This Mother’s Day weekend will be extra special for Ana Gallardo.
The young mother will receive her associate’s degree in general studies from Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs on Saturday after enrolling in courses off and on throughout the past decade.
Gallardo was also accepted into Colorado Mountain College’s nursing program after three application attempts.
The first-generation Mexican American student’s rate of progress may seem unremarkable, but Gallardo chose to focus on raising her daughter first before anything else a decision she made when she was only 18-years-old.
“I was pregnant in high school and I was a teen mom,” Gallardo said. “And when I had her in 2011, that’s when I decided to sign up for Colorado Mountain College.”