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KATE HUGO

CURRENT STUDENT

Nursing Management and

Organizational Leadership

Kate Hugo admits that nursing was never on her radar as a potential
career until she became a ski patroller at Beaver Creek Resort.
“I went to college at Northeastern University in Boston with plans to
become an English teacher,” says Kate, who is originally from New
Hampshire. After graduation, a close friend planned a trip to Colorado to
check out graduate schools and Kate tagged along. Before long, she was
planning a move of her own to the Rocky Mountains.

From ski patrolling to nursing school

A lifelong skier, Kate joined Beaver Creek Resort as a ski patroller in
2002 and stayed for several years—with a brief break during which she
taught middle school. Her experience on the mountain is what sparked her
interest in nursing. “I really liked the medical aspect of ski patrolling,” she
says. “It connects science and physiology to real, tangible situations with
skiers on the mountain.” Following in the footsteps of a few coworkers, she
took nursing school prerequisite classes at Colorado Mountain College. In
2004, she moved to Denver to start a BSN program at Regis University.

A new career

When Kate graduated with the BSN in 2009, she started her career at
Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge in the internal medicine unit. She
transitioned to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood in 2011, working on the
trauma, surgical, oncology unit. But she and her husband—whom she met
while ski patrolling—are mountain lovers at heart, and Kate was commuting
from Winter Park where they lived. “I was ready for something different
and eager to live and work in my community,” she says. The couple moved
to Carbondale, Colorado, in 2013 and Kate landed a position in the acute
care and surgical services area of Valley View Hospital in Glenwood
Springs.

Time for a master’s degree

Seven years into her nursing career, Kate felt the time was right to further
her education. “I had enough experience that I knew I could put an MSN
into the professional context,” she says. “I was ready for a new challenge
in my career.” She planned to return to Regis University, which offered an
executive MSN program on weekends, and was prepared to continue to

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