For senior Emily Digregorio, the road to graduation had plenty of twists and turns. As a long time competitive soccer player, Digregorio originally hoped to play at the collegiate level somewhere on the East Coast. However, a string of serious knee injuries during her senior year of high school forced the Broomfield native to reconsider and, eventually, enroll closer to home at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Initially, Digregorio registered as a journalism major in the College of Media, Communication and Information. Despite working for the school paper throughout high school, Digregorio realized shortly before classes started that journalism wasn’t something she could see herself doing long term. She quickly changed to a pre-med track, but after taking coursework in chemistry, realized that also wasn’t for her. 

Looking for a new field to pursue, Digregorio began taking classes in political science and economics—both of which are areas that she did not have much exposure to in high school. In the fall semester of her sophomore year, she officially declared a double major in both disciplines.

Digregorio was quick to take her knowledge outside of the classroom. That same year, she volunteered as a canvasser for Jared Polis’ 2018 gubernatorial campaign. Over the course of four months, she connected with voters in-person and over the phone, as well as provided planning and analytics support to the campaign. 

During her junior year, Digregorio participated in CU in D.C., a university sponsored program which connects students with semester-long, full-time internships in the nation’s capital while they complete coursework in the evening. Digregorio was placed with the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the Office of Consumer Policy, where she contributed to financial literacy and retirement planning initiatives. 

Despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic cutting her internship in Washington D.C. short, Digregorio still remembers the program fondly. “It helps you learn to be an adult and be on your own,” Digregorio says. “It was a great experience.”  

Digregorio is also a member of the CU Boulder chapter of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, where she has fundraised for the nonprofit organization Girls on the Run. This nonprofit provides an after school program to help young girls learn skills, become critical thinkers and develop inner strength as they go into high school. The 10-week program culminates in a 5K run, which many participants choose to complete with a running buddy from the sorority chapter. 

“It was fun to see the girls get older and see how their courage would build up over the years,” she says. 

Beyond her academic and extracurricular involvement, Digregorio enjoys the common Colorado pastimes of hiking, biking and fishing.    

After graduation in May 2021, Digregorio will begin a data analytics internship for the American Red Cross. Digregorio hopes the role will lead to a full time position down the road. In the long term, Digregorio says that she is considering law school but is eager to first gain experience in the workforce. 

While she is moving on, this second generation Buff intends to remain connected to the CU community as she plans to attend sporting and alumni events whenever possible while also staying in contact with her sorority chapter.