DENVER-
Nadia Barghelame was supposed to have received her diploma from Metropolitan State College of Denver this year, fulfilling her parents’ dream of having their three kids graduate college.
In December 2004, the 20-year-old from Fort Collins was among three pilots killed in a plane crash near Centennial Airport after engine trouble. Barghelame had hoped to become a professional pilot.
On Sunday, Metro State awarded Barghelame a posthumous honorary degree.
“It’s a tremendous gift,” said Ali Barghelame, Nadia’s brother. “It means so much to us.”
Nadia Barghelame was an aviation and aerospace science major and was on the tennis team. She was one of a school record 1,380 graduates to receive a degree Sunday.
“This is probably the best gift I have ever received in my life,” said her father, Abe Barghelame.
After Gov. Bill Ritter addressed the graduates, Barghelame’s relatives were called to the stage. It took a change to college policy and approval from the board of trustees for them to get there.
When a school official presented the family with Nadia’s diploma, Abe Barghelame shook his head side to side, reached out his hand and said thank you.
The Barghelame family has established a scholarship in Nadia Barghelame’s name for female aviation students.
