MILES CITY, MONTANA: Miles Community College is pleased to announce that Michele Bidegaray has been named the 2022-2023 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. Bidegaray will be introduced at the 83rd Commencement Ceremony at the college on Saturday, May 6 at 10:00 am.
Inductees to the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame are selected for exhibiting high professional achievement, having an established legacy of community service, and giving evidence of lifetime achievement and service since beginning their educational career at MCC. Candidates must have received an associate degree from MCC and/or have attended MCC for a minimum of one full academic year.
“We are thrilled to be able to honor Michele at this year’s commencement,” said MCC President Ron Slinger. “Her distinguished career is a shining example to our students about the amazing heights one can reach with a degree from Miles Community College.”
Bidegaray was born to Basque immigrants in Sidney, Montana, in 1961, and graduated high school from Culbertson, Montana, in 1979. That fall, she enrolled in the Associate Degree of Nursing program at Miles Community College.
After graduating as an RN in May 1982, she was promptly employed at the age of 21, in her first nursing job at Culbertson Hospital in June 1982. In 1983, she began working at Holy Rosary Hospital in Miles City, as an NICU and L&D nurse.During her time working in Miles City, Bidegaray also continued her education. In May of 1991, the day her third child was born, she graduated from University of Mary, in Bismarck, North Dakota, with her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing.
After 22 years of working in the NICU and L&D, she worked to further her career once more to become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). Bidegaray transitioned to working in the ICU in both Miles City and Billings simultaneously and obtained the necessary hours and experience to be accepted into a CRNA program.
In 2005, she was accepted to the Texas Wesleyan University Anesthesia Program and completed the program in 2007. Bidegaray returned to work in Miles City at Holy Rosary Hospital as a CRNA providing anesthesia care from 2007 to 2012.
From Miles City, she moved to Colorado where she has spent the last ten years working as a CRNA and has been working collectively in the medical field for nearly 42 years.
Bidegaray will be honored at this year’s commencement at the college, and a live stream of the ceremony will be available on the MCC YouTube page ( www.youtube.com/milescommunitycoll).
For more information on the Distinguished Alumni Award or the MCC Alumni Hall of Fame, please contact MCC Director of Institutional Advancement Elizabeth Patten at 406-874-692 or pattene@milescc.edu.
