Jenny Price sitting with family and friends around a table at the MSU Denver Scholarship Dinner in the Tivoli Turnhalle.
Jenny Price never imagined that a love of plants would lead to a love of teaching.
That love led Price and her wife, fellow educator Janet Stellema, to commit to a planned gift establishing the Get Er’ Done Endowment, which, upon their passing, will fund the Get ‘Er Done Endowed Program. The endowment allows future MSU Denver Biology students to engage in a cohort-based learning model while receiving financial support.
Price’s own educational path began with studying Turfgrass Management at Front Range Community College and Biology at Metropolitan State University of Denver (then Metropolitan State College); she realized the obvious career route – working on a golf course – wasn’t for her. Armed with a love of biology and chemistry and aspirations of becoming a plant taxonomist, Price started working at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Getting her hands in the dirt unexpectedly unearthed a desire to teach after being put in charge of a summer replanting project that “stuck” her with high school students court-ordered to be there.
“These were potentially volatile kids used to fighting each other,” the 1994 graduate said. “They had to figure out how to work together while dealing with plants full of thorns.”
Inspired by her experience, Price taught for more than 15 years in Denver Public Schools, providing underserved students such as gang members, students experiencing poverty and first-generation students with access to the resources they needed to succeed. “It’s where my heart was drawn to – who my heart was with,” she said.
With a shared devotion to education, Price and Stellema – who taught in the Boulder Valley School District – now have set their sights on helping MSU Denver Biology majors pave a path through higher education.
In 2017, the retired middle school science teachers established the Jennifer Lynn Price Endowed Scholarship, distributing annual funds to science majors. Then, in April 2024, they finalized their plan for the Biology major-focused Get Er’ Done Endowment.
“When you are a single mother and going back to school, it is a balancing act on the best of days. Having financial support that helps you pay rent so you can study and work fewer hours is a game changer for non-traditional students like me.”
Bonnie Brady, Jennifer Lynn Price Endowed Scholarship recipient
The endowment will fund scholarships and a peer mentor program, supporting the scholarship recipient student cohort through planned activities and curated communications to aid in cohort members’ academic success and retention. Collaborative cohort-based learning models foster community, leading to higher retention and graduation rates, better grades and improved student satisfaction.
Under the direction of a Department of Biology faculty member, Get ‘Er Done peer mentors will facilitate meetups, encourage camaraderie and scientific research, and guide professional development. Cohort members will benefit from participating in study groups, holding one another accountable for keeping up with their classes, having an emotional support system, wraparound services and more, with the end goal being graduation.
“So many students take classes without a plan to navigate higher education,” said Price.
“There needs to be more support,” asserted Stellema. “That’s the missing link.”
The fund will cover most of the tuition and fees for the students and peer mentors, with the expectation that they will work to cover a manageable part of the cost as part of their commitment to one another – and themselves.
“They have to put some skin in the game,” said Stellema, adding that she and Price felt like the combination of cohort and financial components is necessary for students to “get er’ done.”
Ultimately, the Get ‘Er Done Endowment will give future Roadrunners a leg up while pursuing their degrees by ensuring they – like Price’s and Stellema’s past students – have access to the resources they need to succeed.
“Metro is my heart,” said Price. “We will provide the support so they can focus on their education.”
Contact Shelley Thompson, associate vice president of University Advancement, for more information about planned giving.