Hall of Fame hockey player Wayne Gretzky famously explained his success by saying that he skated to where the puck was going, not where it had been. That combination of foresight and anticipation earned him the title “The Great One.”

At Colorado Mountain College, we are embracing that same mindset. Rather than chasing yesterday’s challenges or hoping for a return to old models of higher education, we are preparing for where our students, communities, and economy are headed next.

With the confidence and support of the communities we serve, CMC is adapting to a changing educational marketplace by expanding access, investing in high-demand workforce programs, and creating affordable housing opportunities that allow talented individuals to build careers in Colorado’s mountain towns.

Next week, Colorado Mountain College begins its fall academic term. Classes start earlier than they once did, but that change is part of a deliberate effort to increase flexibility and opportunity for students. Several years ago, college leaders recognized that the traditional academic calendar no longer aligned with the realities of many modern learners. The result is a redesigned academic schedule intended to help more students start, persist, and complete their education.

The change reflects a broader reality facing higher education: students are changing, and colleges must change with them.

Anyone who spends time with people under 30 understands that today’s students are highly pragmatic. They care about affordability, efficiency, career relevance, and return on investment. While the traditional residential college experience continues to have value, more often students are seeking educational pathways that lead quickly and effectively to meaningful careers.

At CMC, that reality is reflected in soaring demand for skilled trades and allied health programs.

Earlier this summer, the college acquired a 25,000-square-foot facility in Rifle that will significantly expand training opportunities in automotive technology, HVAC, and sheet metal. In Leadville, construction is underway on a new facility that will support ski area operations while creating additional capacity for fire science and emergency responder training.

The same trend is evident in healthcare. This week, CMC welcomed its third cohort of dental hygiene students and its first cohort of radiologic technology students. Because these programs require extensive clinical training, enrollment is intentionally limited. Yet admission rates below 20 percent demonstrate extraordinary demand from prospective students, while employers across our region continue to seek more qualified graduates than existing programs can supply.

To meet that need, CMC is partnering with healthcare providers and industry leaders throughout our service area to increase program capacity and create additional pathways into careers that are essential to the vitality of mountain communities.

Our investments extend beyond classrooms, welding bays, and laboratories. We all know that one of the greatest challenges facing rural Colorado is housing affordability. Communities cannot recruit and retain teachers, nurses, first responders, skilled tradespeople, and other professionals if those workers cannot afford to live where they serve. This is why CMC has made affordable housing a strategic priority, investing in housing solutions that help attract and retain the talented employees who make our mission possible.

To that end, over the past 60 days, CMC has opened a new apartment complex in Edwards with Eagle County Government, acquired a multi-unit apartment building in Glenwood Springs, and received certificates of occupancy on nine condominiums in Basalt. The college also retained a consulting firm to help plan the development of as many as 350 additional beds across the entire CMC tax district over the next decade.

Like any organization committed to innovation, we will experience successes, failures, and setbacks. In response, we will learn, adapt, and improve. But we are confident in our direction and feel blessed to voluntarily make major changes during a time of institutional strength and not because we are forced to do so during a time of desperation. Fulfilling the promises made during last year’s election, we are investing in the programs, people, and infrastructure that Colorado’s mountain communities will need in the years ahead.

In other words, we are skating to where the puck will be.