Executive Director Update

The Yampa Valley is a very special place. One special aspect of our region that I often take for granted is simply our “rural-ness”. Last month, I was granted the opportunity to represent YVPS3 on a panel at the National Forum to Advance Rural Education. Serving on the panel was an honor, and attending this event was humbling. It was inspiring (if not, a bit ironic) to experience such a large and extensive gathering of small-town folks. As I navigated the crowd of rural people, I couldn't help but think of our Yampa Valley FFA kids who likely experienced a similar dichotomy only a couple weeks prior as they traveled to Indianapolis for the Future Farmers of America National Convention.

I served on a panel along-side our partners from Lyra Colorado and Empower Schools. The panel was titled, “Addressing Climate Change in Rural Colorado through Transformational Education Opportunities”. My job on the panel was to speak from the only perspective I have: the perspective of someone who was born and raised in a town of pop. 250, someone who is a product of a rural education community, someone who is choosing to live and raise my family in a rural community, and someone who is working every day to support our communities. I spoke on the strength and resilience of rural people, our values for tradition, and our desires to innovate and grow so we can provide opportunity for the next generation.

I also spoke on the diversity of the Yampa Valley. Let's face it - we are not all the same, and that's a good thing. While we might not always call things by the same name, through S3 we have agreed that we share a kindred reverence around a few important things: taking care of our kids, caring for our environment, and supporting our communities. Students. Stewardship. Sustainability.

Whether we like it or not, the world is changing (as it turns out, it always has!) and it is important that our kids are educated not only on what we can teach them about the past and present, but also on how they can look into the future and how they can some day, lead us towards something we can't even imagine. The way we navigate our daily lives today looks vastly different than it did 20 years ago, and the same will hold true 20 years from now. I think of it like this: I have a new driver in my home, and I would be hesitant to send my son onto the roads unless I was confident that he had some projection of what the road conditions might be up ahead and an understanding of how he might change his driving approach and equipment to suit those potential conditions. That's what Climate Education means to me.

Our Yampa Valley communities have a diverse and rich cultural heritage with deep-rooted traditions and a strong sense of connectedness. Our students are intrinsically exposed to cultural values and traditions which contribute to a strong sense of identity and community pride. By educating our kids on the many ways they can mitigate and adapt to the future, we are sending them out on the roads (hopefully, local ones!) with the tools and knowledge they will need to keep our legacies alive.