{"id":128847,"date":"2020-12-14T10:35:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T17:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=128847"},"modified":"2020-12-14T11:16:33","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T18:16:33","slug":"commencement-feature-ramona-ellison-lewis-graduates-with-a-degree-25-years-in-the-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=128847","title":{"rendered":"Commencement Feature: Ramona Ellison-Lewis graduates with a degree 25 years in the making"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
After starting classes in 1995, Ramona Ellison-Lewis will graduate with a degree in criminal justice this December.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ramona Ellison-Lewis\u2019s dad used to joke that when it came to\ncollege, she was on the \u201c10-year program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe thought that<\/em> was funny,\u201d Ellison-Lewis said,\nlaughing. This December, 25 years since she started taking classes at UCCS, she\nwill (finally) get to show her dad her degree. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ellison-Lewis started taking classes at UCCS in 1995,\nthings looked a little different. There were no residence halls on campus. The\nUCCS mascot was a giraffe, not a mountain lion. Ellison-Lewis was taking\ncourses in the Science Building \u2013 now called Centennial Hall \u2013 to earn a degree\nin journalism, which no longer exists. And her first stint in college wasn\u2019t perfect.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI flunked out,\u201d Ellison-Lewis said. \u201cAcademic probation, suspension\n\u2013 all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot has changed since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technically, Ellison-Lewis hasn\u2019t spent all 25 years of her degree journey in school. She got married and raised a family. She has held jobs and internships and gained certifications. In 2009, after transferring credits from Pikes Peak Community College back to UCCS, she began taking classes when her son was in school so she wouldn\u2019t have to hire a babysitter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when she graduates this December, she will have earned a degree in criminal justice with a nearly-perfect 3.9 GPA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ellison-Lewis shows one of her old student ID cards.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, she\u2019s discovered a passion: mediation to\nresolve civil disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all started back in 2009, when Ellison-Lewis needed to take some electives. Thinking she might have an interest in law, she chose an introduction to criminal justice course with instructor Paul Guidry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPaul Guidry was phenomenal,\u201d Ellison-Lewis said. \u201cHe sparked my whole interest in the subject. You know when you have a teacher who really inspires you with their knowledge and passion of a subject? He was that for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That year, Ellison-Lewis and Guidry established the Criminal\nJustice Society, a student organization within the School of Public Affairs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guidry also helped Ellison-Lewis discover her professional path\nin mediation. As part of their volunteer efforts, they worked with the Colorado\nSprings Teen Court, a restorative justice nonprofit that trains teenagers to steer\njuvenile misdemeanor defendants away from self-destructive decisions and towards\nmore productive life choices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellison-Lewis earned a certification to become one of the\nprogram\u2019s trained restorative mediators, acting as a neutral party that helps\ndefendants, parents and victims come up with a plan to repair the harm caused by\nthe defendant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The certification charted her way forward. Now that she has\na bachelor\u2019s degree under her belt, she is qualified to take her next professional\nstep: earning a certification in divorce mediation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a peacekeeper \u2013 I\u2019m good at settling things between\npeople,\u201d she said. \u201cAfter considering so many different careers, it was a\nnatural progression. I just thought it was amazing that you could get your\ndegree in something you were so interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
With a four-year degree under her belt, Ellison-Lewis is qualified to earn a certification in divorce mediation, her next professional step.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ellison-Lewis credits Guidry\u2019s passion for criminal justice\nand strong mentorship for lighting a spark in her and fueling her drive to earn\na degree. But she also drew inspiration from a source closer to home: her son. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted my son to look at me, and say, \u2018My mom did that,\u201d Ellison-Lewis said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou push your kids to go to college, get their degree and get\na job. But if I didn\u2019t have my degree, I wouldn\u2019t be able to say that. I wanted\nto leave a legacy for my kids. I wanted for them to be able to say, \u2018My mom\nwent to college, and I can, too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as she has created success in so many other areas of her life, her legacy is already leaving its mark. Ellison-Lewis\u2019 oldest son, Alexander, will graduate from high school next May and plans to earn a degree in music at CU Denver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And though they could have graduated together, Ellison-Lewis\nis excited to celebrate her own graduation this December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter all the time I spent earning this degree, I need my own time to shine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellison-Lewis will be one of a record-setting 1,100 graduates from the summer and fall semesters at UCCS. She will celebrate her achievement during the 2020 fall commencement ceremony<\/a> on Dec. 18. Congratulations to Ramona and the Class of 2020!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After beginning classes at UCCS in 1995, Ramona Ellison-Lewis will graduate this December with a degree in criminal justice \u2013\u00a0and a path charted for the future. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":128789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,49,47],"tags":[39,42,332,63,60],"class_list":["post-128847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-campus-announcements","category-education-and-public-affairs","tag-college-of-public-service","tag-commencement","tag-more-news","tag-student-life","tag-student-success"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ramona-3.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-xwb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128847"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128912,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128847\/revisions\/128912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/128789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}