Sexual assault survivor shares her story

GREELEY, Colo. — Kimberly Corban has devoted years of her life to helping sexual assault survivors because she’s lived through it. In 2006 a stranger broke into her college apartment, held her captive for two hours and sexually assaulted her. 

Corban’s sexual assault as a student at the University of Northern Colorado inspired her to change her business major to study psychology and criminal justice. She’s been very open to sharing her story over the years, but there’s a part of her journey she has been afraid to talk about until now. 

A bachelor’s degree wasn’t enough for her.

“I needed to continue and make myself the best version I could to better help others,” Corban said. 

She got accepted to graduate school at UNC in 2010 and made it to her final presentation. 

“I had this mental block, and I couldn’t get around it,” she said. “I am hearing that I am not good enough. I am hearing that I am not actually that smart.”

She kept hearing a voice in her head. 

“The person who was in my ear and became almost that voice in the back of my head was the person who I trusted the most. It was my partner,” she said. 

She wrote a thesis on trauma and intimate partner violence while living through it. That voice stopped her from finishing her masters in 2013, and she never graduated. 

“I didn’t realize the things I had been studying and coding and learning about were actively happening to me,” Corban said. 

She said not finishing for this reason after trying to help survivors has been a source of so much shame and guilt. She advocated for survivors for years without realizing she needed help too. 

“I needed to do the most brave thing I have ever done,” she said. “I needed to ask for help.”

UNC answered that call eleven years after Kim should’ve earned her master’s and walked across the graduation stage. A change to Title IX allowed her to earn her degree without having to retake classes since she was so close to finishing.

“They made sure everything was done that it needed to be,” she said. “They looked through all of my transcripts, and I got a call that I’m so glad I recorded.”

The university told her they were rewarding her a master’s degree in criminal justice. Years of shame for not finishing turned into overwhelming joy. 

Her husband Michael Rourke got choked up watching the video Corban recorded. He has supported her from the start. 

“I was the lead prosecutor on the sexual assault case she was, and is, the survivor of and successfully prosecuted the attacker,” Rourke said.

Over those years, Rourke and Corban worked together at the district attorney’s office in Weld County. They became, coworkers, then friends, and now husband and wife. Rourke is also the District Attorney of Weld County.

Rourke wants Corban to hold onto happy moments, so he recorded his own video. They wanted to remember the day Corban’s diploma was mailed to the house. 

The support she’s received will lead her back to UNC next month for graduation. She’s walking and giving the commencement address to the graduating class. 

“I get to use my voice in all of its authenticity this time. My whole and complete story, and I don’t feel I have to hide any part of it or hold any of it back,” she said. 

The date on her master’s diploma says May 10th, 2013, the day she should’ve graduated. It’s a date stuck in her mind until she followed the advice she had always shared with others. 

“I hope this reinvigorates or inspires one person to ask for help keep going it is so very worth it,” she said. “To think all I had to do was ask it’s just wild to me.”

If you need help or you know someone who needs support here are some resources in the area. 

• SAVA Center serving Northern Colorado provides crisis intervention, advocacy, and counseling as well as prevention programs. 24/7 Crisis Hotline: (970) 472-4200
• In the Denver area, contact Blue Bench at 303-322-7273
• Thehotline.org is the National Domestic Violence Hotline crisis support resource with chat, text, and call capabilities. Text START too 88788, or call (800) 799-7233.