The University of Colorado Boulder was Emiliana Martinez’s dream school since she was a kid. Now, her dream will soon be realized when she attends CU Boulder as a freshman this fall.

“I am very excited to attend CU Boulder, actually,” Martinez said. “It was always kind of my dream school, I always saw myself going there, so to be attending there now really is a dream come true.”

The Denver native attended Rocky Mountain Prep high school. Rocky Mountain Prep is a network of inclusive charter schools in the Denver metro area that prepares first-generation students, students of color and students of low socio-economic backgrounds for college.

It’s also increasingly serving as a pathway for high school students to attend CU Boulder.

“For the students we serve, it’s incredibly important that we are getting them on a pathway to accessing the best schools in the country,” Rocky Mountain Prep Chief Growth Officer Indrina Kanth said. “… We just see Boulder as the place, the ticket for our kids, to be able to access lives of opportunity.”Martinez, who is a first-generation college student, said she wanted to pave the way and be someone for her siblings to look up to and see that “this is something we can actually do.”

“I wanted to be the first in my family to go to college because my parents were teen parents and they really put a lot of their life aside for me so I could get the opportunity, so I could be where I’m at today,” Martinez said.

About 94% of Rocky Mountain Prep’s students are students of color — about 74% are Latino or Hispanic and about 14% are Black. The school system teaches kids from early childhood through high school.

Out of a class of more than 200 seniors this year, Rocky Mountain Prep had 49 students who were accepted to CU Boulder, three students who committed and three students who deferred.

Kanth said one challenge is that many of their students think of CU Boulder as a place that’s not accessible to them. Whether it’s because of their minority background or financial situation, some students just don’t think they belong there despite being interested.

“The idea that some of our students … would self-select out of that process because they don’t think it’s a place for them is something none of us want,” Kanth said.

Kanth said Rocky Mountain Prep is eager to get students exposed to what Boulder can offer and show them they do belong there. For many students, she said, CU Boulder is a great choice due to its close-to-home location and high-caliber, high-return-on-investment education.

“We want more of our kiddos to stay here and feel like they have access to the incredible opportunities at CU Boulder,” Kanth said.

To do that, Rocky Mountain Prep works closely with students to make sure they’re prepared academically and know about scholarship opportunities and first-generation programs. They’re also seeking to build more partnerships with the university and alumni who can help support their goals.

Erick Flores Cobos is set to graduate from Rocky Mountain Prep in the spring of 2026 and is in the Precollegiate Development Program at CU Boulder this summer. The Precollegiate Development Program is an academic enhancement program for first-generation students from middle schools and high schools in Adams County, Boulder County, Weld County and Denver Public Schools.

Cobos is participating in a five-week residential program this summer, where he lives on the CU Boulder campus, takes classes and learns about available resources and services.

He said the workload has been challenging but that he likes the independence of living in a dorm. He hasn’t decided where he’ll go to college yet, but at the moment he is leaning toward attending CU Boulder.

“The main thing I was worried about was the workload and being able to afford it,” Cobos said.

He said the Precollegiate Development Program at CU Boulder has helped prepare him for college, adding that there are many Hispanic and Chicano students in the program.

“I think that really helped me find my people and stay connected with my culture,” Cobos said.

Rocky Mountain Prep alumnus Joshua Hernandez just finished his first year at CU Boulder studying mechanical engineering. He said lack of diversity was challenging because there weren’t as many Hispanic students as he thought there would be. It took him a few months to find his circle of friends. About 12% of students in CU Boulder’s engineering school were Hispanic or Latino in the fall of 2024, according to the college’s website.

“Not being around my group or my people, it felt different,” Hernandez said, adding his first year was “really good” overall.

Nadiah Spikes, who graduated from Rocky Mountain Prep in the spring, will be the first person in her immediate family to attend college this fall and has chosen CU Boulder.

“I knew that I wanted to go to a college in-state because I didn’t want to be too far away from my family,” Spikes said.

She said CU Boulder was the only university in the state to offer architectural engineering, which is what she wants to study. One of her favorite teachers at Rocky Mountain Prep attended CU Boulder, told her about the experience and felt it would be a good match for her. Spikes said she always heard good things about CU Boulder, and she earned scholarships for engineering and for being a first-generation student.

“I feel like it’ll be a good place for me,” Spikes said.