CCU Alumni are Changing the World

For nearly a century, graduates of Colorado Christian University have left their footprints on our nation and world. In business, medicine, music, missions, ministry, education, and other academic disciplines, our alumni are continually writing stories of success and are dynamic catalysts for change in this challenging and demanding society. Our alumni have left CCU with strong moral character and conviction, confidence and competence in their chosen fields of study, and the ability to serve God with integrity and humility.

See for yourself how CCU graduates are impacting their professions and changing our world. Visit any of our academic program pages to read about our alumni in action - and to learn more about the programs that CCU offers.

Jenn Hilzer Discovering the Disney Way - When Jiminy Cricket first crooned his famous “when you wish upon a star” line in the 1940s classic Pinocchio, perhaps Disney himself paused to contemplate his own dreams. In any case, the song became an unofficial anthem of children worldwide who grew up wishing on their lucky stars to experience more of Disney’s timeless family films and, not long after, one-of-a-kind theme parks. Much to her delight, in 2001 CCU’s Jennifer Hilzer received a letter inviting her to Florida to experience it all behind the scenes—as part of a highly competitive internship ...   more
Becky Palisuri Giving Up - On her first day in kindergarten, Becky Moreland Palisuri knew she wanted to be a teacher. She was the kind of kid who’d go home after school and play pretend-school until suppertime, and teaching was an obsession that stuck with her unwaveringly all the way through CCU’s program in elementary education. In her perfect future she envisioned a class of manicured, smiling children, in a school tucked neatly near her family in Colorado. Of all places to end up, who would have expected the rim of the Indian Ocean among the world’s largest Muslim population? ...  more
Levi Pike Risk, Recession, and Unexpected Reward - In the heart of Littleton, Colo., sits a restored turn-of-the-century home, and in it a charming café. Among exposed brick and the warmth of lowered lights simmering on hardwood, diners at Café Terracotta bask in ambience while indulging in a breakfast-lunch menu that’s peppered with Southwestern flair. Come evening the open kitchen offers eclectic upscale dishes described on THE RESTAURANT SHOW as “far beyond what one normally finds in the burbs" ...  more
Ben Siebert Through Hurricanes, for Health Care - When a pre-med student enrolls at a small, Christian college, some people might question the decision. So imagine their expressions when later on he’s hired for general surgery at one of America’s most prestigious hospitals. The story is Dr. Benjamin Siebert’s, whose journey, far from ordinary, was surprisingly apt ...  more
Greg Stier Raised in a Hell on Earth - What if you never knew your father and your hard-partying mom almost aborted you along a road of one-night stands? What if Denver’s crime rate peaked in your neighborhood, where walking home from school was like dodging trouble in an espionage film? Dead center in the chaos stood your two uncles, fists swinging, constantly in and out of jail, who even the local mafia sidestepped. Greg Stier didn’t have to imagine ...  more
Aaron Walker Michael Jackson, Django, and Freelancing - His primary instrument is guitar. His specialty, the renowned gypsy jazz of the two-fingered Django Reinhardt. His compositions are poly-stylistic, infusing Impressionist and Modern with mostly folk and popular music. His muse: Michael Jackson. That’s right, the King of Pop. In the mid-’80s, a jazz career was the last thing anyone would have pegged for Aaron Walker as the seven-year-old swept dramatically across the living room, gyrating and hee-heeing in step with the immortal Thriller album. But these days he plays three to four gigs a week around Denver ...  more