Students in Focus

Graduating senior Michael Persinger, intent now on medical school, thanks his father for helping him achieve his dreams. "He taught me to always keep pushing no matter what is thrown at me, and I’ve tried to keep that mentality whenever I’m faced with challenges."

As a kid, Lonnie Rickel planned to enlist in the Army, never seriously considering college. CU Boulder provided the best of both worlds: the college experience with an ROTC program.

Sociology graduate Miranda Viorst volunteers with The Prison Yoga Project in Boulder. She wrote an honors thesis from her interviews with former inmates of California’s San Quentin State Prison.

Eben Yonnetti was first exposed to Buddhism as an undergraduate studying abroad in Nepal. Now, the Religious Studies grad student is compiling an online guide to Tibetan resources at Norlin Library.

CU Boulder Sailing Club launches membership drive and crowdfunding effort to raise money for new boats.

Josh Edelmann finished his six years of service with the U.S. Air Force and enrolled as an undergraduate student at CU Boulder last fall. He wanted to find a sense of camaraderie with his peers at the university that felt similar to what he experienced during his years in the military.

As an officer in the U.S. Special Forces, Mitch Utterback spent years deployed in conflict zones. Now, he’s training to return abroad as a war correspondent.

CU Boulder political science seniors Safia Malin and Dylan Rogers bolstered their education by serving as interns in Washington, D.C., through the CU in D.C. internship program.

The opportunity to learn from renowned faculty in spacious new facilities led MFA students Ariana Kolins and Matt Smith to our interdisciplinary Ceramics Graduate Program. The program is ranked No. 5 in U.S. News and World Report. But students aren’t limited to ceramics. Kolins is working with tea bags while Smith is laser cutting Bible verses in felt.

Austin Braun, a junior in the College of Media, Communication and Information (CMCI), recently earned the university a free ride to space for one of its future satellites when he won a naming contest hosted by United Launch Alliance (ULA), the Centennial, Colorado-based aerospace company.