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Kiran Herz (Left) and Jaiden Hwang (Right). Photo taken on March 17, 2025 at the Colorado State Capitol.
About us
About us
We are two students at Cherry Creek High School who started working on Initiative 81 during our junior year, and are continuing the project into our senior year. This effort is completely independent, meaning we’re not backed by any organization, and we’re committed to pushing it forward as a grassroots, student-led movement. We are also the youngest to get this far in the initiative process in the US, meaning we need all the help we can get to get the initiative all the way to the ballot.
Only one initiative in Colorado has passed before without corporate backing, since to get on the ballot initiatives need about 125,000 signatures; to get paid circulators to get this many signatures, it costs roughly $1-1.5 million. As the only two proponents, we believe real change should be possible for anyone, not just those with sufficient finances to pay their way to success. We want to show that everyday people can take action, speak up, and help shape policy practically.
Our Mission
Our Mission
We want to make college applications a less stressful experience for students. High school students almost always have college application anxiety, especially in our state, because there is no guaranteed path to college in Colorado. This initiative gives students a set goal to achieve to eliminate stress about college applications, while also leaving spots for students coming from out of state and who prefer the typical college application route.
Colorado 10% Initiative Submission.pdfThe proposed initiative. Capital letters are additions and strikethrough letters are removals from current Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS)
About the Initiative
About the Initiative
The main idea is to provide automatic admission to Colorado state-supported institutions of higher education (a fancy name for colleges and community colleges) for the top 10% of any Colorado high school's graduating class, determined by GPA.
This initiative also repeals a different part of the CRS making state colleges "recruit in-state students...[from a high school] that is a rural school or in a rural school district". We deleted it to remove redundancy, because our initiative provides this admission to the top 10% in every high school across the state, guaranteeing equal representation. Removing this section also reduces funding requirements for such programs by the colleges, freeing up more funding to improve our state college experiences.
The initiative also allows for up to 75% of freshman enrollment to be in-state students from automatic admission procedures, ensuring there is adequate space for students admitted in the procedures outlined in the text. It also allows for at minimum 25% of students to be admitted under non-automatic admission procedures, including out of state students and students who have focused their efforts outside of achieving GPA metrics.
Should in state automatic enrollment exceed 75%, the institution is allowed to decrease the 10% bar for automatic admission until the cap is no longer exceeded. For instance, if 85% of the incoming students would be admitted through automatic admission if they admit the top 10%, but if the top 7% per se by GPA makes it so 75% of the incoming students are automatically admitted, the school is allowed to change the bar to the top 7% in this scenario.
How You Can Help
How You Can Help
We need your help. For this initiative to be placed on next years ballot, we must acquire 124,238 signatures in support of it. Unfortunately, by Colorado law, neither of us are able to collect signatures, since both are under the age of 18.
If you would be willing to aid us and students across the state, please fill out the form to the right.
Some basic information about petitioning:
You must be at least 18 years old
You must be a US citizen
You must wear a badge of some sort that says "VOLUNTEER CIRCULATOR" while gathering signatures (this will be provided to you)
You must be physically present for all signatures
After you have finished collecting, the signature sheet must be notarized.
Signature sheets, stickers, and written instructions will be mailed to the address you provide.
We only have until the end of December to hit the threshold. Every signature truly matters. It would mean to world to Kiran and I if you would be willing to contribute to this initiative. We would deeply appreciate if you would be willing to sign, get friends or neighbors to sign, or get anyone else you think would support the initiative to sign. Thank you to everyone helping!
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