Class of 2020: Amelia Cavazos

I can still clearly remember the first day of PEAC four years ago. I was incredibly nervous and sad for my family to drop me off and missed my high school friends. I actually ended up crying, my mom trying to comfort me, for an excessive amount of time in the bathroom of Buckingham Hall, begging my family not to leave me. I needed a friend more than anything in those moments and sure enough, I got one. Once other PEAC students started arriving to move in, my mom pointed to a girl who she thought looked friendly and said, “Go Madi, this is your chance! Just go say hi and introduce yourself.” So, feeling rather panicked, I sprinted to the doors that the girl was headed towards. I don’t even remember what I said, and I definitely looked a bit crazed, but the girl welcomed me with a huge smile and big blue eyes, introducing herself as Amelia Cavazos.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting Amelia in the MASP office or around campus, you know how incredibly kind and outgoing she is. She has this ability to make you feel like you are old friends, even if you don’t know her well. I really lucked out that first day of PEAC, because ever since, she has been one of my best friends throughout my four years at CU Boulder. Amelia has been by my side through my struggles and the good times, always adding a brightness and sense of optimism to my life that is truly rare. From enduring the pains of Gen Chem to our Thai food lunch dates to sharing a tiny box with far too many centipedes for a semester, I can confidently say that my life and college career wouldn’t be as a great without Amelia in it. She has taught me so much about the person that I want to be in life and I have an immense amount of respect for her as a friend and as a person; I am incredibly proud of her and all she has accomplished throughout her time at CU. She has been able to juggle not only working an almost full-time job with school, but has made time to volunteer with elementary school children in addition to that. All of her hard work has paid off as she has now been accepted to her first-choice graduate school program at New York medical college to study public health. Her ability to empathize with people and make them feel seen and heard is going to carry her far and the field of public health is lucky to be gaining someone as passionate and hard-working as her. I can’t adequately condense all of the memories we have together into one speech, but I am going to carry them with me forever. I know that Amelia and I are always going to be friends and our journeys as college graduates has just begun. I am so excited to see where it takes us! I hope you end up in NY next year with me buddy—I’m sure they have lots of Thai places there hehe. Congrats friend, you made it!

Much love,
Madi