Colorado Mountain College Rifle campus graduates’ stories
Three years ago, at age 51, Ronde Crawford reached a turning point. Her children were grown and on their own. And after spending most of her life raising kids and working, the Parachute mother of four and grandmother of two was ready to make some positive changes for herself. But it was hard to do without a college degree.
“I’d been working in the natural gas industry for years but I couldn’t do anything more in the company without a degree and I wanted to learn about something that didn’t involve sitting in an office all day,” she said. “I love to travel and I wanted to do something with my life that means something, and with a bachelor’s degree, you have more doors opening up for you.”
She eventually quit her job to take classes full-time at Colorado Mountain College’s campus in Rifle, and May 1 Crawford received an Associate of Arts degree in business. Over the next year, she’ll continue working toward earning two bachelor’s degrees at the college, in business administration and sustainability studies. “Everyone at CMC has been amazing and friendly,” she said. “They go out of their way to help you succeed.”
As part of her studies, Crawford is working in several nearby sustainable greenhouses and gardens, and in a few weeks, she’s traveling to Brazil to work on an organic farm. “I want to have fun and do something that will help the environment and people,” she said, “and my experiences at CMC have made that possible.”
Teaching future educators how to teach
As a future teacher, Artemio Baltazar, 21, loves to teach and he loves to learn, and he wanted to do both in the best atmosphere possible. He chose Colorado Mountain College in Rifle. “It was important to me that I have teachers that care about me, and that I could develop a real teacher-student relationship in the classroom and benefit from that,” he said.
May 1, the Parachute resident graduated with an Associate of Applied Science in early childhood education. He plans to continue working toward his bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
Just as important as his classroom experience, however, has been his job four mornings a week as a preschool group leader at CMC’s on-campus preschool in Rifle. What started as a work-study position turned into a part-time job where he teaches, plans lessons and works collaboratively with the preschool’s director.
“I can tell my teachers at CMC about any issues I encounter at the preschool and we’ll talk about how to handle it,” Baltazar explained. “And by working with preschoolers and teachers, I’m becoming more prepared to be a teacher.
“I feel that I’m part of the CMC family,” he said. “My advisors have been so helpful and I’ve gotten wonderful opportunities here.”
In addition to granting associate degrees, certificates of occupational proficiency and general equivalency diplomas, the 2015 exercises also celebrated the third year of students receiving bachelor’s degrees from the college.
This year’s commencement speaker was Ryan Gilbert, the Rifle branch manager of Bank of Colorado. A graduate of the University of Northern Colorado with a bachelor’s in communications and a minor in economics, Gilbert is on the board of the Rifle Visitor Improvement Fund. He volunteers with the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife and is a member of the Rifle Rotary Club.