Colorado College

Computer Science major Mary-Kate Laibhen ’28 has been accepted into Break Through Tech’s AI Program, a year-long experience that prepares students for careers in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science.

“As technology continues to advance, I think it’s critical that AI systems are designed not only to be effective but also responsible and secure,” Laibhen says. “Being part of that work—developing tools that both innovate and safeguard—really motivates me.”

Read more about her journey and what's next in the comments below.

Help us congratulate Colorado College alum Mary Reinbold ’25! She earned a prestigious Princeton in Asia Fellowship and will spend the next year teaching English in rural Japan before beginning medical school.

Inspired by her own Japanese immersion education growing up in Alaska, Reinbold hopes to foster cultural exchange and excitement for language learning while teaching preschoolers in Yakage, Japan.

“CC prepares students to be highly adaptable,” says Reinbold, “and I found that the Block Plan and the travel grants I received made it possible for me to learn new subjects quickly and build community wherever I go.”

Read more in the comments below.

Photos provided by Reinbold.

Four recent alums from Colorado College have been awarded prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships, one of the nation’s top honors for graduate STEM research. 🔬

These Tigers are tackling complex global challenges that include ecology and economics through groundbreaking research and fieldwork around the world.

Their work reflects the power of mentorship, research opportunities, and the Block Plan at CC. Read more about their journeys and their research goals in the comments.

Colorado College has received a $1.5 million Mellon Foundation Humanities for All Times grant to launch “Generative Futures: Critical Language Inquiry in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” a three-year interdisciplinary initiative exploring the evolving relationship between language, technology, and human understanding.

The initiative will bring together faculty, students, and staff across disciplines to examine how AI shapes communication, creativity, ethics, and knowledge creation through course development grants, workshops, lectures, and collaborative research opportunities.

"Language is an embodied experience that requires nuance and care and cannot be replaced by AI and its promise of efficiency and productivity,” says Ane Steckenbiller, Associate Professor and Chair.

Learn more about the grant in the comments below.

At Chicago’s Newberry Library, Colorado College History majors traded the classroom for the archive, diving into centuries-old letters, maps, photographs, business records, and even a preserved wedding cake as part of their senior thesis research.

Thanks to the Block Plan, students immersed themselves in independent scholarship while working alongside historians and researchers at one of the world’s great archives.

Read more at the link in comments.

Photos by Amy Kohout.

Colorado College joined others across the country for the National Day of Theater Readings for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR).

Through staged readings, performances, film screenings, and community conversations, students, faculty, artists, and community members came together to raise awareness, inspire action, and stand in solidarity with Indigenous communities.

As part of this work, we recognize the importance of CC’s Land Acknowledgement and honoring the Indigenous peoples whose ancestral homelands our campus occupies and who are still here today.

Read more at the link in comments.

Photos by Jamie Cotten/Colorado College.

You did it, Class of 2026! 🥹🎓

Nearly 570 new graduates crossed the stage at Commencement this weekend, celebrating hard work, growth, resilience, and unforgettable memories at Colorado College. Graduates also heard from—and laughed along with—acclaimed voice actor and CC alum Dee Bradley Baker ’86 as they officially joined the CC alumni community.

Read more in the comments below. 💛🖤

Photos by Jamie Cotten/Colorado College and Mark Reis for Colorado College.