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Bridgette Zuckerman never planned to join the Army. She grew up in an Army family and graduated from high school in Colorado Springs. Her mom and dad both enlisted and, by the time Zuckerman was starting college, her sister Briana (15’IntPhys) was already a cadet in the ROTC program at CU-Boulder. But family tradition won out. Briana convinced Bridgette to give it a shot.

Yessica Canas got her first pair of glasses when she was 3, and has since wondered what it would be like to help others see the world around them more clearly. Next fall, she’ll find out when she heads to Midwestern University in Arizona to pursue a lifelong dream and a doctorate in optometry.

It was a long journey from the tiny Mexican town of Tlazazalca Michoacan to Boulder for Emmanuel Melgoza Alfaro. And an equally long distance, culturally, to become his family’s first high school and college graduate. On Saturday, Alfaro will complete this journey when he graduates from CU-Boulder with a degree in ethnic studies.

This fall, Renee Paiement will join a highly-selective group of 12 to 15 students admitted to Columbia University's MFA program in screenwriting. The CU-Boulder senior applied to the Ivy League school last fall, submitting the first long screenplay she wrote. Acceptance is a high honor since only about 6 percent of applicants are granted admission.

English major Kate Brady Ross has exciting plans post-graduation. She's planning to move to LA and continue collaborating on a record with Ariel Rechtshaid - the same Grammy Award-winning producer who’s worked with Adele and Justin Bieber - after winning the Guitar Center’s Singer Songwriter 5 Competition in March.

During Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan’s periodic trips to visit family in India she was bothered by the pollutants spewing from the ever-present gasoline-powered rickshaws. She was also disturbed by how hard it was for rickshaw drivers to make ends meet due to the expense of the fuel. The Superior, Colorado, found a solution and created Surya Conversions.

Andrew “Oak” Nelson was chatting with an artist friend when she asked him whether studying engineering physics didn’t “ruin his appreciation for the wonders of the world.” For Nelson, the opposite is true. “You see more wonder in the world after studying physics than before,” said this year’s Outstanding Graduate in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Not all college music programs invite undergraduates to participate in full-scale operas. But in his four years at CU-Boulder, Chas Douthit has played roles in four. Douthit, who will receive his bachelor's in music education with a choral music emphasis on May 6, has always been involved in performing at the College of Music.

Not all college music programs invite undergraduates to participate in full-scale operas. But in his four years at CU-Boulder, Chas Douthit has played roles in four. Douthit, who will receive his bachelor's in music education with a choral music emphasis on May 6, has always been involved in performing at the College of Music.

Aaron Rogers remembers one of his first experiences at CU-Boulder vividly...walking onto Farrand Field on his first Saturday night as a freshman during the Welcome Fest concert. Thinking back, he says the moment helped propel his interest in music first, and then the music industry.