Scott Elmore is in Sopris Theatre Company’s first production of the season, “Voice of the Prairie,” playing Sept. 30 through Oct. 16. Photo by Scot Gerdes

Sopris Theatre begins season with ‘The Voice of the Prairie’

Opening play runs Sept. 30-Oct. 16

Sopris Theatre Company at Colorado Mountain College will start its 2022-23 season off with “The Voice of the Prairie,” by John Olive. Set in 1895 and 1923, there’s a new kind of technology called the radio, and it’s changing the way that storytellers spin their yarns.

Poppy is an old hobo who tells his stories the old-fashioned way: with his voice. But fast forward a few decades, and a radio entrepreneur discovers Davey Quinn, who’s telling stories about Poppy and Frankie, a blind girl rescued from a cruel father. Suddenly, Quinn is transformed into “The Voice of the Prairie,” a radio star. What follows may seem like it’s from a bygone era, though it soon becomes apparent that the radio was once as unregulated and as ripe for corruption as the internet is today.

Directed by Brad Moore with cast members Joshua Adamson, Delven Bourne, G. Thomas Cochran, Scott Elmore, Bostyn Elswick, Courtney Lindgren, Dayra Loya Palacios and Wyatt Tulk, “The Voice of the Prairie” will be performed live at the New Space Theatre at CMC Spring Valley at Glenwood Springs on Sept. 30, Oct. 1, Oct. 6-8, and Oct. 14-15 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 2 and Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. In addition, livestream performances on Oct. 2, 8 and 14, followed by post-show conversations with the cast, will be available throughout CMC’s district. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for seniors, students and CMC faculty and staff. Full-time CMC Spring Valley students are admitted at no charge, as part of their student activities fees.

More in store

The company has two more productions this season. “The One-Act Play that Goes Wrong,” by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, is a hilarious play within a play. Directed by Moore, the production will be performed live from Nov. 18 through Dec. 4 at the New Space Theatre at CMC Spring Valley and in Aspen at the Wheeler Opera House on Jan. 27 and 28.

“Frankenstein, Monster or Man,” is an original musical by Los Angeles-based playwright and composer Carol Weiss, who will collaborate with Sopris Theatre Company’s actors to bring her production to life from April 7 to 23 at CMC Spring Valley and livestreamed. CMC’s annual Student Workshop Productions will wrap up the season on April 27 at CMC Spring Valley.

To purchase season or individual tickets, visit Sopris Theatre Company/Current Productions or call 970-947-8177 or contact svticketsales@coloradomtn.edu.

Sopris Theatre Company’s season presenting sponsor is US Bank. For more information, call 970-947-8177.

CMC ceramics faculty member Michelle McCurdy holds one of the many ceramic bowls that will hold soup during the Empty Bowls fundraiser Oct. 5.

Empty Bowls fundraiser returns

Colorado Mountain College Rifle ceramics students provide bowls, area restaurants donate soup to benefit Grand River Meals on Wheels

Sept. 22, 2022 – Organizers are busy getting ready for the seventh annual Empty Bowls event on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at Grand River Health’s Ballroom. The fundraiser provides a handcrafted bowl to keep, soups crafted by local restaurants, and bread and beverages in exchange for a $20 donation and raises money for the Grand River Meals on Wheels program.

Empty Bowls is coordinated by staff from Grand River Health, as well as faculty and students from Colorado Mountain College Rifle. The idea for the collaboration started in 2015 with Michelle McCurdy and Kaaren Peck, who put their passions together (ceramics and feeding the homebound) to bring awareness and funding to Grand River Meals on Wheels. Students of Colorado Mountain College Rifle’s ceramics program and area artists donate their hand hewn bowls to make the event memorable.

New this year is the soup is being donated from local supportive restaurants: Hugo’s in Glenwood Springs, Miner’s Claim in Silt, Jalisco’s Grill, Rama’s Bistro and Wing Nutz Bar and Grill in Rifle, as well as Grand River Health Café and Care Center. The luncheon runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 5.

Although the fundraiser is a locally focused effort, it’s internationally based. The Empty Bowls Project conducts events around the world to raise money and bring awareness around hunger issues and provides funds for food distribution efforts, like Grand River Meals on Wheels. In 2021 Grand River Meals on Wheels provided and delivered over 22,000 meals from New Castle to Parachute.

CMC nursing student Travis Samila cares for a 2-month-old infant mannequin who is having trouble breathing in a CMC nursing simulation lab. "Sim labs" give students the ability to assess patients and practice medical techniques. Photo by Ben Suddendorf

CMC receives $125,000 from Google to enhance nursing training

Colorado Mountain College recently received a $125,000 grant from Google to be used to support three nursing simulation labs that are part of CMC’s nurse education program at the Spring Valley, Steamboat Springs and Breckenridge campuses.

In the same grant cycle, Google also awarded St. Vrain Valley School District, headquartered in Longmont, $125,000 to support the district’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School program.

“Google is proud to support the efforts of these institutions to advance career readiness in Colorado with innovative technology solutions,” said Javier González, Google’s interim head of government affairs & public policy for the Southwest region. “Google has had a presence in Colorado for over 15 years, and we look forward to continuing our local partnerships to create a greater impact within the state.”

"Colorado Mountain College's leadership in addressing the nursing shortage across Colorado communities is critical to our healthcare system,” said Julie McCluskie, Colorado House District 61 state representative. “I am grateful for Google's investment in their nursing program and new simulation laboratories, which provide a realistic educational experience for our students and reduces costly travel to distant training sites.”

Expediting Colorado’s response to the nursing shortage

As part of addressing the shortage of registered nurses in Colorado, Colorado Mountain College is applying Google’s $125,000 donation to the CMC Foundation’s Rural Nursing Success Fund Capital Campaign that is funding the three new high-fidelity nursing simulation labs. Set in life-like healthcare environments, simulation labs bridge the gap between skills labs and theory coursework and are proven to foster the critical thinking, self-confidence and quick reflexes necessary to prepare students for the clinical environment.

“The experience that Colorado Mountain College’s nursing students are receiving as a result of Google’s generosity is an important part of establishing countless health care careers,” said Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser, CMC president and CEO. “CMC is so grateful for Google’s support in bringing these state-of-the-art training labs and true to life mannequins to our students and to our rural mountain resort communities.”

More nursing students will be able to complete up to 50% of their clinical hours in the simulation lab, reducing the need for costly travel to distant training sites. Additionally, more ESL/GED students will be able to receive training in medical interpretation.

For more information about Colorado Mountain College’s nursing program, visit https://coloradomtn.edu/programs/nursing/

“Desde Arriba,” by Philip Tarlow is one of the paintings featured at an opening reception at CMC Aspen on Sept. 29. The exhibit will be at the Aspen campus Sept. 29 through Nov. 22.

CMC Aspen hosts exhibition reception for painter Philip Tarlow Sept. 29

The CMC Aspen Gallery and campus will host “Jestur: Work by Philip Tarlow,” at an opening reception on Sept. 29.

Tarlow’s work explores gestural figural forms through abstraction, the gaze and historical references. The Aspen exhibit includes work from four different series spanning 10 years of work by Tarlow.

This free public reception will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 29 at the CMC Aspen Gallery and lobby, 0255 Sage Way, Aspen Business Center, Aspen. Light refreshments will be served.

The exhibit, which is sponsored by Obermeyer Wood and ArtSpace, is on display at the Aspen campus from Sept. 29 through Nov. 22. Call the front desk to arrange your visit at 970-925-7740 and visit the Aspen campus for information about CMC Aspen.

Located on CMC Spring Valley land, the new solar array can provide 1,000 homes with clean, renewable energy. The complex sits on 22 acres and is the largest facility of its kind in Colorado. Photo by Seth Andersen

New solar complex at CMC Spring Valley the largest of its kind in Colorado

Colorado’s largest solar array and battery storage facility of its kind was the focus on Sept. 14 of a public ribbon-cutting celebration at Colorado Mountain College Spring Valley at Glenwood Springs. The project is 95% complete and will reach commercial operation this fall.

Community members, renewable energy experts, government officials and CMC students, including students from the college’s sustainability studies program, faculty and staff gathered at the Spring Valley campus to commemorate the occasion with speeches and vehicle tours of the 22-acre solar array site. Gov. Jared Polis shared his support of the project in a taped presentation.

“Protecting Colorado’s way of life means doing our part to combat climate change,” Polis said. “Swiftly adopting renewable energy in our electricity sector and then extending the impact of that clean electricity across the economy will protect the health of our communities, create good paying jobs, strengthen our economy and save Coloradans money. It’s projects like the one we celebrate today that will make that possible. When organizations like Colorado Mountain College, Holy Cross Energy and Ameresco partner together, amazing things can happen.”

The Solar Array and Battery Storage Complex at Colorado Mountain College Spring Valley is the result of a partnership between Ameresco, a clean-technology leader headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts; Holy Cross Energy, a local rural electric cooperative serving close to 50,000 members in the Eagle, Roaring Fork and Colorado river valleys; Sunsense Solar, a Carbondale-based solar electric engineering and construction contractor; and Colorado Mountain College, which is leasing college-owned land just south of the Spring Valley campus to Ameresco to operate the project.

“Here in the rural West, we have long understood we are stronger when we work together,” said CMC President and CEO Carrie Besnette Hauser. “This collaboration between CMC, Holy Cross and Ameresco is a shining example of that ethos as we work together to reduce our carbon emissions and protect these amazing mountain landscapes that we all love from the very real threat of climate change. We must all do our part.”

The solar array is a 4.5AC-megawatt, grid-tied project that sends electricity directly to HCE’s distribution system, making renewable energy an environmentally sound and cost-effective option to its members. The array can supply renewable solar energy to approximately 1,000 homes. The complex also includes five megawatts of battery storage, which can be discharged during times of peak-demand for HCE.

Additionally, the avoided annual greenhouse gas emissions of the project’s solar photovoltaic system are expected to be 6,853 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which equates to the emissions benefit of annually removing 1,481 passenger vehicles from the road or not burning 7,551,050 pounds of coal.

Comprised of over 13,500 solar modules, many of which can track the sun, the project also includes a battery system that contains 68 battery stacks housed in four on-site containers that allow for solar power in a variety of conditions.

The renewable energy efficiencies of this project will allow HCE and Colorado Mountain College to both achieve goals they have set. It will further HCE’s goal of increasing the renewable energy it provides to its members to 100% clean energy sources by 2030. And it will move CMC towards its 2050 carbon neutrality goal, since HCE will retire renewable energy credits on the college’s behalf, in a quantity sufficient to offset 100% of the electricity use of three CMC campuses at Aspen, Spring Valley and Vail Valley.

“The Holy Cross Energy/Colorado Mountain College solar-plus-storage project is a great example of a win-win renewable project,” said Sam Whelan, HCE’s vice president of power supply. “Not only does the project assist both HCE and CMC toward their renewable and carbon goals, but it also provides us with the flexibility to operate an increasingly renewable portfolio. To top it all off, we’re able to do this in a financially responsible way that saves money for all our members.”

“Our partnership with Colorado Mountain College and Holy Cross Energy on this impressive solar and battery energy storage project that utilizes a unique model of collaboration enables all sides to simultaneously finance the feat and achieve individual sustainability targets,” said Ameresco EVP Louis Maltezos. “This forward-thinking model not only advances Colorado’s renewable energy goals but ushers in a new era of sustainable collaboration for the state.”

From left, Abby Hagen, Anne Mawhinney and (behind Mawhinney) Anais Garcia running in the 5K at the Joe Vigil Open sponsored by Adams State University on Sept. 10. Photo by Matt Lit

CMC x-country team begins season

Eagles men's and women's runners finish with several personal best times

By Mike McKibbin

ALAMOSA — The Colorado Mountain College Eagles men's and women's cross-country team opened its fourth season with a four-team meet in Alamosa on Sept. 10.

The 29th Joe Vigil Open at the Cattails Golf Course, hosted by Adams State University, included CMC, Trinidad State College and Fort Lewis College in Durango.

With what Eagles head coach Darren Brungardt called "perfect cross-country weather" of cool 50s and 60s, the men raced in an 8K around the flat and fast golf course.

Adams State won the meet with a near-perfect score of 16 points. Trinidad State was second with 79, Fort Lewis third with 105, and CMC fourth at 137.

Brungardt noted the men's team were all first-year runners, so they all ran personal best times.

Harrison Fries-Levy was the team's top runner, finishing 40th overall at 29:00.08. That placed him seventh in CMC history.

Other men's runners who placed were Ben Lague, 30:44.35; Kenneth Obregon Orozco, 31:08.43; Nate Encinias, 32:06.74; Harrison Walter, 34:17.06; Korben Long, 35:13.98; and Paulo Aponte, 35:33.91.

"I really loved how the men worked together and rallied at the end," Brungardt said. "This team is young and has an exciting future."

He added the women ran without two runners who had classes but still performed well.

Abby Hagen led the women with a 27th overall finish and a time of 23:01.3. She was followed by Anne Mawhinney, in her first-ever cross-country meet, in 34th. Her time of 24:59.3 was her fastest-ever 5K on road, track or grass. That placed her eighth in CMC women's cross-country history.

Anais Garcia followed at 25:25.37, and Alexis Ricks — also in her first-ever 5K — at 26:22.70, 10th place all-time in CMC women's cross-country history.

The Eagles' next meet is Saturday, Sept. 24, at the CMC Leadville campus against Central Wyoming College. Women race their 5K at 9 a.m., and men run their 8K at 9:45 a.m. Community members are encouraged to race with the teams for $20. Registration happens at the meet.

The National Junior College Athletic Association sanctions the CMC team, which competes against colleges of similar size in the Wyoming, Colorado and western Nebraska region.

For more information, visit cmceagles.com.