The school year has begun and campus is alive again! Thank you to everyone who participated in Orientation this year. It was a wonderful way to welcome our incoming freshmen and transfer students to Fort Lewis College.
At Convocation and the Fall Welcome, I related some of the accomplishments of our current students, alumni, and faculty. It’s gratifying to see all the good things being done by Skyhawks and Raiders across the globe.
Some of our current student highlights include the eleven Theatre students who traveled to Dublin, Ireland to participate in the 4th International Freedom and Focus Fitzmaurice Voicework® Conference co-chaired by our own Dr. Dennis Elkins. Also on the list are the students in Dr. Ryan Smith's Engineering classes who are helping to keep the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad running by recreating broken parts with 3-D printed models.
Among alumni accomplishments are Sean McCabe’s (Accounting, ’97) CPA firm, Anuskewicz & McCabe, P.C., earning the American Indian Business of the Year award. Then there’s Giancarlo Vigil (Economics, ’15), founder of the Mate Exchange, Inc., the winner of the inaugural Fort Lewis College Hawk Tank business plan competition, and recent inductee into the Southwest Colorado Accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs. A special thanks to Dr. Michael Valdez for getting the Hawk Tank up and running.
Representing athletics, I talked about the men's basketball team earning the 2015-16 National Association of Basketball Coaches Team Academic Excellence Award, as well as the Skyhawk Cycling Team being ranked as the #2 cycling team in the nation.
Fort Lewis College is a quality school and the opportunities students find here can help them achieve remarkable things. Thank you to the FLC faculty and staff who work hard to give their students what they need to succeed. I look forward to seeing the list of accomplishments that I can talk about next year!
Sincerely,
Dene Thomas
President, Fort Lewis College