Brian Rothfuss thought of Dawn DeHerrera as the music of “Amazing Grace” played during Metro State’s graduation ceremony Sunday.
Rothfuss credits the memory of his friend, killed in 2000 on her way home from work, as providing the inspiration for him to finish his criminal justice studies.
“Her death fueled my desire and drive to find my way to finish school,” said Rothfuss, 32, in an interview after the ceremonies at the Colorado Convention Center.
Dressed in a Scottish kilt and wearing an Avalanche hockey jersey, he was one of the 1,094 students to graduate – the largest fall-graduating class in the history of Metropolitan State College of Denver. The graduates ranged in age from 19 to 69.
Some graduates hammed it up, pirouetting as they accepted degrees. Others crossed the stage poker-faced. Proud supporters clapped and cheered.
The top graduate and President’s Award winner, Brett Larsen, 26, a decorated Marine from Aurora, encouraged the graduates to make sure they pursued a career they loved.
While hunkered down with the Marine Corps at Camp Commando in Kuwait during the Iraq war, Larsen faced enemy missiles.
He thought long and hard during that time about what he wanted to do with his life and decided to switch his major from computer science to English to pursue his interest in creative writing.
“You have a lot of time to think in the desert,” he said in an interview after the ceremonies. “And I started thinking about whether the direction I was taking was going to make a real change in the world.”
Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet encouraged the graduates to pursue greatness.
“You need to lay your work down in a way that supports the footsteps of future generations,” Bennet said.
He said America needed their help and cited statistics detailing the plight of the uneducated and uninsured.
Rothfuss said the memory of his friend, DeHerrera, is what continues to inspire him. She was his friend at Jefferson County Open School.
She was there for him to provide support after he broke up with his girlfriend of seven years.
Her murder hasn’t been solved. Now Rothfuss, who graduated with a double major in criminal justice and chemistry concentration in criminalistics, hopes to go to work at the Denver Police Department to solve crimes.
“I was never going to get a ‘why’ that was satisfactory,” Rothfuss said Sunday. “I didn’t get to know what happened or who killed her. That drove me. I wanted to be sure that someday I would be able to provide the information that would give someone else the ‘why.’ That way I could bring a degree of closure.”
Staff writer Christopher N. Osher can be reached at 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com.
