Bulletin

Issue: April 2011

Peak Profile: My “Block” Learning Spanish

After many years, I decided it was “la hora a aprender Español!” I took a one-month leave from my job with the State of Oregon in July 2010, to study Spanish with Jessica Dover of the Castaliga Language Center in downtown Portland. I graduated in 1985 from CC with a degree in religion. I enjoyed studying languages on the Block Plan immensely and deeply regret not learning Spanish while in college. This was the impetus for creating my own “block” experience, 25 years after graduating. I had to find a teacher who would understand the commitment, intensity, and rigor of a CC block. Here’s how I knew Jessica could help me…

Issue: April 2011

Peak Profile: Annie Petsonk ’79

A “refugee from the semester system,” Annie Petsonk ’79 transferred from Harvard to Colorado College seeking the ideal liberal arts education. Today, she credits the “ideal liberal arts education” she says she received at CC with giving her the confidence to embark on a career in environmental law — a field in which she has excelled for 30 years. Petsonk works as an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund and is a visiting scholar at George Washington University Law School. Petsonk lives with her husband, John, and three-year-old son, Nicholas, in Washington, D.C. Earlier in her career, she worked on the biggest hazardous waste case in the U.S. and also spent four years…