DENVER — Two Cherry Creek High School seniors are spearheading a proposed 2026 ballot measure that would automatically admit the top 10% of high school graduates to state colleges and universities.
Starting senior year of high school can sometimes feel like a whirlwind.
“You have to write your own college applications, prep for that, get all your homework done, keep your grades up,” said Cherry Creek High School senior Kiran Herz.
But Herz and his classmate Jaiden Hwang are now adding another big project to their endless list of extracurriculars and admissions essays – they’re also trying to introduce a ballot initiative in November 2026 to make college applications slightly less stressful for students in the future.
Initiative 81 aims to automatically admit the top 10% of graduates from every Colorado high school to state colleges and universities based on GPA.
“He approached me in class one day, asked me if I'd be willing to help him attempt to make college admissions processes easier,” said Hwang, who’s been working on this initiative with Herz since junior year.
Herz told Denver7 he drew inspiration from similar laws in other states, as well as seeing how stressed his peers have been since junior year.
“I was just looking at different bills, just doing some random research, went down a rabbit hole and found out about the Texas 10% rule,” he said.
The proposed initiative would allow up to 75% of in-state students to be automatically admitted as freshmen.
If that percentage is exceeded, schools could lower the cap for automatic admission to maintain that balance.
However, some schools may find automatic or guaranteed college admissions policies challenging, as they could impact academic standards and resources.
“I think the primary and most immediate thing is it'll make stress dissipate, well, significantly reduce stress among people applying for college to know that they have that safety net,” said Hwang.
Herz and Hwang would be some of the youngest in the state to put forth a ballot initiative if it succeeds.
They'll need to get past some hurdles first.
“We have to get 124,000 and some signatures by then, which will be an immense challenge. But it's only with a ton of help that we'd be able to achieve it,” explained Herz.
Not to mention, Herz and Hwang can't collect signatures themselves since they're not over the age of 18 yet.
So, they'll need volunteers to do that. They need to hit their goal by December to qualify.
Even though it’s an uphill battle, the Cherry Creek High School seniors say they want to show that anyone can speak out and take action.
“It gives every high schooler from every high school across the state a chance,” said Herz.
