Congratulations to Mandy Montano, 

Winner of the first Cascadia Alumni Award!

Mandy Montano came from an extremely low-income household. Neither of her parents completed high school. Her mom, who didn’t even complete junior high, encouraged Mandy and her sister to pursue higher education to break the cycle of poverty, but her mom lacked the experience or knowledge to help them. In addition, Mandy was labeled dyslexic in grade school and was guided to set her expectations low. At age 13 she started working to help out at home, and eventually left school and moved out on her own.  She got her GED and worked hard to develop work skills that enabled her to work her way up in the medical/biotech field, but she eventually hit a wall because all of her peers were more educated than she was. And so she found her way to Cascadia where for the first time, her instructors helped her to overcome her fears and feel empowered and confident. With the encouragement of Cascadia faculty, Mandy decided she could do more. After graduating from Cascadia in 2008, she went on to get a bachelor’s in communication from the University of Washington in 2009. And in August of last year, she received her master’s of communication at the UW. Today she runs the regulatory records and documents department for the Puget Sound Blood Center and is still considering an MBA or law degree next.

Share Your Story!

Take just a few minutes to complete our Alumni Share Your Story form and tell us what you've been up to since you left Cascadia. Help inspire today's students to overcome their own challenges and show our supporters that their commitment to Cascadia is making a difference for students just like you.

We're proud of our alumni! Your stories matter to us, to our community, and to our students. Your successes, large and small, inspire us and your challenges guide us as we strive to meet the needs of our next generation of students.

Wherever your path has taken you, we are proud to call you an alum! We hope you will keep in touch and be sure to share your future successes with us.

Join the Cascadia Community College Network on LinkedIn

Connect and stay in touch with old friends through the Cascadia Community College Network on LinkedIn.com . See what other alumni are up to and share your own updates - professional, personal, or both.

You can also begin building your professional network through the Cascadia Community College Network. Use the network to find the connections that can help you find jobs, mentors, and contacts in your chosen field. LinkedIn is the definitive source for professional, online networking and the Cascadia Community College Network is the perfect place to start.

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