Eileen Bailey taught school for almost 30 years in Summit County. When she passed away in 2005, her former colleague Tommy Tanzer wanted to preserve her legacy by starting a memorial scholarship, the Eileen Bailey Foundation.
That eventually morphed into today’s Bright Futures fund, managed by the Park City Education Foundation.
When the founder of a similar program in California donated to the program, software and training to the Park City Education Foundation, Tanzer said the Bright Futures program took off.
“There's a real good possibility that this kind of a program can be replicated in Heber, in Kamas, in Coalville, in Ogden and Salt Lake,” Tanzer said on KPCW’s Local News Hour. “So, it's very bright futures for this program.”
Since then, the education foundation has taken on funding the program that, according to spokesperson Jen Billow, has an 83% graduation rate from college, compared to first-generation college students nationwide of 11%.
“And that's really where Bright Futures shines, is ensuring kids can stay in college until they graduate,” Billow said.
Camilla Escobar is the first child to graduate college in her family. She has degrees in chemistry and kinesiology from the University of Utah.
“I'm thinking of either going to PA school or med school in the next two years,” Camilla said.
She is grateful for both the moral and financial support she received from the Bright Futures program. While she received a full ride for tuition, she said the program helped her figure out how to take out loans for her four years of living expenses so she could focus on her studies.
“A lot of the Bright Futures scholarships that I got because my tuition was already covered, went to me and also helped me with getting by through school without having to work so much,” she said.
Camilla made a good impression on her younger sister Isabella who is now a freshman at the University of Utah.
Just like her sister, Isabella started the Bright Futures program in 10th grade and with her good grades in high school, she too was able to secure a college scholarship.
“I was able to get my tuition paid off for the full four years, and then housing paid off for this year, and then I think housing for next year,” Isabella said.
Isabella who is trilingual, [Spanish, English and French] is studying pre-computer science.
Heidy Hernandez has taken a different path. She is four classes away from her associate’s degree at Salt Lake Community College and she’s already started her own business.
She helps small businesses in Park City to grow their social media and online presence through marketing and building brand recognition.
She’s grateful for the support she received from Bright Futures.
“Bright Futures was so helpful,” Heidy said. “I feel like they've been able to kind of allow me to see the world, in a way, instead of just being sheltered and comfortable with hanging out in my own little bubble. They allowed me to develop networking skills and skills to communicate with people from all types of backgrounds and also put myself out there, as well as, like, help me with public speaking.”
Another long-time financial supporter of Bright Futures has been Jim Doilney. He too was a first-generation college student and said he likes to help those who are willing to help themselves.
The program is currently helping about 160 students with higher education through the class of 2027.
