Kacie is passionate about higher-education being accessible and understandable for anyone from any background.

Kacie Couch ’18 wavered between studying archeology and business. “I enjoyed the courses, but felt the human aspect was missing. Then I happened upon an intro to sociology class with a very inspiring professor, Eileen Connell.”

Kacie’s interests in improving the lives of people through sociology led her to a work-study job in the department’s front office. “I wanted to make higher-education accessible and understandable for anyone from any background,” she says. Kacie is one of Sociology’s many first-generation students, and she wishes she’d known more about campus resources when she arrived at CSU.

Kacie sought out additional student leadership opportunities through sociology’s international honor society Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD), the Liberal Arts Dean’s Leadership Council (LADLC), and Associated Students of Colorado State University (ASCSU). She was instrumental in increasing student and advisor awareness of CSU’s Rams Against Hunger resource.

In recognition of her many contributions and outstanding academic record, Kacie was awarded the 2017 Sociology Alumni Scholarship. That summer she studied Law for Sustainability at Harvard Summer School. This May she graduated from CSU with a concentration in Environmental Sociology and a double-minor in Business Administration and Global Environmental Sustainability. She was accepted to multiple graduate programs and decided to study law at William & Mary.

“Kacie was one of the most driven, intelligent, and insightful undergraduates I’ve taught at CSU. She has a deep well of compassion and wants to build a better world, and I’m so happy that we had the opportunity to train her in our Department of Sociology,” says associate professor Stephanie Malin.

A few weeks ago, after passing the torch of her many duties and making sure her successors would keep their eyes and ears open for first-generation students, Kacie moved on to her next phase. “I want to better understand and influence our system of national environmental justice.”

Kacie is happy to be for a resource for any student (first-generation or otherwise) who is interested in law or graduate school. She can be reached at klcouch@email.wm.edu.

Kacie at William & Mary, home to the nation’s oldest law school building