New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in town yesterday to talk about education reforms: those considered pioneering in the Big Apple and those taking place in the Mile High City. “In some senses, you have done something that we would love to be able to do and haven’t gotten there yet,” Bloomberg, who was the keynote speaker at a sold-out Denver Scholarship Foundation dinner last night, tells The Denver Post.

Bloomberg, who received no payment for his appearance, was invited by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to help with the fundraiser, which collected more than $2 million, according to a news release from the foundation. In just four years, the scholarship fund and the 12 Future Centers it operates inside Denver high schools have increased the number of students who have enrolled in college by 52 percent—from 1,066 in 2006 to 1,615 last fall. The foundation has provided more than 3,000 scholarships to Denver Public Schools graduates, amounting to $7.4 million, and 78 percent are on track to be the first in their family to graduate from college.

Earlier in the day, Bloomberg appeared with DPS superintendent Tom Boasberg at Bruce Randolph School, where Westword caught up with him to snap some photos.