By Cailey Arensman
Kaitlin Stabrava, a 2008 graduate of Colorado Mountain College, is using her degree to help keep our drinking water safe. After earning an Associate of General Studies in Mechanical Engineering at CMC, she transferred to the University of Colorado and, after graduating with a BS degree, began working for the Water Quality Control division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Stabrava participated in a special program at the Steamboat campus designed to be fully transferable to CU-Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. The first two years of Steamboat’s program mirror the first two years of courses taken by pre-engineering students at CU, allowing CMC graduates to be accepted into the CU program with junior status. Stabrava felt the program put her on the same, or better, footing as her peers at CU.
“When I got to CU Boulder I found that I understood the fundamentals of math and physics better than the students who spent all four years at CU,” says Stabrava. She found her professors at Steamboat Springs to be incredibly hard working, and willing to work with her outside of classes when she needed extra help. “They wouldn’t let me give up until I truly understood about the concept,” she says.
That one-on-one mentoring is something that Stabrava’s friends who spent four years at CU did not always receive. “When I told the CU students about the small, intimate educational experience that I got at CMC … they were all surprised and wished they had known about the program when they decided to go into engineering.” Stabrava’s personalized education helped her learn time management skills that proved invaluable as she completed her bachelor’s degree, and allowed her to develop some of the critical thinking and problem solving skills necessary for becoming an engineer.
Stabrava now works as Implementation Specialist for Water Quality Control, using her communication skills to help others understand Colorado’s drinking water regulations. Though she does not currently work as an engineer, her engineering background comes into play as she helps write new Colorado regulations put forth by the EPA. She then works on the enforcement of these regulations by training drinking water operators, developing policies and tools for their implementation, and clarifying regulations and policies for compliance officers.
The combination of communication skills and technical knowledge required for Stabrava’s current job makes it very challenging. But she’s not overwhelmed. “I think the biggest thing that the engineering program at CMC taught me that I carried to CU Boulder and to my current career was that I am smart enough, and I can solve almost any problem if I don’t give up,” says Stabrava. With that optimism, Stabrava seems ready to tackle whatever challenges she faces in her career or life.