During my time at CMC, I often doubted myself and asked why I was going to school for “Sustainability.” I knew deep inside it was what I actually believed in and what I wanted to do, to leave the world a better place, but I never fully understood the impact one person could make in this seemingly twisted, careless world.

I was often beaten down by the doom-and-gloom aspect of sustainability. With so many problems facing our generation I constantly asked myself, how is this going to actually help? Then I remembered something I wrote in one of my papers, “Sustainability is thought process.”

I realized that even the well-trained have to constantly work to better their way of being. We have to better the environment around us, we have to better the thought processes of the people around us. We have to use any and all tools of the past and present we have acquired over the span of our existence. I was so focused on what to do with what I had learned in school, that I was bypassing many of the tools in my quiver from years past.

So, I took my 15 years of bicycle maintenance experience and applied it to a dream I had when I first started working on bikes in Wisconsin. I could combine my experience and passion, with my newfound knowledge of social enterprise, grant research and grant writing, and apply it to the social inequality of Boulder County.

In July 2016, I launched Chain Reaction Bicycle Service. My fiancé and I are empowering the underserved population of Boulder County, utilizing bicycles as a vehicle of change. Our flagship Earn-A-Bike program aims to teach young people, Hispanic youth in particular, bicycle maintenance skills. This would equip them with real-world, tangible skills, and empower them with the tools to become self-sufficient.

The students that really like it could apply at their local bike shop and have an opportunity to enter the work force. Just as I continued to work towards bettering myself, I now have the opportunity to help do the same for others.

I have held basic classes and have given away 20 refurbished bicycles. Our partners are Zeal Optics, Whole Foods and Boulder County. We have a full-service bike shop and five portable bike maintenance stations used to teach classes.

I firmly believe that if you have the courage to start, you can make it succeed. Keep growing, change paths, find new questions which will provide the answers to how we attack the new problems. Start doing what you want. It’ll pay off.

Read more about the Sustainability Studies bachelor’s degree.

In 2002 I was a senior in high school and I thought I had life figured out. I was going to attend CU Boulder, get a degree in Business and then be on my way to a million dollar salary. Oh man, was I wrong. I got denied from CU Boulder, and then I turned to CMC in Steamboat. My parents wanted me to attend “a real college” — whatever that means!

Getting denied from CU Boulder was the best thing to ever happen to me, but it took me some time to realize it. At CMC Steamboat I became my own person, and it was the start of a life, where I made decisions for myself and stopped worrying about pleasing other people, or doing things because it was the “norm.” My experience at CMC has shaped who I am today. I value education, but I also learned that you have to be inspired to truly get the most out of your education. Going to college in the Rocky Mountains in a place as beautiful as Steamboat inspired me to take my education seriously so I can get what I want out of life. For me that is quality over quantity.

If I would have attended CU Boulder, who knows where I would be today, but I am fairly sure I would not be at my current job working in the Career Center at Pickens Technical College, helping students everyday. When something happens to them in their life, and they feel it may change their plans forever, I share my story with them, and I always say, “Everything happens for a reason.” After CMC I attended Montana State University and received a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, then I went on to University of Phoenix and received my Master’s Degree in Education.