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WEEK OF NOVEMBER 7, 2024
VOLUME 117 | ISSUE 45
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Dual enrollment fuels community college gains
Buds are blooming in Brighton As city’s first cannabis retailer opens, competitors are gearing up
Nearly half of students are still in high school BY JASON GONZALES CHALKBEAT COLORADO
Jan Pawlowski voting no. The city’s ordinance limits the number of marijuana stores to four, and requires at least two of them to be socalled “social equity licensees.” Those are people who have lived in economically disadvantaged areas for 15 years or have been jailed for cannabis-related offenses. The stores are allowed in the city’s C-2 and C-3 commercial zones and the I-1 light industrial zones. Those zones are generally removed from most residential areas and are not located downtown or near schools or treatment facilities. The stores can be open from 8 a.m. to midnight daily and would-be retailers must have their plans reviewed and approved by a city licensing authority. Nine businesses applied for one of the four licenses, Brighton Communications Specialist Jared Putnam said in an email.
Dual-enrolled high school students are closing in on accounting for nearly half of Colorado’s community college enrollment, according to fall 2024 enrollment data. Of the 88,118 students enrolled at the twoyear level, more than 39,000 students statewide are still in high school, the Colorado Community College System reports. The share of dualenrolled students has steadily increased each year. Nationally, about 1 in 5 community college students are dual enrolled, according to 2022-23 numbers. In light of the increases and the variety of the state’s concurrent enrollment system — where high school students enroll in college classes — Colorado lawmakers and other education advocates want more information on the long-term benefit of these programs as well as the overall costs to the state. Lawmakers have passed laws that call for studying how to streamline and improve a system that has been built piecemeal over the years. In total, high school students accounted for almost 90% of enrollment increases at the community college level this year. Since the pandemic, high school students have become a main driver of community college enrollment in the state. The numbers were climbing even before 2020 amid greater emphasis on exposing students to college-level work, said Sarah Heath, system vice chancellor of academic and student affairs. “We really have focused on the value of high school plus,” Heath said. “That has resonated.” About 3,100 new students enrolled this year in Colorado community colleges, with a 2,770 increase in high school students, according to October numbers. Among students who are beyond high school, enrollment ticked up only slightly. These older adult students traditionally represented the bulk of community college enrollment, but colleges have had more trouble enrolling them since the pandemic. “We haven’t had much growth” in that segment, Heath said, “except for some online pieces.” Nationally, community colleges fared better than public four-year universities in enrollment in part because of the number of high school students who are also enrolled in public twoyear colleges.
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Gabriella Doyle shows the different strains Star Buds has to offer Oct. 31 at the cannabis retailers Brighton grand opening. BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The fall of 2024 is proving to be a big one for marijuana fans in Brighton. The city’s first marijuana retailer — national brand Star Buds — opened its doors quietly Oct. 23, in preparation for a noisier celebration on Oct. 31. But three more retailers, Galaxy Greens, The Fireplace and Basecamp Cannabis, are close on Star Buds’ heels, hoping to open their stores as soon as midNovember. “Given Brighton’s historic illegality, we figure there is a five or six-mile radius around us that has nowhere to go to buy product,” Galaxy Greens co-owner Hutch Greaves said. “So it’s a lack of competition play that we are hanging our hat on.” The four are the first marijuana retailers picked to apply for a license to operate in Brighton after the City Council voted to allow them
in March. Star Buds is the first of the four across the finish line. The company celebrated its grand opening on Oct. 31 with presentations by Brighton City Councilor Peter Padilla and members of the city’s Chamber of Commerce. Jim Biviano, Colorado marketing director for Star Bud’s parent company Schwazze, said the company is eager to get started in the new market. “Because we continue to find success where others cannot, we are able to make investments and take advantage of new opportunities, like serving the community of Brighton,” Biviano said. “It’s a wonderful community that has had to travel out of town for far too long to meet their needs. We have a beautiful new store that they are going to love visiting time and time again.” Old guard moves along
It’s been 12 years in the
making. Colorado legalized recreational marijuana sales in 2012. Brighton voters supported statewide legalization in that vote. But as cities across the state agreed to allow sales within their borders, Brighton did not, voting down a measure to legalize sales and a 4% sales tax on marijuana products. The issue didn’t get support from City Councilors until last year. “Some of the old guard had to step down,” Paul Greaves said. City Councilors voted in Oct. 2023 to allow licensed marijuana retailers on first reading just weeks before the municipal election. The council postponed the final reading until after the election, giving the newlyseated members a final say on the issue. That happened in February, when the council voted 7-2 on the final reading to allow sales, with Mayor Greg Mills and Councilor
WESTMINSTER VOICES: 8 | OBITUARIES: 9 | CULTURE: 10
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