Skip to main content
Skip to main content
tanddean rustandy class

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Four days of holiday break and every campus cafeteria was closed. It was Thanksgiving 1985, and Tandean Rustandy had $5 to his name.

He had nowhere to go for the holiday. CU Boulder’s dorms were still open, which meant he could relax over the long weekend, albeit alone, in his room at Libby Hall. So he took that $5, walked to a grocery store, bought a raw chicken and a bag of rice, and cooked four days of meals with a rice cooker in his dorm room.

He felt lucky. Tandean classTandean was an undergraduate business student from Indonesia and the first in his family to get a college education. His working-class parents, with only middle-school educations, helped pay for it by selling their house back in their village. He worked three jobs in Boulder—one of them washing pots and pans in Nichols Hall for $3.25 an hour—and only got haircuts twice a year. He borrowed money from his college roommate to pay his last tuition bill. But he felt lucky to have the American college experience, rooting for the Colorado Buffs football team and going to the popular college bar Tulagi with friends.

“One of the best times of my life is in Boulder. The best. The best,” Tandean says.

When he graduated from CU in 1987, only his mother attended ceremonies because his parents could afford just one plane ticket to the United States. It was at his mother’s urging, after all, that Tandean studied at CU in the first place.

“Education is everything,” she would remind him.

Now Tandean is the one reminding CU Boulder students that education unlocks possibilities.

As the founder and chief executive officer of one of the world’s most successful ceramic-tile manufacturing companies, Tandean supports the Leeds School of Business, both philanthropically and philosophically.

He has twice hosted groups of CU students in Jakarta through the Leeds School’s Global Initiatives program, where undergraduates learn about business and culture in a global marketplace while supporting the local community, a mission close to Tandean’s heart. He invests in the university to lead the charge in entrepreneurship education. He mentors students about giving their best, today in their academics and in the future as alumni.

“This school really means a lot to me. Who I am today is because of the very strong foundation I received at CU Boulder,” says Tandean, who was honored in 2014 with a Leeds School alumni service award. “I share with the CU students that the quality of this school depends on you. As student, as an alum, you need to create something.”

CU Boulder
William Mundo

When he graduated in May, William Mundo reached a milestone in his journey at the University of Colorado Denver.

It’s a journey that almost didn’t even start.

It’s good for him—and us—it did.

Before William devoted countless hours to his studies over four years and emerged as one of the university’s most well-known volunteers and respected student leaders, he and his mother had a pivotal conversation about whether he’d even attend college.  

“OK,” he recalls her saying. “You want to go to college. None of us have ever done it, but I’ll support you.”

But “it’s $10,000 a year,” he told her.

“We can’t pay that,” she said.

William insisted: “Mom, don’t worry.”

He had a plan.

William’s journey began modestly. Born in Los Angeles to parents who emigrated from Acapulco, Mexico, he and his family eventually moved to Leadville, high in the Colorado mountains. He remembers observing his father treating people in their community, so he assumed his father was a doctor.

“It wasn’t until I was much older that I figured out that my father didn’t get past sixth grade,” William says. “He had to drop out and help the family put food on the table since it was really difficult for my family in Mexico.”

Seeing his father care for his community inspired him: “I want to be a doctor. That really pushed me to pursue that career.”

At CU Denver, he studied public health and ethnic studies with an eye on medical schools. His goals include combating race-based health disparities and improving health care throughout the world, especially for impoverished communities. He’s also considering joining the Air Force with the hope to become a medical doctor in the military.

“I have a passion for serving others,” he says.

These paths wouldn’t have opened to him if he didn’t remain dedicated to his plan—the one he assured his mom would help him attend college.

“This doesn’t happen without scholarships,” William says. “They’ve made it possible for me to come to college and pursue my dream.”

CU Denver-based philanthropy like the Graham Family Scholarships and Alumni Association General Scholarships offered him assistance. So did the Latin American Educational Foundation and The White Rose Scholarship Foundation.

“They have really made an impact on my life because navigating the education system as a first-generation student is very difficult,” he says.

When others cared for him, he discovered the chance to care for others.

“It’s given me hope,” he says, “that there’s still people out there that really care about people like me and want us to do well.”

CU Denver
Subscribe to Student Experience