Then: FRCC A.A. GRADUATE
NOW: SOON-TO-BE LAW STUDENT
At 19, Sasha’s life changed forever. After one semester at Emory
& Henry College in Virginia, where she had received a scholarship,
she felt overwhelmed and dropped out. Returning to the
Chippewa tribal reservation in Red Lake, Minn., where she spent
part of her childhood, she became pregnant. Scared initially,
Sasha decided that this was fate guiding her. She had her son in
2012, moved to Colorado (where her mother had recently moved),
and enrolled at FRCC in 2013, determined to build a better life for
herself and her son.
Living in North Boulder, Sasha had her eye on the University
of Colorado (CU) but felt that FRCC was the best fit for her new
life as a single, 20-year-old mother, and an affordable way to
complete her general education course work. She joined several
organizations, including the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, which
led her to meet a state representative at a fundraiser. That
conversation sparked an interest in law, and in January 2015, she
landed an internship at Smith, Shellenberger & Salazar, a northern
Colorado firm with a practice area in federal Indian law. She also
worked at the state Capitol as a legislative intern.
In fall 2015, Sasha transferred to CU, earning a B.A. in political
science and a minor in philosophy in December 2017. She is
considering where to attend law school in fall 2018: CU or
Arizona State University. Sasha’s son is now in kindergarten.
When she graduates, Sasha hopes to return to the firm where
she interned for two years, a staff she considers like family.
She plans to practice Native American law.
"I love Front Range with all of my heart. I feel like the people there
lifted me up and believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. It was
honestly the perfect place for me to be at that time in my life. Today,
as I’m getting ready to start law school, I feel that a lot of my success
comes down to me having the drive to be disciplined, and FRCC is
where I fueled that drive."