Stories
Jim Spell: The CMC “A-Frame”
After a particularly large and somewhat dangerous fire at the Vail maintenance building in the late 70’s, those of us volunteering for the fire department thought we might need more training. Steadfast in our conviction, we went to the CMC A-frame by Gore Creek between Vail and Lionshead and worked together to start a fire…
Read MoreScott LeBaron: CMC Couldn’t Have Been a Better Fit
It was 1978. I was coming over the top of the hill and seeing the Spring Valley campus for the first time. I was a bit nervous coming from a high school graduating class of 750 and now a college with about half that! Yikes! But it couldn’t have been a better fit! Great people…
Read MoreJoyce Mosher: CMC is All Grown Up
The big FIVE – O, all grown up! I feel honored to celebrate this milestone because, for the past forty-two years, Colorado Mountain College has been central to my life as a learner and as a teacher. We have proven to our communities, our students, our licensing entities, and ourselves that Colorado Mountain College can…
Read MoreKristen Wells: Prepared at CMC for Stanford
Leadville native Kristen Wells misses her hometown and the Rocky Mountains. The Lake County High School graduate and former CMC student is now pursuing her Ph.D. in genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine. Though she yearns for views of the Collegiate Range, the allure of being on the cutting edge of medical research is…
Read MoreCraig Tate: Great Place to Learn and be Enlightened
Why CMC? Because my high school counselor said with my GPA, I wouldn’t make it at any other college in Colorado. So, I arrived at the Spring Valley Campus in the fall of 1978. I came to CMC with the anticipation that I would raise my GPA and get into a music engineering school. A…
Read MoreGail (Roach) Smith: Singing, Songwriting & Guitars
CMC Breckenridge once held several singer-songwriting workshops. For me it began when I performed at a CMC “talent show” held sometime in the mid-1980’s. Tom Hart, who was a CMC program director at the time, heard my performance and asked if I would like to teach a beginning guitar class. The following semester, I had…
Read MoreSamantha Blea: CMC to the Naval Academy
If you looked up the definition of “hard worker” in the dictionary, you would see a picture of Samantha Blea. The Rifle native earned her associate of arts at Colorado Mountain College while still a teenager. By taking dual credit class, she graduated from both CMC and Rifle High School in 2007. From there, she…
Read MoreGenevieve Clough: One in a Million
Genevieve Clough believed in the transformative power of an education. “Her belief was that everyone is special,” says Carol Efting, coordinator of scholarships and records for the Colorado Mountain College Foundation. “And those with the motivation and commitment to successfully achieve an education, whether or not it is for a vocational or professional career, should have the financial…
Read MoreBarbara & Crissi Boe: Fewer Doubts and More Options
Barbara Boe was a ranch wife and mother when the bottom dropped out of her life. “All I had known was taking care of five children,” says Boe, recalling how she felt when she and her husband separated in 2005, leaving her with their children, aged 4 to 14, and a ranch on Silt Mesa…
Read MoreSteve Mills: Community First
Steve Mills made it his mission to make sure Colorado Mountain College was in tune with the communities it served. For example, in the 1970s, when surveys determined that 10 percent of the adult population lacked a high school diploma; the college “built the biggest adult basic education program in the state,” Steve says. Steve…
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