Enrollments
Students of Color
Will Be First in Their Family to Graduate from College
Our Partners
