December 20 is an important anniversary for Marissa Molina. On that date in 2001, when she was just nine years old, Molina was brought to Colorado by her parents from her native Mexico.
Almost nineteen years later, Molina, who grew up in Glenwood Springs, is an American success story. In 2014, after being accepted into the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, she graduated summa cum laude from Fort Lewis College in Durango with a political science and economic degree. That same year, she became a corps member for Teach for America, and she made such an impression teaching Spanish for native speakers at DSST Green Valley Ranch High School that she was one of nine DACA educators honored as a so-called "Champion of Change" by President Barack Obama's administration in 2015. And last year, she was appointed to Metro State University of Denver's board of trustees by Governor Jared Polis, becoming the first DACA recipient to serve on a state board.