Meet Shelbi Powell, Student Commencement Speaker

Shelbi Powell and her best friend, Summer Bergerson, were in their eighth-grade home economics class when they got an assignment that changed their lives forever. It required them to look around the country, and even the world, and make a list of colleges located in places they might want to live.

Inseparable since childhood, the duo looked and looked, from Montana to New Mexico, California to Washington, for something that might suit them both. Shelbi liked Oklahoma well enough, but not forever. Her future, she thought, was full of adventure in the mountains to the west.

Ultimately, they were both drawn to Colorado, if for different reasons. “That’s when we found Western,” she said. Compared to Oklahoma, access to public lands and an active lifestyle was easy, and they loved how small and intimate Western and the Gunnison Valley felt.

The fall after high school graduation, they were sitting on the floor of their new dorm room, in Western’s Crystal Hall, Room 301, trying to figure out what they would do with the rest of their lives.  “It was the beginning of something that we’d talked about for years,” Shelbi said, “and it felt magical.”

Soon, the winds of fate opened a door to a film studies class taught by former professor Jack Lucido. “Jack saw potential in the way I analyzed and understood film, and he encouraged me to pursue it,” she said. “That’s when I declared my major in Communication Arts with an emphasis in Film Studies.”

Then, amidst all of the growth, Shelbi lost her best friend. In 2022, after 8 months during which a diagnosis turned into doctor’s appointments and treatments, Summer died of leukemia, and Shelbi was left alone to find her own way.

“Jack Lucido helped me channel my grief into art – I wrote my first screenplay about the day she relapsed,” she said. “To this day, I continue creating films, paintings, and screenplays in her honor. Without the incredible support of the faculty at Western, I would have fallen apart.”

With a new direction, Shelbi found an opportunity to serve as co-director of Mountaineer Media, where she created and launched the talk show Talkin’ Reel(ish). She also joined the Western Theatre Company, where she’s performed in several productions and found a community. She was a sponge, soaking it all in, learning real-world skills and becoming more confident, creative, and resilient.

As she prepares to graduate and embark on a career in filmmaking, where she can share stories that matter and build connections, Shelbi carries Summer’s memory and the lessons learned at Western with her.

“Western has taught me to accept life’s highs and lows, and more importantly, how to rise through them.”

 

Author Credit: Seth Mensing

Photo Credit: Courtesy