The big mission behind VU

VU exists to encourage, support, and guide high school students to a future they never knew existed — to change lives. Our goal is to evoke inspiration and wonder in the minds of students by showcasing college scholarship possibilities early — allowing students to dream bigger and recognize the value and potential that lives inside each and every one of them.

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A few numbers that we are proud of

100,000+

Students

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5,000+

Five-star reviews

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75,000+

Students community

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“I created this to show students there is hope. People will notice your efforts, and you can be rewarded for it.”
- Edward Márquez, Inventor

Mission on the move

As word continued to spread about Ed’s scholarship model, the Shawnee Mission School district was all-in and hired Ed full-time to implement the model — allowing him to focus all of his energy on this new way for thousands of students to receive scholarships. Each student enrolled in the model at Shawnee Mission received between $100,000 and $2.4M in package scholarship offers.

Ed dedicated his entire career to helping students dream bigger and building systems that enable students to turn those dreams into their reality. VU was founded based on Ed’s model and vision. His gentle heart, mission-oriented personality, and inspirational passion were foundational and continue to push VU forward every day.

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The story so far

In 2014, Edward Márquez, a Kansas City native and education innovator, had an idea.

For college sports fans, it’s common knowledge that athletes are pursued by college recruiters while still in high school. When students show potential in their sport, recruiters will come to their games and offer them an opportunity before the student even thinks about applying to that college.

For Ed, something clicked here. Why not make this same model for academics? So, he did!

He grew and implemented this scholarship model while working for the Kansas City Kansas Public School district. Other local districts noticed the model’s impact, and he freely shared it with them because he wanted to help as many kids as possible.

Continuing A Legacy

VU exists to encourage, support, and guide high school students to a future they never knew existed — to change lives. Our goal is to evoke inspiration and wonder in the minds of students by showcasing college scholarship possibilities early — allowing students to dream bigger and recognize the value and potential that lives inside each and every one of them.

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Our Core Values

Partnership

Partnership between VU, the parents, high schools, and colleges is what makes changing the lives of students possible. VU does not make an impact alone. For students’ lives to change, parents, high schools, and universities all have to share the same belief — that students deserve to know every scholarship awarded to them early, so they can make the best decision for their future. Partnership is what allows all of us to work together as a community to care for students, making VU’s mission come to life.

Curiousity

VU exists because of curiosity. It’s curiosity that sparked the possibility of awarding scholarships in a new way. Curiosity is a value that we live by every day, helping us grow and innovate to impact more students. Curiosity can lead students to a realization of their true value, giftings, uniqueness, and strengths — helping them dream bigger. We believe that curiosity can give every student, district, and university from coast to coast a new point of view that helps change countless futures and lives.

Trust

We want to inspire students to believe that they can not only dream big but achieve big. We strive every day to deliver on that message, creating a foundation of trust rather than empty promises of aspiration. Trust binds our relationships. We work closely with our partners towards the common goal of changing students’ lives, and without trust in one another, that goal is hard to attain. When students trust our guidance, they end up trusting their own abilities — because VU is not the hero of this story, every student is, and they deserve it.

Passion

Passion is woven into every aspect of what we do here at VU. It drives our desire to help students believe in themselves so they can achieve a future they never thought possible. Passion is what wakes us up every morning with a mission to inspire hope in students and to witness that hope become a reality. Without passion, guidance can appear empty. But when you passionately believe in what you do, you don’t just connect with minds; you connect with hearts. And VU is here to impact the hearts of each and every student.

Our Team

Driven by our desire to inspire wonder in the minds of hardworking, deserving students.

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Andrew Márquez

Andrew Márquez

Andrew is the motivating voice of the organization.

Spencer Lyons

Spencer Lyons

Spencer is responsible for technical efficiency at VU.

Dan Poblete

Dan Poblete

Dan’s technical mastery has created the engine VU runs on.

Years in the rear – VU

VU has made a big impact in a short amount of time. But, we are not surprised because every student has so much potential, and that’s what we are here to showcase! Every year VU continues to grow, and we can’t wait to add milestone after milestone, year after year.

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2022

75+ High Schools

Begins to expand outside of Kansas City and continues to rapidly add college and university partners.

2021

VU Launches Automated Platform

Now allowing more high schools and colleges to be included without hardly any effort on their end.

2019

$1.77B Awarded in Scholarships

In year 2, Shawnee Mission School District shatters its year 1 record of $737M.

2017

12 High Schools

2 more Kansas City school districts want to deliver this model to their students.

2015

Scholarship Model Launches

The year our inventor, Edward Marquez dreamed up this life-changing scholarship model for high school students. In year 1, this district awarded 6x in scholarships from the previous year.

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