{"id":1320042,"date":"2020-05-15T16:11:34","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T22:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaildaily.com\/?p=478081"},"modified":"2020-05-15T16:55:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T22:55:32","slug":"cmc-graduates-kick-off-virtual-commencement-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/cmc-graduates-kick-off-virtual-commencement-season\/","title":{"rendered":"CMC graduates kick off virtual commencement season"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/CMCGraduation-VDN-051620-1-1024x653.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/CMCGraduation-VDN-051620-1-1024x653.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/CMCGraduation-VDN-051620-1-300x191.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/CMCGraduation-VDN-051620-1-768x489.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/CMCGraduation-VDN-051620-1-1536x979.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/CMCGraduation-VDN-051620-1-600x382.jpg 600w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/CMCGraduation-VDN-051620-1.jpg 1800w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"653\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption><strong>Patricia Herrera is the student speaker for the Edwards campus in Colorado Mountain College&#8217;s virtual 2020 commencement.<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Special to the Daily<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Colorado Mountain College President Carrie Besnette Hauser told her school\u2019s 1,200 graduates on Friday that commencement is still one of her favorite days of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Different this year, but still great.<\/p>\n<p>At noon Friday, CMC kicked off this year\u2019s COVID-19 commencement season with the first virtual graduation ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt CMC we\u2019re nothing if not creative. Nothing replaces walking across the stage, shaking hands while you family members cheer,\u201d Hauser said, adding that this is close.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row vail-donation vail-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\" data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/03\/VD-logo-white.png)\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/03\/VD-logo-white.png\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Each CMC campus had its own commencement, just like it normally would, with its own keynote and student speakers, caps, gowns and tassels to turn to culminate the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know you will do incredible things and leave the ladder down for those who come after you, Hauser said.<\/p>\n<p>Keynote speakers were outstanding and accomplished women in honor of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we think of those women and the passion they had, I hope you\u2019re doing that as well,\u201d Angie Paccione, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, told the CMC graduates.<\/p>\n<h3>Her history, her story<\/h3>\n<p>Patricia Herrera has that passion. The student speaker for CMC\u2019s Vail Valley campus earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in leadership and management. She also learned that hers is the hand on the helm of her destiny.<\/p>\n<p>Her journey to commencement was rocky, beginning with a broken home and physical abuse that led to a suicide attempt. She said she now sees that attempt as \u201can awakening,\u201d that she is in control of her life and how much power she has in it. She has chosen the road that leads to happiness. Her CMC mentors have helped her down that road, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt one point in my life I would never have told my story out loud,\u201d she said. She said she hopes her story will help others overcome adversity.<\/p>\n<h3>You can get there from here<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cThere are many people who wonder, \u2018Can I do this? Can I get there?\u2019 Well, here you are,\u201d Marc Brennan, who heads CMC\u2019s Vail Valley campus in Edwards said. \u201cThese students have had more obstacles in front of them and any set of students in CMC history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brennan called this year\u2019s class \u201cpersistent and resolute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s time to turn this into your next success story,\u201d Brennan said.<\/p>\n<p>Lauren Y. Casteel, chief executive officer of The Women\u2019s Foundation of Colorado, is her own success story. The Vail Valley campus keynote speaker exclaimed, \u201c265 Eagles are soaring across the virtual stage of a real milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Casteel grew up in the segregated South during the civil rights movement. During her late teens her father and grandfather died in the same week. Her first love since middle school died when they were 18.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI silenced my pain, sank into my wounded soul and flunked out of college at 20,\u201d Casteel said.<\/p>\n<p>She ran away to Colorado, where a new family of friends and mentors embraced her. She has climbed 14ers, reminding herself to breathe, and run rivers, reminding herself to keep going feet first. She worked full time and put herself through college. It took seven years. She landed a job in community television, worked hard and thought she had learned everything she needed to know.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was wrong,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Her mother lived through the Depression and kept the family\u2019s pantry stocked with staples like soup, beans and toilet paper. Casteel occasionally scoffed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was then, this is now,\u201d Casteel said she told her mother.<\/p>\n<p>The similarities and uncertainty between then and now are striking, Casteel said. Technology can be useful, but is often a cacophony, she said, urging us to tune out the cacophony and seek truth, love and support.<\/p>\n<p>The graduates\u2019 achievements will serve them in ways they cannot imagine, she said. Their degree is a \u201cwelcome to the world of life-long learning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The virtual commencement could be \u201cmuted,\u201d Casteel said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing can mute your success,\u201d she said. \u201cThe world into which you are graduating is uncertain, but not impossible. Take what you have experienced and learned, remember to breathe \u2014 inside your coronavirus mask \u2014 and keep your feet forward. Whatever your background, your lived experience coupled with your CMC education makes you invaluable and undeniable. You, finally being seen as a backbone to this country, gives me hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaildaily.com\/news\/cmc-graduates-kick-off-virtual-commencement-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Vail Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Patricia Herrera is the student speaker for the Edwards campus in Colorado Mountain College&#8217;s virtual 2020 commencement. Special to the Daily Colorado Mountain College President Carrie Besnette Hauser told her school\u2019s 1,200 graduates on Friday that commencement is still one of her favorite days of the year. Different this year, but still great. At noon [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1320042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 09:49:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1320043,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320042\/revisions\/1320043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}