A Cerro Coso success story

The success story of Katie Shive, a former resident of Mammoth Lakes and 2012 graduate of Cerro Coso Community College, should serve as an inspiration to local high school and community college graduates.

She is graduating on May 15 from the University of Nevada-Reno, with a degree in Business Administration and an emphasis in marketing. Impressively, she is graduating summa cum laude and is the valedictorian of her class.

Shive grew up in Reno and after graduating from Reno High School, she moved to Redding, Calif. and also lived in Orange County for awhile. She said she wanted to do some traveling before settling down. She “settled” in Mammoth Lakes in 2009.

“I worked for the Mammoth Mountain Inn Mountainside Bar & Grill. After living in town less than a week, I came across a website about the community college in town and I quickly enrolled in a couple of classes. From the spring semester of 2009 to the 2012, I took many courses online and in the classroom at the Eastern Sierra College Center (Cerro Coso Community College).”

The year 2010 was a life-changing one for Shive as she became engaged to her husband, whom she met while snowboarding. They married in June. That fall, she took a marketing job with Mammoth Mountain, which would lead her to pursue a career in marketing.

Asked what she thought of her education through CCCC in Mammoth Lakes, Shive says, “It was awesome! CCCC really prepared me to transfer to university.” She went on to explain that “The instructors were very helpful and I felt I had an advantage. Besides all the help I received from the instructors, they knew my name! At UNR there are as many 200 students in a class. There, you are a ‘number’.”

She described CCCC counselor Greg Kost as “a great guy. He was an alumnus of UNR. Before speaking with him, I had not given much consideration to UNR before.”

Another instructor that Shive credits with her success at CCCC is Matt Hightower.

“I took my very first distance class with him. Business 101. It was an incredible opportunity to learn just about everything about the business world. He really believed in and encouraged me. The class was a defining moment in my life to move beyond an A.A. degree.”

Hightower was equally enthusiastic about Shive, saying “Katie spoke at the Mammoth graduation ceremony in 2012. She was a stellar student. From my perspective, I have never seen a student work harder.” He appreciated Katie thoughtfully reaching out and contacting her former instructors at CCCC to keep them apprised of her progress.

So, where to now? Shive wants to pursue an MBA at some point and is already looking into MBA programs. She plans to take the official graduate entrance exam soon.

During her time at UNR, Shive participated in a joint UNR/UNLV study abroad program at the University of London and she was selected to be part of the Nevada Executive Mentorship Program where she shadowed an executive in Seattle. She was Treasurer of the American Marketing Association, and was the Marketing and Management Co-Chair for Business Peer Mentors at UNR. She was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi.

Angela Evans, a writer with The Sheet, was Katie Shive’s roommate for a time. When told that Katie described herself as “someone who always makes her bed every morning,” Evans laughed and said, “So true!”

Cerro Coso Community College is hosting its Commencement Ceremony this Friday at the ESWCC Bishop Campus beginning at 5:30 p.m.