Maddison “Maddi” Schink ’23 has won a 2022 Truman Scholarship, the premier graduate scholarship for students interested in public service. She was selected from 705 candidates and is one of 58 awardees this year of the prestigious honor. Truman Scholars are selected because they demonstrate outstanding leadership potential, a commitment to a career in government or the nonprofit sector, and academic excellence.

“I am incredibly honored and grateful for the opportunity to join the community of Truman Scholars,” she says. “It means a lot to both me and my family that I will be able to use this scholarship to further my education, grow as a leader, and give back to the communities I care about.”

“I am deeply appreciative of everyone — family, friends, and faculty and staff at CC — who helped me get here,” she says. “I know that I couldn’t have made it to this point without all of their guidance and support along the way. It is truly a team effort.”

For the students of Professor Rebecca Tucker’s Museum Studies Practicum, the museum isn’t just a place to dispense information. It’s a vehicle, a laboratory, a playground, a classroom, and a public arena, humming with the possibility of blowing open old practices. This spring, as the students curate an exhibition of 24 prints from John James Audubon’s “Birds in America,” they aim to upend the museum experience, turning it into a site for equal exchange between curators and visitors.

Their exhibit at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College’s Museum, “Reframing Birds of America: Conversations on Audubon,” represents nearly a year’s work. For two semesters, students have honed the themes and ideas of the exhibit. The design considerations — from the lighting and picture frames to the text accompanying the prints — are critical. But nothing is more important than the questions they will invite of viewers.

“So many of our students want to make change,” says Tucker, professor of art and the project lead. “The agenda of the museum and art history these days is to ask hard questions, and the museum is the arena for the questions they want to be asking.”

Staff and Faculty — Get Ready for Bike to Work Day
Presented by the Office of Sustainability Transportation Team, Bike to Work Day aims to celebrate sustainable commutes. Join us on Friday, May 6, 7-9:30 a.m. on Worner Quad for food, music, and prizes. Borrow a bike, tune your own, or plan your route to campus during one of our pre-event clinics: April 27, May 2, and May 4, 4-6 p.m., at the Outdoor Education Center, 931 N. Nevada Ave. Contact sustainability@coloradocollege.edu with questions.

Environmental Action Summit
The Office of Sustainability will be hosting CC’s second Environmental Action Summit on Friday, May 6, 1-3:30 p.m. on Worner Quad. The purpose of this event, with an emphasis on environmental justice, is to engage both community members and students in a meaningful discussion about environmental/climate action and sustainability, as well as provide opportunities for everyone to get further involved. Various organizations — both on-campus and off — will have tables with relevant information and ways to engage. After a word from our featured speaker, Jamison (Jamie) Valdez from Pueblo, Colorado, the floor will open for discussion among students and community members around how we can, as a community, better commit to lasting support and action. Jamie is an activist and community organizer in Southern Colorado. He has previously helped with organizing work in racial and economic justice movements like El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan (MEChA) and the Occupy Wall Street movement. He used to work for the local Sierra Club chapter, but he now works as a climate justice organizer for an organization called Mothers Out Front. This org is powered by parents’, especially mothers’, desire to protect all children from the climate crisis and create a livable climate for future generations.

There will be local food and music to help us celebrate the importance of coming together. Please RSVP .

Joseph Shelton, who works in CC’s Campus Safety office, was selected recently as a 2022 Rising Star by the Colorado Springs Business Journal. Shelton has been on a mission for years to be the voice for LGBTQ+ youth and at the end of February, he spoke out against transphobia and for the LGBTQ+ community at a Colorado Springs School District 11 board meeting.

“Growing up, I never had an opportunity to have my voice be heard,” says Shelton, who is running for the Colorado State Board of Education. “I want to be that for the youths who need their voices heard — that person who’s going to make a stand for the LGBTQ community, put their voice out there and hold elected officials accountable to the words they say.”