Working for a non profit organization is not a normal path a high school student pursues. Even if they do, many students do not follow the idea through college. However, alumna Liz Denson has found her way into helping others.

Liz Denson is the Vice President of Community Engagement at Early Connections Learning Centers. She works with 700 children everyday, ages 6 weeks to 14 years old, to help them receive an early education.

“Child care is an essential need for working families,” Denson said. “Without child care, parents can’t work or go to school. The services we provide go above just providing child care, we provide the highest quality early education for children, including health, nutrition, mental health and family supports. The better I am at my job, the more we can do for those children and families to help them better their own lives.”

She first started working for a non profit organization after she graduated from Texas Tech University. After that job she moved to Albuquerque, NM and started working in the marketing department in the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper company.

“Fundraising skill and a passion for supporting nonprofits grew from that work and I was fortunate to be invited to work for the organization I now work for that has a mission I am passionate about,” Denson said. “I’ve worked for large corporations and small businesses, but working for a nonprofit organization that has a mission I care about is so rewarding. I am driven by the children and families we see every day in classrooms right outside my office doors.”

Denson graduated in 2000, the second graduating class of CCHS. She was involved in many extra-curricular activities including: Starlettes, Theater, Culture Club (French Club), Debate Team and National Honor Society.

“Liz was the kind of student every teacher loves to have in class, she was hard working, respectful, funny and always participated in discussions,” said associate principal William Kelly, who was her debate and English teacher at the time. “As her debate coach, I was privileged to spend many weekends and hundreds of hours together with Liz at tournaments, and I will always remember watching her develop confidence as a speaker and a leader for the team.”

Early Connections Learning Centers was founded in Colorado Springs in 1897 and is celebrating 122 years of service this year. Denson was a recipient for the 2019 Rising Star award in the Colorado Springs Business Journal, weekly business periodical.