Dreams and Degrees

By Michael Uselding

Students’ shared their hopes and degree pursuits during welcome events at the College.

Many came together during the CSN Connections events held on Henderson, Cheyenne and Charleston campuses in September. Faculty and staff welcomed students and provided valuable information.

Tables and tents were set up with details about student services, academic departments, sports programs and tutorial services. Students stopped by in between classes to grab a burger and get connected.

Although it is his first semester Christian Valdez is already pursuing his goal to one day open his own bakery. To make this a reality, he is majoring in pastry arts in the culinary program. Valdez’s inspiration came from his mother who inspired him to go down this path. “My mom bakes a lot … I kind of got into it through my mother,” Valdez said.

Valdez is gaining valuable experience in the workplace at Carlo’s Bakery located inside The Palazzo hotel where he assists with pastries.

CSN offers 160 degrees and certificates that cover more than 100 areas of study. Some of the programs offer online options including accounting, dental hygiene and criminal justice, according to the website.

Vivian Neveaux-Perkins, a student at CSN, is currently pursuing a degree in general studies. She has not declared a major yet. She likes the challenge of school and chooses difficult professors. “I just like picking hard professors because those are the best ones,” she said. Neveaux-Perkins also added that the work put in may be hard, but it is rewarding. “I want to be challenged as much as I can so when I go to a university, I’m prepared.”

Another student Yelitza Covarrubias is seeking a degree in elementary education. Her desire to become a teacher started at an early age. “Since I was little, I liked to play teacher,” Covarrubias said. In high school, she worked at a preschool. Later she did an internship at the Early Childhood Education Lab located on Cheyenne campus. After she accomplishes her degree, she hopes to teach pre-school, first grade or second grade.

Taylor Crook, new to CSN, is striving for a degree in nursing. “Right now I just want to go for RN and then eventually I want to work my way up to nurse practitioner,” Crook said. “I like taking care of people. That sounds kind of weird, but I think that it’s something that I’m really good at, so it’s something that I want to pursue in my career. I think it would make me happy.”

So far, Crook is enjoying CSN. “It’s a lot more comfortable than some places I’ve been and I feel like it’s very friendly.”