Editor’s Note: Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend UCCS graduation ceremonies scheduled for 10 a.m. May 18 at the Colorado Springs World Arena. Please call Tom Hutton, (719) 351-6519 for assistance. High-resolution photographs of Vogel are available at http://pressreleases.uccs.edu.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Dane Vogel was the rare student who always sat in the front row and who usually arrived five minutes before his classes began at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
Vogel’s empty seat in mid-March was a clue to his instructors in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies that something was amiss. Their fears were later realized when Vogel, 27, died March 20 as a result of complications from the disease he had battled since age four, diabetes.
The memorial service in his hometown of St. Louis drew 2,000 mourners anxious to show their respect. UCCS will show Vogel its respect on May 18 during the 2012 Spring Commencement, awarding him the Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Environmental Studies degree posthumously.
“Dane was enthusiastic about learning and life,” Curtis Holder, associate professor, Geography and Environmental Studies, said.
The GES faculty led Vogel on field trips that included hikes in the Colorado mountains as well as to the forests of Guatemala. Vogel made many friends but closely guarded his condition and insulin injections. Few knew he battled the life-threatening disease. His infectious laugh covered the mood swings that can often accompany sharp changes in blood sugar levels.
“His diabetes could have been a lot harder on his mother and me but he made it easy on us,” Tim Vogel, Dane’s father said recently. “He had such a quiet strength about him. He never let it get him down. In fact, he lived life even larger in spite of it.”
Dane Vogel exercised regularly, was a certified lifeguard, held certifications in scuba and advanced scuba diving and even tried skydiving. On a university-sponsored trip to Silverton, he made a snow shelter and spent the night outside though the temperature inside the shelter hovered near 10 degrees. That was typical Dane, his father said, who loved the outdoors and was known to go backpacking for a week to ten days at a time.
The love of the outdoors drew Vogel to Colorado after working in St. Louis and completing a two year degree at a local community college there. The draw of the mountains, his father said, was irresistible when combined with an interest in geography, geology and the world around him.
“The actions the university is taking mean so much,” Tim Vogel said. “I know how hard he worked – he worked his butt off as a student and had a job at the university too. It was his dream to earn a degree and to earn it in Colorado. He was one month short. He almost did it. For his professors to look at his work and to recognize it means the world to Dane’s mother and me.”
“In his 27 years, Dane lived his life to the fullest. Dane was kind and humble. He was a best friend to his brothers, his friends, and his Mom and me. He was our hero.”
Commencement is scheduled for 10 a.m. May 18 at the Colorado Springs World Arena. A record 1,258 students will graduate, with about 870 scheduled to participate in the ceremony.
UCCS, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs, is one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The University offers 36 bachelor’s degrees, 19 master’s degrees, and five doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls about 9,300 students annually.