The CU Boulder Puksta聽Scholars Progam held its second annual Puksta Passage聽event at the聽Koenig Alumni Center on April 20, 2016. We spent the evening聽celebrating聽graduated seniors and welcoming聽new scholars to the program. The scholars were joined by their聽families, as well as Chancellor Phil DiStefano, Dean of the School of Education and Distinguished Professor Lorrie Shepard, Director of CU Engage Ben Kirshner, Puksta Foundation Executive Director John Mulstay,聽Puksta Foundation Director of Development and Community Outreach NiChel Meis, and聽Puksta Advisers Roudy Hildreth and Elaina Verveer.
The highlight of the evening was hearing presentations by graduating seniors Danait Aregay, Jamal Kamal, Chris Klene, Nicollette Laroco, Dara Oloyede, Maria Ronauli, and Vincent Torres. Dylan Whitman graduated in Fall 2015 and was there in spirit.聽 Each graduating senior received聽the coveted marble buffalo statue courtesy of the 乐播传媒 Foundation and a hand-woven Puksta graduation cord courtesy of NiChel Meis. We were also thrilled that our seniors could pass the baton, so to speak, to incoming scholars Fernando Chavez Arroyo, Aina 鈥淪cout鈥� Azlan, Maria 鈥淟upe鈥� Lopez, Edwin Mendoza Olea, Rebecca Robidoux, Gabriela Solano Serna, Suyog Soti, and Helina Zemede.