Two of this year’s graduating seniors locally, Colton Lang from Roaring Fork High School and Towler Scott from Basalt High, are among this year’s 205 recipients of the coveted Daniels Scholarship.

The Daniels is a highly competitive award that recognizes students with exceptional character in a four-state region — Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming — with a full scholarship ($25,000/year) to attend a wide selection of colleges and universities across the United States.

Lang plans to attend Montana State University in Bozeman and major in mechanical engineering, while Scott is headed to Manhattan University in the Big Apple to study finance. He is also committed to run track and cross country for the Jaspers.

Lang is the second member of his family to receive the Daniels. His older sister, Ruby Lang, was a Daniels recipient in 2015, going on to study at California Polytechnic State University.

“I’ve grown up with a love of mechanics, building things and working with different mechanics shops,” Lang said. “I’m really passionate about that world in general.”

As a future career, he said he aims to focus on the development of nuclear fusion energy as an alternative energy source, or in the automotive technology sector.

Lang had to overcome dyslexia throughout his primary and secondary schooling, which proved challenging when it came to the rigorous essay requirement to apply for the Daniels.

“I’ve gotten a lot better at writing in high school, just working really hard to express my thoughts and incorporating them into the essays for different schools and scholarships,” he said. “It was a fun process to go through.”

He also credits his experience at Roaring Fork High School in preparing him.

“We’ve got a very small, tight community … and the teachers have definitely prepared me well to go out in the real world and be able to take care of myself.”

Montana State was his top choice, so that he would have the opportunity to still be in the mountains and enjoy the outdoor activities he’s grown up doing, like skiing and mountain biking.

“Nowhere else can really compare to it, for the [natural] environment surrounding it, and the learning environment in the school,” Lang said.

As for Scott, he’s excited to be in the heart of New York City, and close to Wall Street. Finance has been a passion of his since he was in middle school, when he first started his personal investment portfolio. 

“I’m a big investor now,” Scott said. “I’ve tried day trading, but that’s hard, so I do more swing trading to try to hit my target goals. That’s always kept my interest, it’s fun and it’s a good way to make money.”

He believes Manhattan U will give him more internship possibilities during school, and job prospects when he graduates.

“It was really a good mix of what I wanted to do, plus the opportunity to continue running competitively,” he said.

Scott has had a successful cross country and track career with the Basalt Longhorns, placing seventh at the Class 3A State Cross Country Championships last November, and taking third in the 3,200 meters at the 3A State Track and Field Championships in May 2025. He is qualified for state again this season in the 3,200 and 1,600 meters. The state meet takes place this Thursday through Saturday at JeffCo Stadium in Lakewood.

“The [Manhattan] coach is in his first year and is super outgoing trying to bring the program back to what it was when they were winning NCAA titles,” Scott said. “It’s exciting to be a part of that.”

Scott said he was in Mexico on vacation during spring break on April 1, when he got word that he’d been selected for the Daniels Scholarship. 

“I was thinking it was maybe an April Fool’s prank, but I had all my friends around me and opened the scholarship letter that said I got it. It was pretty awesome and a great celebration,” he said.

Scott also received a few smaller scholarships to help fill some of the gaps of his college expenses. Scott is the son of Bonnie and Drew Scott of Basalt, and Lang is the son of Julie and Joseph Lang of Carbondale.

Both scholarship recipients had a few words of advice for this year’s juniors who are looking for scholarship opportunities next year.

“I think part of the reason why I got the Daniels wasn’t necessarily because I’m really good at any one thing, it’s because of the variety of things you do and the life experiences you gain from that,” Lang said.

Added Scott, “I feel like most of the work is already done by the time you’re a senior, so a lot of it is just staying organized and really starting early in the process to apply for colleges and scholarships.”