16
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CSU LIFE
MAY 2022
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FACULTY & STAFF
Profiles in courage: Meet members of the class of ’22 By Jeff Dodge Courage. It’s been on the minds of many this spring as the CSU community has reflected on lessons learned during the pandemic and marveled at what the May 2022 graduating class endured to get to the finish line. It’s a major theme of the Courageous Strategic Transformation plan launched in March, and it’s been a theme that has run through many of the stories of students nominated to be featured in SOURCE as outstanding graduates from CSU’s eight colleges. Below are some of those stories of courage, from students who overcame significant obstacles to reach commencement weekend and earn their degrees from CSU.
Yoselin Estacuy
Yoselin Estacuy
Yoselin Estacuy has shown courage several times in her young life: being a grade-school immigrant and not speaking English; leaving home for college; and surviving the fateful day of May 23, 2020. Stuck inside a crumpled pick-up, Estacuy was trapped with her two younger brothers after an-out-ofcontrol vehicle pinned her mother against the truck in their Denver driveway two years ago. Her mother, Maria Ixcot, suffered two broken femur bones and lost a massive amount of blood. Both her mother’s legs and life were in jeopardy. “My mom was just so tired of being inside so we decided to go to this park that is around the neighborhood. My siblings and I got into her truck. And her truck was parked in the driveway of our garage,” Estacuy recalled. “We were inside the truck and she went back inside to the garage to grab something and as she was walking back, a car was completely out of control and … got off the road, went over the sidewalk, into our driveway and pinned her against our truck.” Estacuy had the courage to crawl through the window of the pickup, help brothers Eddie Jr. and Jerhemy, then 10 and 8, out of the vehicle, try to calm her still-conscious mother and talk to the police. “They said that [the driver] completely lost control of the vehicle, and they were arrested that day. It was a whole crime scene,” Estacuy said. “We couldn’t step into our garage the whole day. The cops, the investigators were there all day. “I had to translate (English to Spanish) for my mother. I was a witness. I had to call the doctors, and take care of my brothers. It was just an unbelievable mess.” Estacuy courageously cared for her family without being able to hug her mother due to COVID-19 protocols, even after her mother underwent 10 surgeries. She skipped the next semester of school at Colorado State
Kori Eliaz
Shiloh Dailey
University to provide what her family needed. Finishing her Human Development and Family Studies degree at CSU, let alone being named a Spring 2022 Outstanding Graduate of the College of Health and Human Sciences, seemed far away. But not impossible. Eustacuy, who has a minor in business administration, returned to CSU in spring 2021. Her mother, who can fully walk now after months of physical therapy, and her father will attend her May 15 commencement ceremony.
Kori Eliaz
Kori Eliaz, who is graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, demonstrated courage in sacrificing for a loved one. She started attending community college to study engineering, in hopes of becoming an astronaut one day. Eliaz even participated in a robotics competition at a NASA center. But then, her ex-partner’s father suffered a stroke, and he had no health insurance or anyone to take care of him. She chose homelessness to be there for him. “I made a big trade, the biggest decision of my life so far,” she recalled in a speech to graduates of the Fostering Success Program. “I dropped everything and ran. I was living out of my car or couch surfing, subsisting on protein bars, driving 150 miles a day round trip to give care to him.” Eliaz learned the entire probate law process and Medicare process to establish his health care and get him into the only skilled nursing facility in the area that would accept him. “I remember every day waking up and not knowing what the next step would be, not knowing where the next meal would come from, or how I’d ever be able to pursue a college education and become comfortably self-sufficient,” she said. “Most days the dreams were better than the reality. But through it all I had the sobering realization that my life is sharp and
Kaydee Barker
ragged and aggressively shaping me into a more refined version of myself, like a diamond. I realized, if I can get through this, I can get through anything. I’m going to help this person as much as I humanly can, and then I’m going to help myself.” When Eliaz wasn’t helping with financial paperwork or providing therapy, she was leading a team of 10 undergraduate students in researching and writing a technical proposal for a mission to Mars. It was lauded by NASA leadership for its novel use of ground penetrating radar to characterize Martian water resources. That led to an internship opportunity at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, which led her to CSU, as she was researching highly rated engineering programs in the state. Eliaz, who was awarded the nationally competitive Astronaut Scholarship last spring, has been working at Lockheed Martin Space for the last three years, designing deep space exploratory spacecraft, and she was offered a full-time job there an entire year before graduation. She has been involved in undergraduate research throughout her academic career, working with CSU engineering faculty to submit research proposals to investigate the effects of harmful lunar dust particles in preparation for the Artemis mission to the moon. In 2019, she led an undergraduate effort in the development of a lunar dust mitigation device concept to protect lunar astronauts that resulted in a $10,000 NASA research grant. Eliaz has been working on the Dragonfly mission at Lockheed Martin Space for the duration of her senior year, using skills obtained through her undergraduate research under Dr. James Cale to help design a rigorous system model for the spacecraft. Her dream is to continue to pursue new information on potential habitats for humanity in our universe and to inspire as many others as possible to know that no matter their background, their past failures, or the challenges they face – the sky is not the limit.
Annie Chambless
Shiloh Dailey
While many would say that Shiloh Dailey’s many contributions to the LGBTQIA+ community at CSU have been courageous, Dailey describes them as “necessary.” “As a queer student, I recognize that I hold privileges that other members of my community do not,” said Dailey, who is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in social work. “I am a white, middle-class individual that enjoys social support within the School of Social Work and in my personal life. I can safely be ‘out’ without fear that my family will disown me or that I will face academic or professional retaliation interrupting my financial support.” Danielle Willis, an instructor in the School of Social work, described Dailey as “a huge advocate and change agent” who helped the school adopt its Pronoun and Accountability Statement and advocated for mental health awareness, among other contributions. Dailey said the advocacy work was about empowering a community that deserves more. “I wanted to see people like me in leadership positions creating change,” Dailey said. “Fostering equity for LGBTQIA+ students who have been systemically erased, silenced, and ignored. I also wanted students like me to see that we belong in leadership positions, guiding change and being heard. Finally, as the parent of two queer identified children, I wanted them to see that we can build coalitions that dismantle oppression.” Dailey and two fellow BSW students founded the Queer in Action support group in part because of findings in the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, which was the largest study of its kind, with more than 27,000 transgender people responding. The survey found that 40% of respondents had attempted suicide at some point in their life, compared to 4.6% in the U.S. population. Dailey said Queer in Action was founded because
