FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- 5/5/00 | Contact: Diana Smith, 719-389-6138  

Each of these students has combined academic success with extensive extracurricular involvement - they are some of the "best and brightest" of the Class of 2000.

Biology major Gretchen Grindle from Portland, Ore., first earned All-America honors as a sophomore in 1997, and repeated the feat as a senior when she finished 27th at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships in the fall. It was a school record fifth trip to nationals for the former West Region champion, and her time of 17:34 was the school's fastest ever in a women's 5K. Grindle, who wound up 22nd at the NCAA meet two years ago, continued her early-season mastery in February by finishing first in the open division of two events at the Air Force Academy's Cadet Fieldhouse. Kappa Alpha Theta member and class treasurer, she was awarded a CC Venture Grant last semester, which allowed her to travel to the British West Indies to complete an independent study in entomology. She created an exotic insect collection and presented it to a grade school on Grand Turk Island.

German studies major Robert Durff of La Canada-Flintridge, Calif., will spend next year in Vienna as a Fulbright Fellow. He'll take classes toward a master of arts at the University of Vienna, and teach English part-time in an Austrian high school. Then, he'll sneak out to the theatre for his independent research on the Austrian Cabaret, which will build on his senior thesis. Recently inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, America's oldest honor society, Durff also has a year at the University of Regensburg in southern Germany under his belt. After his Fulbright grant, he plans to return to the U.S. to work on a graduate degree in German and teach at the university level.

Elliott Broadnax from Colorado Springs, all-time leading rebounder on CC's men's basketball team, ranked sixth in Division III scoring his senior year and became the 13th player at the college to score 1,000 career points last January. After graduation, Broadnax is headed to Denmark, where he'll be a player-coach for Lemvig, a second-division club team. He will also help coach the club's junior and women's teams. The six foot, five inch forward went to Greece for two weeks last summer as part of an all-star team of Division II and III players. Involved in the Doherty Enrichment Program, which works with minority high school students at Doherty High School, he and other CC volunteers helped students plan an annual diversity conference. Broadnax, whose academic prowess at Harrison High School earned him the highly competitive Johnson Scholarship to CC, is a math major specializing in computer science.

A Boettcher Scholar from Greeley, Colo., Jennifer Gettman has been heavily involved in the Colorado College community since her first year. She not only served as the freshman class president and Mathias dorm representative, but she also started her four-year commitment to community service at CC. On the Dean's List, Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, Blue Key Honor Society, Gettman received the William Arthur Memorial Award for her work as a psychology major. A student representative on the CC Athletic Board, she plays women's club hockey, writes for the student newspaper, is the secretary of Kappa Alpha Theta's chapter, and worked for the student alumni association and the athletic department's intramural program. Gettman has accepted a job with Anderson Consulting in Denver.

Another outstanding senior is Yvette Martin of Littleton, Colo., who deferred medical school to work as a graduate fellow for the Boettcher Foundation next year. Also a Boettcher Scholar, Martin is the first CC student selected. Other remarkable graduates include founder of CC's Women in Science Alliance and physics major Maria Grundmann from Colorado Springs and Matt Lausten of Littleton, Colo. Graduating with a double major in economics and history, Lausten was the Interfraternity Council president, a member of the honor council, and a varsity football player.

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