Six Front Range Community College students are members of the All-Colorado Academic Team. They received medallions and other awards at a State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education meeting.
The team recognizes high-achieving students who demonstrate academic excellence and intellectual rigor, combined with leadership and service that extends their education beyond the classroom to benefit society.
Those named to the team are selected from a field of more than 1,700 Phi Theta Kappa students from more than a thousand colleges. Phi Theta Kappa is the international honor society for community colleges.
Audy Leggere-Hickey
Audy Leggere-Hickey
Boulder County Campus
Leggere-Hickey earned an Associate of Arts degree with political science designation magna cum laude in December and transferred to the University of Colorado-Boulder. She continues taking classes at FRCC as she completes some leadership commitments. She is president of Student Corp (business club) and vice president of Phi Theta Kappa. She is the Colorado Community College System’s student representative to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education’s Advisory Committee. She also is the State Student Advisory Committee’s legislative liaison to the Colorado Legislature. Leggere-Hickey was a Colorado delegate to College Debate 2016. Delegates from each state worked under the umbrella of the Commission on Presidential Debates to focus on issues important to students.
Ami Levine
Ami Levine
Boulder County Campus
Levine is a career-changer. She earned a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu in Scottsdale, Ariz., and spent two years as a sous pastry chef and line cook at the Hotel Boulderado. She also owned a stained-glass studio, earning installations as large as 12 feet square. She will graduate with an Associate of Arts degree and plans to transfer to the University of Colorado-Boulder to study psychology. She is a member of the International Affairs Club and the National Society of Leadership and Success and former member of the History Club. She continues to use her culinary skills as a volunteer with Meals on Wheels.
Patrick Dippel
Patrick Dippel
Larimer Campus
Dippel graduated in December 2016 with an Associate of Applied Science in Nursing. He works in the cardiac progressive care unit at North Colorado Medical Center, Greeley. He is in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the University of Northern Colorado. Dippel became interested in a health-care career as a student in FRCC’s high school Career Pathways Medical Careers Exploration Program. He also earned an EMT certificate before entering the nursing program. Dippel was president of the Student Nurses Association and a Rising Star Award Winner. An Eagle Scout and member of Phi Theta Kappa, Dippel used his health-care skills as a volunteer at a health fair and at a blood drive.
Amye Pedrino
Amye Pedrino
Larimer Campus
Pedrino will graduate with an Associate of Arts degree and plans to study physics at the University of Colorado-Boulder or Colorado State University. As an AmeriCorps volunteer, she spent a year in California for work in a variety of settings, and a year in Iowa working with the American Red Cross. Pedrino was vice president of the National Society of Leadership and Success last semester, president of the Science Club for a year, and is a member of Phi Theta Kappa. She has been a care provider for four years, currently employed with Foothills Gateway, a Fort Collins agency that empowers people with cognitive disabilities.
Richardson Anyangu
Richardson Anyangu
Westminster Campus
Anyangu came to the United States from Kenya five years ago. He is studying computer information systems and planning to take advantage of the “3+1” transfer agreement with Regis University. Anyangu and his siblings were orphaned when he was 7 years old, their mother dying of illness and their father in a work accident. While in Kenya, he was a teacher and musician at his church. He and his wife, Amy, are becoming study group leaders for their church in Colorado. Anyangu’s siblings remain in Kenya. He is the first in his family to finish high school and will be the first to graduate college.
Gretchen Luegers
Gretchen Luegers
Westminster Campus
Luegers is taking science prerequisites in anticipation of applying to veterinary schools. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, Luegers is returning to her first love – when she was 4, she wanted to be a veterinarian. A Certified Veterinary Technician (CVT), Luegers works full time at Broadway Animal Hospital in Boulder as the head CVT. She also volunteers with Animal Assisted Therapy Programs of Colorado in Lakewood, which provides professional animal-assisted psychotherapy to clients. She is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success.
About Front Range Community College
FRCC offers nearly 100 degree and certificate programs from locations in Boulder County, Larimer County, Westminster, and Brighton, and online. FRCC is a member of the Colorado Community College System.
About the Colorado Community College System
The Colorado Community College System (CCCS) is the state’s largest system of higher education, serving more than 144,000 students annually at 13 colleges and 39 locations across Colorado. Our open access mission ensures all Coloradans who aspire to enrich their lives have access to quality higher education opportunities. CCCS students save time and money with affordable tuition and fees, concurrent enrollment, and guaranteed transfer to any public university in Colorado. Online courses are available via Colorado Community Colleges Online. CCCS also oversees career and technical programs in our 13 colleges, more than 160 school districts, and six other post-secondary institutions. By partnering with business and industry, CCCS helps employers meet workforce needs and prepares students for direct entry to their chosen career pathway. The vast majority of our students are Colorado residents and, after graduation, 97 percent of our students stay in state, becoming the workforce that powers the Colorado economy and the heart of our neighborhoods, businesses, and communities.
