At one time, Cindy Gang (pronounced G\u00fcng) couldn\u2019t balance her own checkbook.<\/p>\n
But those days are far behind the 51-year-old mother of two who was named the top undergraduate student by faculty in the College of Business and Administration at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Gang will graduate Friday from UCCS as part of the largest graduating class in the university\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Approximately 1,700 December and May graduates are eligible to attend annual commencement exercises. More than 1,000 are expected to participate with friends and family filling the World Arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was surprised when I was selected for this honor,\u201d Gang said recently with a touch of drawl that belies her Alabama roots. \u201cI thought a student who had been able to go to school full-time and concentrate on studies was far more likely to be recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beginning at UCCS in 2001, a few months after her second round of treatment for thyroid cancer, Gang balanced family responsibilities and a full-time and second part-time job in addition to her coursework. Gang previously worked as a special education teacher, specializing in children with multiple disabilities, before meeting her future husband, a Certified Public Accountant who owns his own firm. Meeting Jacob, and later assisting at the firm, sparked an interest and showed an aptitude in accounting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI owe so much to my husband, Jacob,\u201d Cindy Gang said. \u201cHe provided encouragement and moral support but he also did the chauffeuring, the cooking, the cleaning and just about everything else so I could study. He picked up the slack that allowed me to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacob and Cindy Gang moved to Colorado Springs from Atlanta after visiting the area on vacation and reconnecting with family.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy uncle graduated from CU,\u201d Gang said. \u201cWhen we visited here on vacation, all I could think about was that I wanted a CU education for my children. We sold part of the practice and moved, and are now practicing in Colorado Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n
That dream of a CU education came true for Gang earlier this month when her son, Nathan, graduated magna cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder with two bachelor\u2019s degrees in engineering (computer science) and journalism (broadcast production). A younger son, Adam, attends Air Academy High School.<\/p>\n
Following a vacation to Israel, Gang will set her sights on the next goal, passing the Certified Public Accountant exam.<\/p>\n
UCCS, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in northeast Colorado Springs, is the fastest growing university in Colorado and one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The university offers 29 bachelor\u2019s degrees, 18 master\u2019s and four doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls about 7,600 students annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At one time, Cindy Gang (pronounced G\u00fcng) couldn\u2019t balance her own checkbook. But those days are far behind the 51-year-old mother of two who was named the top undergraduate student by faculty in the College (Full Press Release)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pressreleases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}