Back to school and work at Colorado Mountain College

Up until May 2020, Carissa Hernandez loved her job at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs.

In May Carissa Hernandez of New Castle, here with husband Hernan Hernandez and son Daniel Lewis, was furloughed from Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs due to the effects of the pandemic. Hernandez is now studying at CMC thanks to the CMC Responds: Back to Work Scholarship.

“Valley View is a great place to work,” said Hernandez, who lives in New Castle with her husband and 6-year-old son.

As part of the hospital’s central medical supply team, Hernandez stocked everything from syringes to thermometers. However, that all changed on May 11, when she was furloughed from her job due to COVID-19 workplace restructuring. To make matters worse, her husband also lost his hotel job due to impacts from the virus. “We have lots of bills,” she said. “We’ve been stressing the last three months.”

But a new program at Colorado Mountain College, called the CMC Responds: Back to Work Scholarship, is giving a financial boost to Hernandez and others across the seven-county college district, enabling them to return to school to retool their skills and improve their options for finding new work.

A way out

Another such recipient of the scholarship is Frank Donaldson, who has lived in Glenwood Springs on and off for the past 10 years. He was self-employed in event production, coordinating décor and lighting for large Fortune 500 conferences in places like Vail and Aspen.

“I was going to be so busy this summer,” Donaldson said. “Though once COVID hit, there were no events, no big gatherings” – and there was no work.

Abruptly, the pandemic forced both Hernandez and Donaldson to rethink their occupations. That’s when they found the CMC Responds: Back to Work Scholarship, which provides money for tuition and other expenses for qualified workers who have had their hours reduced or were laid off or furloughed because of COVID-19. At CMC, students are able to study for new professions that can help them be more resilient in the event of a sudden downturn in the economy.

The funds are part of a $750,000 Displaced Workers Grant being distributed statewide by the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative, an innovative program of the Colorado Department of Higher Education that leverages public and private investment to make post-high school education available to more Colorado students.

The Displaced Workers Grant enables public colleges, workforce centers and training programs to provide professional staff to support displaced workers and help students access multiple sources of financial aid to help them succeed. COSI is granting Colorado Mountain College with $150,000 over two years to provide dedicated professional student success staff to help these displaced workers.

Recipients of CMC’s Back to Work Scholarship have lost employment, lost jobs and regained employment but not at the same level, been temporarily furloughed, or had hours reduced and have received decreased pay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The scholarships average $1,000 to $3,000, and sometimes more, depending on each student’s unmet need,” said Yesenia Arreola, CMC’s executive director of student affairs strategic projects and initiatives. “We ask all students to fill out the FAFSA or other institutional aid form when being considered for COSI funds. We want to make sure they are taking advantage of all available resources to help pay for the cost of attendance.”

Support is here

For Donaldson, CMC is familiar territory. He received an Associate of General Studies degree 10 years ago at the college, and is now studying digital media in CMC’s Isaacson School of Communication, Arts and Media. He hopes to either incorporate video production into his event production work in the future or practice videography solely.

“The scholarship has helped me so much,” said Hernandez. “I have always wanted to go back to school, and I don’t know when or if I’d be able to if it wasn’t for the scholarship and the help I got from CMC.”

Arreola said Colorado Mountain College’s goal is to grant 150 credentials to students through this scholarship during the next two years.

Contact cosi@coloradomtn.edu or visit https://coloradomtn.edu/scholarships/back-to-work-scholarship/ for more information and to contact an advisor about Colorado Mountain College’s Back to Work Scholarship.

On Sept. 8 in Leadville, it looked a whole lot more like winter than summer. At Colorado Mountain College’s Leadville campus, an early cold front gave ski area operations students the opportunity to make snow at the campus’s terrain park.

Jump starting the season

LEADVILLE – Talk about getting a head start. When a massive cold front hit Colorado on Tuesday, Sept. 8, it felt more like the beginning of winter than the tail end of summer. At 10,200 feet, Colorado Mountain College Leadville was primed for the campus’s ski area operations students to be the first to take advantage of plummeting temperatures – ideal for making snow.

From 2:30 p.m. through 7:30 the next morning, students worked alongside ski area ops faculty, firing up the college’s snow guns and experiencing what both day and nighttime snowmaking is all about.

“We were able to test our new equipment,” said Brian Rosser, CMC Leadville ski area operations associate professor. “Also, it was a great pre-season training exercise, before it really counts.”

Colorado Mountain College’s ski area operations program is based in Leadville and offers a range of certificates and degrees.

Throughout fall semester, the CCMC's Fire Academy is giving students live structure fire experience in the college's Dotsero Training Facility located just off I-70. Photo Ed Kosmicki

CMC Fire Academy students training with live fire at Dotsero Training Facility

For over 50 years Colorado Mountain College has been training first responders. The college’s commitment continues this week, as firefighter trainees from CMC’s Fire Academy receive hands-on experience inside the Dotsero Training Facility with live fire near the 32,000-acre Grizzly Creek Fire.

The center is housed in a large vertical building that sits north of I-70 on the east side of Glenwood Canyon.

“With the Grizzly Creek Fire being so close to where our training is being held, it is important for our trainees to learn the importance of structure protection and how to apply it to their communities,” said Zak Miller, CMC’s college-wide fire science program coordinator based at CMC Vail Valley at Edwards.

Motorists traveling along I-70 may see smoke and fire as a result of this training, which is under strict guidelines and will be permitted to only burn in the center’s non-combustible building with favorable weather conditions.

Due to the increase in fire starts, drought conditions and a statewide fire ban, the college needed approval from Gypsum Fire and the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office to allow the fire academy to train with live fire in the facility.

“It’s the goal of Colorado Mountain College to put as many firefighters as possible into departments to help fight these fires,” said Miller.

The college also offers firefighting instruction in Leadville and Rifle.

“Colorado Mountain College prides itself on providing education to better serve our communities and to do it in a safe manner,” Miller said.

Live structure fire training will be held sporadically through fall semester, from Sept. 9-Dec. 11. For questions about the Dotsero Training Facility, contact Zak Miller at zsmiller@mail.coloradomtn.edu. For more information about the CMC Fire Academy visit https://coloradomtn.edu/programs/fire-academy/.

CMC Steamboat student honored as 2020 Colorado TRIO Achiever

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – Just a few years ago, it was hard for Eleysa Schofield to imagine how she would achieve her dream of attending college. Now, she is a successful student at Colorado Mountain College Steamboat Springs and one of only two 2020 Colorado ASPIRE TRIO Achievers, chosen from 17,000 participating students in 59 TRIO organizations across the state.

CMC Steamboat student Eleysa Schofield, here at Lookout Mountain above Golden, has been named a Colorado TRIO Achiever award recipient.

Partially funded by the U.S. Department of Education, TRIO programs help low-income, first-generation students and those with disabilities access higher education. Colorado Mountain College offers TRIO support services at its Steamboat campus, as well as campuses at Spring Valley near Glenwood Springs, Rifle, Vail Valley at Edwards and Leadville.

The purpose of the Colorado Chapter of ASPIRE is to provide professional development and education policy advocacy for TRIO professionals in the state.

Schofield credits TRIO, and Amy Phillips, her campus’s TRIO Student Support Services coordinator, with putting a college education within reach.

“My senior year in high school, I was a homeless independent youth with a 4.0 GPA, wondering if there were any resources for someone like me to go to college,” she said. “Academics were a priority, but so were my other bills.”

In the fall of 2017, she took a leap of faith and signed up for classes at CMC Steamboat Springs.

At orientation, she learned about the opportunities and funding that TRIO could help her to access. With assistance from Phillips, Schofield applied to the program. Soon after, she was accepted and awarded her first scholarship.

“When you’re working full time and going to school full time, the gift of time a scholarship provides is priceless,” Schofield said.

Scholarship in hand, she jumped into every opportunity the TRIO program offered. She worked closely with an advisor and attended every student success seminar offered. Now she serves as the student body president of the campus’s Student Government Association.

TRIO support available – and on solid ground

Beyond funding, TRIO has helped connect Schofield to countless academic and career advancement opportunities, including tutoring support, work-study jobs and professional internships. Recently, the college secured a new five-year grant to support TRIO services, helping ensure programming for CMC students like Schofield in the future.

Now, even during a global pandemic, Schofield is forging ahead toward her educational goals. This summer, when she was furloughed from her job due to COVID-19 concerns, TRIO funding helped her stay in school. Phillips also helped her connect with the college’s new CMC Responds: Back to Work Scholarship, which she was awarded at the beginning of fall semester. Schofield is now nearing completion of her associate degree and plans to earn her bachelor’s by the spring of 2021.

“TRIO support gave me the confidence to commit to the four-year degree,” she said. “I really couldn’t have achieved a lot of what I’ve accomplished without it. I want to give other students the awareness and courage to ask about these resources. The benefits of this program have been unreal.”

For more information about Colorado Mountain College’s TRIO Student Support Services, visit Colorado Mountain College's TRIO Support Services.

Colorado Mountain College cross-country student-athlete Jack Setser, here crossing the finish line at the August 2019 10,000 Foot Invite in Leadville, is back for his second season. The team’s innovative approach to virtual training has proven successful in recruiting nearly double the number of runners competing on behalf of CMC in the fall 2020 season.

CMC cross-country team nearly doubles in size

LEADVILLE – Colorado Mountain College’s cross-country running team members are ready to lace up their running shoes for another great year. And in the team’s second season, when many college teams are learning to practice while physically distanced, the CMC Eagles have a lead on the competition because they are already well-versed in virtual sport.

Head Coach Darren Brungardt shared that the team – in only its second year of competition – has nearly doubled in size thanks to recruits from Colorado, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming. The college will also field its first women’s team this fall.

“I am really thrilled with how much our team has grown,” said Brungardt, who is also a mathematics professor at CMC. “We are going to be strong and competitive.”

The college’s cross-country team made history last fall in its first season competing as a National Junior College Athletic Association sanctioned team. Students were able to train at their home campus and then join other team members and the Leadville-based coach at competitive events.

Heading into the 2020 season, the college will also continue its partnership with On Running. The Swiss performance running company provides shoes and training apparel for the student-athletes.

“I’m excited to race with all my new teammates,” said Kansas native Jack Setser as he starts his second season with the CMC Eagles. “And I can’t wait to run at nationals this year.”

Running virtually

While the CMC Eagles have not been immune to the ups and downs of the pandemic, the cross-country team has been better prepared because they already have a built-in “virtual” component.

CMC Athletic Director Angela Dunn explained even though the team is based at the college’s Leadville campus, students from any of CMC’s 11 locations can compete from their home campus.

“With the team being set up the way it is, I believe that we already place a high value on connectedness because we want the athletes at all of the campuses to have the same experience,” said Dunn. “COVID is just reminding us how important connection and communication are.”

Brungardt (based in Leadville) and Dunn (based in Garfield County, 100 miles away) have to communicate regularly to discuss recruiting, training and meet schedules. They seamlessly hosted numerous “virtual” recruiting sessions this spring when the pandemic was starting to spread in the U.S.

First-year runner Ember Penas of Nebraska said she felt “supported” by the CMC cross-country team from day one.

“It feels like being with family,” she said. “I had built-in friends as soon as I showed up on campus.”

Positive mindset

The CMC Eagles have their sights set on competing at the NJCAA regional and national meets this year. Brungardt noted the team is headed into the fall with a positive mindset, but winning isn’t their only goal.

“Winning would be awesome, but we want to see our runners improve and grow all while enjoying everything our mountain communities have to offer,” he said.

In a recent virtual meeting, team members got to know more about each other by sharing who they are outside of running, and to emphasize they are more than athletes.

“We emphasize personal growth and development,” said Dunn, who also serves as an assistant coach. “We want our student-athletes to walk away feeling like they have gained more than just speed and PRs.”

The CMC Eagles will kick off their season Sept. 5 at the Carr Cross-Country Open. For more on the team, visit CMC Eagles.

CMC trustees meet in Salida for two days of meetings

SALIDA – The Colorado Mountain College Board of Trustees gathered on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 at the SteamPlant Event Center in downtown Salida, adhering to strict group size limits, public health protocols, face coverings and physical distancing requirements. The CMC trustees selected the Salida location to recognize the recent addition of the Salida and Poncha Springs communities into the Colorado Mountain College district.

Among other discussions, trustees voted to continue negotiations for two leases at campus properties – one at CMC Spring Valley and a second at CMC Leadville.

Spring Valley solar land lease

As part of a potential Holy Cross Energy solar project, CMC and Ameresco Solar, a solar energy development company, have begun negotiations on a ground lease that would transfer control of about 22 acres of campus property to Ameresco. Ameresco will use this land to construct a solar facility, selling the generated power to Holy Cross Energy.

It is expected that Holy Cross Energy, in turn, will replace CMC Spring Valley’s energy usage with solar-based energy generated by the Ameresco facility.

Board members unanimously approved the continued negotiation and finalization of the lease, subject to a third and final board approval.

Get Outdoors Leadville! lease

Get Outdoors Leadville! provides opportunities to Leadville community members to access nature and the outdoors through programs, equipment and support. In 2017, CMC and Get Outdoors Leadville! entered into an agreement for GOL! to construct a gear library at CMC Leadville that will lend outdoor equipment such as backpacks and cross-country touring gear. The gear library facility is currently under construction and expected to be completed in December 2020.

The proposed lease agreement will allow GOL! to operate the gear library at its cost and contribute $2,000 a year for repairs, maintenance and capital reserves.

At the September meeting, the trustees unanimously approved to continue negotiations on the gear library’s lease.

Other actions or discussions at the Sept. 1 meeting:

Two resolutions were adopted, each authorizing the college to offer matching funds for Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative programs for CMC students.
The board authorized CMC President Carrie Besnette Hauser to negotiate an agreement with the town of Breckenridge for the temporary relocation of utilities on the CMC-Breckenridge campus. This access would allow the town to begin construction of a bicycle/pedestrian underpass at Coyne Valley Road.
Recent community comments in the Glenwood Springs area have raised the issue of alternative uses for the Glenwood Center building. No decisions have been made, though a taskforce is forming to look at options. A statement is available on CMC's website at https://coloradomtn.edu/glenwood-center-statement/.
At CMC Steamboat, plans for a nursing simulation lab are progressing at the campus, with a projected completion date of January 2021. At an estimated cost of $1.2 million, this state-of-the art simulation lab will allow nursing students to do their clinical work on campus versus traveling to Denver to use lab facilities there. Construction design work is expected to be completed this week.