April 26 - Seven High Schools Earn Colorado Secretary of State’s 2023-2024 Eliza Pickrell Routt Award

Denver, April 26, 2024 - Secretary of State Jena Griswold recognized seven schools today who have achieved the 2023-2024 Eliza Pickrell Routt Award for registering 85% or more of eligible students to vote. This school year’s winners to date are Denver East High School, Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning, Central High School (Grand Junction), St. Mary’s Academy High School, KIPP Denver Collegiate High School, KIPP Northeast Denver Leadership Academy and Manitou Springs High School.

“Congratulations to the students and teachers earning the Eliza Pickrell Routt Award this year. I am proud to recognize all the schools and urge all eligible younger people to participate in Colorado’s elections,” said Secretary Griswold.

Created in 2016, the award honors the legacy of Eliza Pickrell Routt, the former First Lady of Colorado and the first woman registered to vote in the state after Colorado passed women’s suffrage in 1893. As First Lady, she dedicated herself to equal rights for women and for a woman’s right to vote. Routt helped Colorado become the second state in the country to recognize women’s suffrage and the first to give women suffrage by popular referendum.

Since the award’s inception, it has been awarded 55 times. Full list of winners

For more information on how to get your school involved in the Eliza Pickrell Routt Award, see the high school voter registration challenge.