The nation’s largest science journalism conference, originally scheduled to take place Oct. 9–13, 2020 at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and CU Boulder, has been postponed until the fall of 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This year hit us with a whopper of a surprise, but SARS-CoV-2 watch out: the CU Anschutz Class of 2020, brimming with brilliant minds, relentless determination and acute resilience, is coming for you.

Twenty-twenty will be remembered for many years to come as a unique time. We know it’s been challenging, but you have much to be proud of, and CU College of Nursing wants to celebrate with you. 

Seventeen years ago, Eaba Dechasa arrived in America from Ethiopia with his family. His father was a geologist. His mother a teacher. The Dechasas came to America through the Diversity Immigrant Visa program (also known as the visa lottery), which provides up to 50,000 immigrant visas each year. Drawn from random selection among all entries, the visas are awarded to individuals who are from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Distributed among six geographic regions, no single country can receive more than 7% of the available DVs in any one year.

Born into a service-oriented family with strong roots in pediatric cardiology, China Opland knew from a young age that her path would focus on giving. Her maternal grandmother Francine Leca, the first female cardiac surgeon in France, founded Mécénat Chirurgerie Cardiaque in 1996 –  an organization well known throughout the world for providing free heart surgery to children in need.

Sara Schwartz had a bumpy start to her nursing degree. Notified 14 days prior to the start of orientation that she was accepted into CU Nursing, she drove to Colorado from California. “I was homeless for a week and planned to live in my car,” she said. Fortunately, she met a girl during orientation whose family allowed her to live in their basement.