Born in Pueblo, I am a third-generation Coloradoan, whose grandparents immigrated to Pueblo from Italy in the early 1900’s. My father and grandfather were steelworkers and farmers. I had a working mother and a father that served on the USS Enterprise during WWII, they both taught me independence and self-reliance at a very early age. I was the first in my family to go away to college, through the help of the Presidents Leadership Class scholarship, offered by CU in conjunction with state business and civic leaders.