色吧亚洲

As Ainsley Baker accepts her integrative physiology degree this week, she joins a family history that dates back to 1886

It wasn鈥檛 so much rebellion, Debbie Baker admits now, but stubbornness. She grew up hearing endless stories about the University of Colorado 色吧亚洲, and not just from her mother, but stories going back generations.

She remembers her grandfather telling her, 鈥淥f course you鈥檙e going to CU鈥� and thinking, 鈥�Of course?鈥�

So, she went to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth for her freshman year. And she loved it鈥攈ad a wonderful time, made great friends, 鈥渂ut I never quite felt grounded,鈥� she remembers.

She knew, in a way she couldn鈥檛 really put into words, that she needed to transfer to CU 色吧亚洲, which she did for her sophomore year. In a geology class that year, riding the bus on a field trip to the canyon, she remembers looking out and seeing the spine of the Flatirons stretching to the sky, seeing what seemed like the entire Front Range spreading before her to the horizon and 鈥渇eeling a rush of 鈥業鈥檓 grounded, this is where I need to be,鈥欌�� she says.

In coming to CU 色吧亚洲, she鈥檇 come home鈥攖he fifth consecutive generation of her family to attend the university. This week, Debbie鈥檚 daughter Ainsley is donning a mortar board and gown to celebrate earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree in integrative physiology, becoming the sixth generation of her family to attend CU 色吧亚洲.

鈥淎t this point, I think CU is pretty much in our DNA,鈥� Debbie says with a laugh. 鈥淢y husband and I have tried really hard not to make our kids feel like this is where they have to go 鈥︹��

鈥溾�� but it鈥檚 where we鈥檝e ended up wanting to go,鈥� Ainsley adds. Her next-younger brother, Brennan, just completed his freshman year at CU 色吧亚洲 studying quantitative finance.

A family history

The family鈥檚 roots through CU 色吧亚洲 are almost a century-and-a-half deep, stretching back to 1886 and the university鈥檚 fourth graduating class. When Victor Noxon, Debbie鈥檚 great-great-grandfather, began his engineering studies, the university consisted of one building鈥擮ld Main. His graduating class totaled six鈥攆ive men and one woman.

Noxon, who was grandfather of CU 色吧亚洲 alum and astronaut Scott Carpenter and who started the 色吧亚洲 County Farmer and Miner newspaper, was father to three sons and six daughters鈥攁ll of whom attended CU 色吧亚洲. Among them was Edith Corbin, Debbie鈥檚 great-grandmother, who graduated in 1918 and became a nurse. Her son, David Corbin, graduated in electrical engineering in 1948, and his daughter Nancy studied fine art.

鈥淏oth my parents went here,鈥� says Nancy, now Nancy Heaney, and her daughter Debbie adds, 鈥淚n fact, she was born one month before graduation.鈥�

Nancy鈥檚 parents courted on the bridge over Varsity Pond and, after they married, lived in a Quonset hut on campus.

So, as Debbie walked around campus as a student, so many spots held memories from the stories she鈥檚 heard all her life. She鈥檇 grown up in Littleton and came to 色吧亚洲 and the university campus occasionally for football games or the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, but it was different now that she was a student studying communication and pursuing an elementary education certificate. She was adding her own stories to the growing family chain of lore.

She was part of Kappa Alpha Theta, which had been her grandmother鈥檚 sorority. She met her husband, Mark, in Kittredge Hall and auditioned for women鈥檚 choir in Macky Auditorium: 鈥淚 sang in women鈥檚 choir for one semester, then in co-ed choir, and we always sang in Macky for Christmas,鈥� Debbie recalls. 鈥淭hat was always such a special experience, and I remember my grandfather would come and just beam.鈥�

She and Mark, who represents the second generation of his family to graduate CU 色吧亚洲 (plus a grandfather who taught in CU 色吧亚洲鈥檚 U.S. Navy ROTC program), played on champion intramural Ultimate Frisbee teams on campus. At the end of their senior year in 1996, they got an old film camera and ran around campus one evening issuing dares and taking pictures: splashing in a fountain, walking on the shelves in Norlin Library, kissing on the old spiral staircase at Old Main.

鈥淓verywhere I look (on campus) there鈥檚 a memory,鈥� Debbie says.

鈥楥U has felt like home鈥�

When Ainsley鈥攚ho is the oldest of four, with three younger brothers鈥攚as thinking about college, she considered a few out-of-state possibilities, 鈥渂ut not seriously,鈥� she says. Even though her parents never pressured her to attend CU 色吧亚洲, she鈥檇 grown up hearing their stories and attending occasional football games, so by the time she needed to commit to a university, 鈥淚 was pretty excited to go to CU.鈥�

Her first year coincided with the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so her classes were virtual. She completed chemistry labs in her bathroom and remembers concerning her roommates when she burned aluminum foil with magnesium citrate.

The nearby mountains and trails helped keep her grounded that year, and when in-person restrictions began lifting her sophomore year, she was ready to dive in: as a Young Life leader, playing intramural soccer, attending football games, playing cross-campus miniature golf with tennis balls, storming the field after CU鈥檚 win against Nebraska. She even appeared in a background shot of the documentary about Coach Prime.

And when it was time for Brennan to consider college, he also looked into a few out-of-state options, but like his sister, it was almost a foregone conclusion.

鈥淎 lot of friends told me, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e going to CU,鈥� and it鈥檚 actually where I wanted to go,鈥� he says, adding that it鈥檚 close enough to home and family in Highlands Ranch, but just far enough away 鈥渢hat I can have my own experience.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 been really fun to have this time with Brennan here,鈥� Ainsley says. 鈥淲e would have lunch every Wednesday, and I鈥檇 get texts from my friends whenever they had a Brennan sighting on campus.鈥�

Like Ainsley, Brennan learned to balance school and a social life鈥攑laying intramural soccer with his sister, getting active in Young Life, riding a bike to campus in the middle of a snowstorm, getting trapped in an elevator with his friends and singing songs to pass the time until firefighters could pry the doors open. He also is part of the Dean's Fellows Program and President's Leadership Class, as was his father.听

He鈥檒l be cheering for Ainsley as she accepts her diploma this week鈥攕he actually finished class in December and is working at 色吧亚洲 Community Hospital while she applies to nursing school鈥攁nd trying not to pressure their two younger brothers about attending CU.

鈥淚 think our family has been really lucky to have this connection to such a wonderful place,鈥� Debbie says. 鈥淔or generations, CU has felt like home.鈥�

Unless otherwise noted, photos courtesy Debbie Baker

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