Caitlyn Florentine '07

A CC Geology major, Caitlyn went on to earn an M.S. in Earth Sciences from Montana State and a Ph.D. in Geosciences from the University of Montana. Since 2019, she has been a Research Physical Scientist with the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). She has been intellectually adventurous, acquiring broad scientific expertise in glacier physics, avalanche science, geology, geomorphology, ecology, hydrology, and quantitative glaciology. Her studies of glaciers have included numerous physical and social adventures, including hauling heavy packs of equipment through desolate stretches of wilderness, being the sole woman on a team of scientists that dropped out of helicopters to ski around a mountain, and camping for weeks on the Greenland ice sheet. Caitlyn’s sense of adventure also involves encouraging and enabling others to join her, in both formal group settings such as teaching snowboarding, or in individual cases such as helping a friend overcome their fear of mountain biking. Caitlyn is known for her relentless optimism, willingness to take emotional as well as physical risks, and her thoughtful advocacy for women and other underrepresented individuals in her field. We honor Caitlyn for her intellectual prowess, curiosity, enthusiasm, and openness to wonder that exemplify the unique CC experience.

Mike Shum '07

Mike Shum is an independent filmmaker who specializes in cinematography and journalism. As an Asian-American born to immigrant parents from Hong Kong, he aims to incorporate empathy and curiosity in his work and challenge normative perspectives in the media landscape today. He began his career covering stories ranging from the fall of Tripoli in Libya to the M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His 2014 collaboration with The New York Times on an ISIS massacre in Iraq garnered him his first News & Documentary Emmy nomination for Outstanding Interview. He went on to film projects that received the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award, the 2020 Worth-Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism, and was recently awarded the National Association of Black Journalists’ Salute to Excellence Award for his featurelength directorial debut, “Police on Trial.”

Shum credits the Block Plan for opening the door to applying his academic life to field work. At Colorado College, he studied abroad in Italy, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and conducted independent studies in Chicago, IL, and Nigeria. 

Shum eventually returned to Colorado Springs in 2023 to serve as a visiting instructor for the Sociology Department, teaching a class titled, “Sociological Thinking through Documentary Film.” 

In 2024, he was awarded the Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard University.

William Jankowski '67 

At CC, Bill majored in zoology, played football and baseball, and was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. After CC, he completed two years of graduate school at the University of Wyoming in wildlife biology. With the draft looming, he chose to join the U.S. Air Force, completing Officer Training School and pilot training. In 1972, he went to Vietnam, flying the O-2A Skymaster as a Forward Air Controller. During one mission, his aircraft was hit by an SA-7 missile forcing him to parachute into a hostile combat zone. The next day, his first rescue helicopter was also shot down, but he survived and was rescued by another helicopter. Bill was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star with ‘V’ device, and several other medals. He earned an M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California in 1975. Bill also served with the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve completing almost 35 years of military service. In 2003, he was called to active duty for Operation Enduring Freedom as a B-52 pilot. In 2006, he started flying as a wildfire observer for the U.S. Forest Service throughout the U.S. We honor Bill for his adventurous service to his country as both a military and civilian aviator.

Ted Coons '51

Ted started college at the University of Oklahoma majoring in music, then transferred to CC after attending a summer session in 1948. At CC he worked with music professor David Kraehenbuehl, studying the effects of music on listener’s feelings. The two eventually co-authored pioneering articles on the subject. After CC, Ted served in the Air Force, then followed Kraehenbuehl to Yale, enrolling as a graduate student and switching his focus to psychology.

After earning a Ph.D. in neuroscience, Ted began a long and highly productive tenure at New York University, where he has taken his initial interest in the effects of musical form on listeners’ feelings “down to the neural level where cells are presented with electrical impulses in various patterns to study the effects these engender in the sense of reward, hunger, anxiety, and pain…” Ted’s 2019 gift to CC established the Edgar E. Coons Jr. '51 Director of Academic Engagement in the Arts Fund. The fund supports events at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, fellowships, workshops for faculty, activities of the UnBlocked Gallery, student exhibitions, music and dance performances, public art projects, and conferences.

Sheldon Kerr '07 

Sheldon majored in feminist and gender studies at CC, and since graduation has made outstanding achievements as a mountain guide. In 2020, she became the 13th American woman to earn an American Mountain Guide certification — the highest level of credential attainable by a professional mountain guide, recognized in more than 20 International Federation of Mountain Guides Association (IFMGA) member countries. For perspective, as of June 2022, there were 4,000 guides working in the U.S., and only 175 guides had attained this elite credential. Throughout her career, Sheldon has been a tireless advocate for gender equity in the career of mountain guiding. She and her company Moxie Mountain Guides focus on programs that target justice, inclusion, and funding for the underrepresented in the outdoors such as deaf, fat, indigenous, and neurologically atypical peoples. Her accomplishments and leadership have been lauded by many respected outdoor organizations and magazines.

Jake Norton '96

Jake is a world-famous climber, mountaineering guide, photographer, photojournalist, filmmaker, philanthropist, environmentalist, and motivational speaker. At CC, he designed his major in South Asian history and philosophy and graduated with honors.

Norton began climbing at age 12 and has climbed the world’s most challenging mountains, including Everest, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, and Rainier. He was on the expedition that discovered George Mallory’s remains on Everest in 1999. In 2014, he was appointed ambassador to the U.N. Mountain Partnership, where he works to ensure mountains, mountain people, cultures, and ecosystems are recognized in international development goals.

In 2011, he started Challenge 21 in partnership with Water for People to raise funds to combat developmental crises in water and sanitation. His 2013 film “The Water Tower” focuses on Mount Kenya and climate change; “Holy (un)Holy River” (2016) documents the criticality of the Ganges watershed. He has been involved in fundraising, reconstruction, and rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of Nepal’s earthquake since 2015, and he works with dZi Foundation and Nepal Rising to help with Nepal’s COVID-19 wave. His inspirational talks have stimulated interest in mountain issues around the world. Norton has owned MountainWorld Productions since 1999.

Winnie Barron '79

In 1998, Winnie Barron ’79 co-founded Makindu Children’s Program in Kenya, makindu.org, an international nonprofit supporting Makindu Children’s Centre that provides comprehensive services for orphans, vulnerable children, and adults. She served as Makindu’s program director in its early years and currently is the program’s board chair, adviser, and consultant. During the past 20 years, the center has helped more than 14,000 vulnerable children and their families. Barron’s career as a physician’s assistant also has been prolific and impactful. After training at Duke University Medical School, she worked for more than two decades in family medicine before specializing in emergency medicine and urgent care for the past 13 years. She maintains her paramedic certification as a volunteer paramedic/firefighter, EMT captain, and search and rescue squad member with the Brownsville, Oregon, Fire Department.

In 2017, she was awarded the Humanitarian Award from the World of Children; in 2001, she was named Humanitarian Physician’s Assistant of the Year by Paragon International.

Lee Sessions '86

Lee has worked in various roles and locations for Intel Corporation since 1996, including positions in human resources, marketing, communications, and business development. Currently, he is managing director of Intel Capital’s Global Corporate Venture Capital Ecosystem. Over the past decade, he led a global team responsible for accelerating business results for 400 start-up technology companies. During that time more than 200 companies have gone public or been acquired, generating strategic and financial returns for Intel. Previously, he worked for Pepsi Cola, a position he secured through a CC job fair his senior year. He serves on the advisory board of the Global Corporate Venturing Leadership Society.

His work has led him to locations throughout the world, and Sessions has been an avid explorer and adventurer personally. His summers during college as a program director and canoe trip guide in Minnesota and Ontario blossomed into a lifelong passion for paddling, research, and discovery. Since 1980, he has spent part of every summer exploring canoe routes, including the length of the Mississippi River and 25 expeditions in the Canadian Arctic. He spends free time researching trips and sharing his experiences through presentations across the U.S. and Canada.

He earned a bachelor of arts degree from CC in 1986.

Ian Miller '99

Ian is curator of paleobotany and chair of the Earth and Space Sciences Department at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS). His research and fieldwork take him to some of the most remote areas in the United States and across the world, including Madagascar. In 2011, he led the Snowmastodon Project — an internationally renowned paleontological discovery covered by the PBS NOVA special “Ice Age Deathtrap.” His studies of the evolutionary history of plants and past ecosystems are part of a body of research that influences climate change science and our understanding of mass extinction events. Miller has received the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Geosciences in the Media Award (2015), the Journalism Award from the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (2012), the Stephen H. Hard Award for Historic Preservation in the State of Colorado (2012), and the Philip C. Orville Prize for outstanding scholarship in Earth Sciences, Yale University (2006).

Trinity Ludwig Wells '06

Trinity began her career in 2006 at George K. Baum & Company. She is a strategic consultant and an investment banker, specializing in venture capital, mergers, and acquisitions for emerging technology companies. In 2011, she spent 11 months in South America to collect biodiversity data. Next, she led scientists on an expedition to collect data about biodiversity in Argentina. Previously, she served on the boards of cityWILD and Pacific Biodiversity Institute.

Jane McAtee Sanborn '70

An adventurer’s spirit has guided Jane at Sanborn Western Camps/Colorado Outdoor Education Center, a nonprofit that teaches teamwork, perseverance, responsibility, independence, and critical thinking. As executive director, Jane leads Sanborn Western Camps, which involves 700 young people in outdoor programs each summer. She oversees the High Trails Outdoor Education Center, providing residential outdoor education programs for sixth graders. Through the Nature Conference Center, Colorado Outdoor Education offers programs for adults and families, and provides team and leadership development programs for MBA students, educators, and corporate groups. Jane served two terms as president of the American Camp Association (ACA)-Rocky Mountain Region. She is the chair of the ACA National Conference and chair of the ACA National Children, Nature, and Camps Committee. She received the Rocky Mountain ACA’s Distinguished Service Award, and the ACA’s National Service and National Honor awards. The Boettcher Scholar served on the Colorado Governor’s Advisory Committee for Child Care Licensing and was the director of the High Trails Ranch for Girls Summer Camp for 30 years.