Open Sky Field News Summer 2010
Field Guide of the month.
Open Sky field guides nominate one of their own and the field leadership selects from among these nominees. Here are the latest award recipients:
January 2010: Scott Carlton
Scott came to Open Sky from the East Coast in January of 2009. He worked for a long time as the senior of the adolescent boys’ team. Scott recently got promoted to a position as a full-time back-up support for the Operations and Field Departments. He finished in the field with 226 field days. Congratulations Scott!
February 2010: Lisa Meerts-Brandsma
Lisa came to Open Sky from our local town of Durango. She was working for the newspaper when she got hired as a field guide in May of 2009. Lisa has been working in the adult team Durga and she has 196 field days.
March 2010: Brenda Hammerstrom
Brenda came to Open Sky from WY and NOLS in January 2009. She is incredibly flexible and has worked in all of the teams here at O Sky. Brenda is spending her summer working in the food room at NOLS in Lander, WY and will be returning in the fall. She has 173 field days.
April 2010: Robin Wolthausen
Robin came to Open Sky from SUWS in April of 2009. Robin is also incredibly flexible and has worked in all of the teams here as well as is in the middle of covering for the Field Manager (the craziest job in the field!). He will be leaving in August to take a course of 9 months with the Wilderness Awareness School in WA. Robin has 183 field days.
May 2010: Evan Meyer
Evan came to Open Sky from our local town of Durango where he was a student at Fort Lewis College. He decided to take a break from school and get some life experience working for O Sky. Evan trained in May of 2009. Evan has worked in the adult and boys teams and is currently holding a record streak of senioring the boy’s team. He has 183 field days.
June 2010: Thea Stanford
Thea came to Open Sky in April of 2009 from True North Wilderness. She has worked in the adult and girls teams and is currently holding a record streak of senioring the adult team Bodhisattva. She has 194 field days. Thea will be leaving in late July to attend grad school in Oregon to get masters in therapy. Hopefully she will return here as a therapist in the future. Congratulations Thea!
New Field Guides Join Team.
We held training in January this year. The trainers were Emily Isaacs, our Assistant Field Director, and David Boyle, the Field Manager on the Sky shift. This was a stellar group of trainees with a lot of previous experience.
Here is the list of new guides we hired:
Emily Rolando
Peter Reynolds
Jessie Krebs
Caitlin Standish
Isaac Murphy
Amy Graves- Winter intern
We also held a small but power-packed training in April led solo by Emily Isaacs. This group came in strong with lots of previous experience- here is the super hero team:
Billy Hall
Alwyne Butler
Matt McEttrick
Karl Welter
We just held training in May for new field guides. The trainers were David Boyle, our new Assistant Field Director (AFD) and Emily Isaacs, our retiring AFD. This was another stellar group of people who came with a wide range of experience from being a student at a wilderness program in the past to working as a guide at another program and teaching snowboarding. Here is the list of the new guides that we hired:
Field Guides:
Hunter Allen
Wes Smith
Jackie McDermott
Roger Youngs
Jeremy Way
Clementine Wilson
Megan Campbell
Greg Young
Summer Field Guide:
Colin Leath
Summer Interns:
Sarah Newman
Ashley Delehunt
We welcome all of you to Open Sky- Congratulations!!
David Boyle Becomes New Assistant Field Director
We are excited to welcome David Boyle, MA who was a Field Manager (FM) here since September of 2008, to the position of Assistant Field Director. He came to Open Sky with tons of experience from many other programs, some of his experience includes: guide at SUWS in Idaho, Field Director at Lone Star in TX, counseling with the Jicarilla Apache reservation in NM, and a master’s from Prescott College in AZ. David has been a fabulous FM and we are so happy and honored to have him as the new AFD. David’s main roles will be to recruit, hire and train our field guides, to support the Field Department, and to be a member of the Emergency Response Team. Congratulations David!
We are sad to say that Emily Isaacs who has been our Assistant Field Director (AFD) since February of 2009 has left this June to return to work as a guide for NOLS in Lander, WY. She is proctoring a course for NOLS all summer. Emily created our amazing new student pathway that will guide each of our students through the Open Sky program. She deserves incredible praise for her work with this project that she spent almost 9 months on. Emily has also been an integral member we wish you the best summer ever Emily and hope that you will return as a guide in the fall!
Tim Murphy Becomes New Field Manager
Due to David’s promotion to AFD, an opening for a new Field Manager (FM) occurred on the Sky shift. We are proud to welcome Tim Murphy to the position of Sky shift FM. Tim came to Open Sky in 2007, and has 392 field days here. He has tons of previous experience mostly from Three Rivers in Montana where he helped to start the program, and worked as a Team Leader for quite some time. This makes Tim one of our longest working field guides! Tim has worked in every team in the field and was most recently consistent in the young adult Bodhisattva team. Congratulations Tim on the promotion!
New Student Pathway Completed!
Prior to departing Open Sky, assistant field director, Emily Isaacs completed a massive and important project: a new, fully bound student pathway! The intention of the pathway was to provide students with a comprehensive tool for managing their day-to-day responsibilities and to serve as a future reference source reminding them of the great work they did while at Open Sky. Replete with pictures, diagrams, how-to information, descriptions, educational segments, and much, much more, Emily left a legacy that will be appreciated by many for years to come.
New Seniors!
So since it has been a while since out last newsletter- there are a lot of new seniors:
Harlan Hayes
Harlan became a senior in February of this year. He came to Open Sky in April of 2009 from Explorations in MT. He has worked in all the groups but became quite consistent in the boys and adult teams. Harlan is spending the summer working for Explorations again and will be returning to O Sky in the fall. He has 146 field days through today.
Evan Meyer
Evan became a senior in March of this year. He came to Open Sky in May of 2009 from college here in Durango. Evan is consistent in the boy’s team and is staying at Open Sky in the fall. He has 183 field days as of today.
David Martin
David became a senior in April of this year. He came to Open Sky in May of 2009 from Taos NM and with experience from NOLS and San Juan Wilderness. David has been working consistently in the adult team Durga and has also been helping in the boys’ team. He has 182 field days at Open Sky as of press time.
Jonathan Mitchell
Jonathan became a senior in May of this year. He came to Open Sky this winter to help with family quests and also became a fill-in guide for the field. Jonathan signed up for some consistent shifts this summer and quickly became a strong guide. He has experience from many other wilderness programs and guiding of all types. He has a master’s from Naropa as well. Jonathan has 43 field days at Open Sky and many more from other places.
Tamar Nigogossian
Tamar became a senior in June of this year. She came to Open Sky in May of 2009 from England where she was working as a server in restaurants. Tamar has been working in the adult Bodhisattva team and has worked a lot in the girls’ team as well. She has 158 field days at Open Sky to date.
Thank you to all the field guides from the past who have come back to help out with the business of summer! Here is a list of the old school folks who are helping out:
Andy D’Acquisto
Andy came to Open Sky in the beginning and is helping out for his 5th summer of work here. Thanks Andy!
Kyle Stansbury
Kyle came to Open Sky in late 2006 and is now getting his master’s of counseling. Thanks Kyle!
Shawna Kae Gary
Shawna came to Open Sky in the winter of 2008 and spent a year and a half living in Korea teaching English. She is back to help for the summer and then off to another adventure. Thanks Shawna!
Robin Brodsky
Robin came to Open Sky in the beginning and spent weeks working solo with the adult team early on. Robin finished her master’s and just got her license to practice therapy. Robin is helping out off and on all summer. Thanks Robin!
Swaine Scales
Swaine came to Open Sky as an escort over a year ago and he is helping out working every other shift this summer, and sometimes more too. Swaine has been a jack of all trades here in the field and operations departments and has helped out a ton! Thanks Swaine!
Mike Gentry
Mike came to Open Sky in January of this year after recovering from a broken leg. He has experience from Wilderness Quest in UT. Mike is working every other shift and escorting a lot this summer. Mike will be going to graduate school in the fall. Thanks for helping out Mike!
Transitions, Departures, & New Beginnings
Derek Daley is a father!
Canyon Key Daley born May 9th, 2010 (Mother’s Day) at 2:47 AM. A healthy 7 lbs 4 oz and 19.5 inches. Missy and Canyon are both doing incredibly well. The birth went perfectly and my wife is amazing, her energy, attitude and strength has been inspiring and she is more beautiful than ever. My little boy Canyon (name was inspired by one of our favorite places on the south side of Boulder Mountain) is the most amazing and beautiful thing I have ever known. I can’t wait for you all to meet him. Derek
Nicole Johnson is a mother!
Nicole came to Open Sky in the winter of 2008 and worked in all the teams in the field. Nichole is now the mother of a beautiful baby girl! Congratulations Nicole! She left with 121 field days.
Bryan Hollis is a father!
Bryan came to Open Sky as an intern in the summer of 2007. He worked in all the groups and was with us for a long time. Bryan finished in January of this year to become a father and left with 254 field days. Bryan is now the father of a beautiful baby girl! Congratulations to Nicole and Bryan!
Paul Arredondo
Paul came to Open Sky in the fall of 2008 and worked in the field, mostly in the adult team Bodhisattva. He accrued 225 field days. Paul left the field to take a new position in late January as the medical assistant. Congratulations Paul!
Amber Fisher
Amber came to Open Sky in April of 2009. She worked mostly in the adult and girls’ teams and left in February of this year with 97 field days. Amber has moved to Moab and is working as the manager of a natural foods store in Moab called the Moonflower. Congratulations Amber!
Derek Craig
Derek came to Open Sky in May of 2009. He worked mostly in the adult and boys’ teams and left this June with 91 field days at Open Sky but a fairly long career in wilderness therapy. Derek got into nursing school! Congratulations Derek!
Corrie Agnew
Open Sky’s first field guide to earn master’s degree in therapeutic field
Corrie worked for Open Sky for about 1.5 years starting in Spring 2007 and including a summer stint in 2009.
Dear Open Sky ~
I have an announcement I wish to share with you all. On May 7, 2010 I graduated with a Masters in Social Work from the University of Utah. I am very pleased to be graduated and super excited to enter this next phase in my life. I really can’t believe it has been two years already. I want to say that without Open Sky and the wonderful OS community there to support me, I’m not sure if my process would have led me to where I’m at now. I am filled with gratitude to those who supported and encouraged me, to all my co-staff who shared so many priceless moments with me, to all my students who inspired me with their realness and personalities and kept me in check, and also for the excellent experience that field guiding just naturally is. I also have a very special thanks to Pam, Danny, Emily D, and Joanna for your extra support, I could not have done it without you.
Life is very exciting and wide open from this vantage. And my brain is currently working very hard to process and integrate all of the information I have rammed into it the past two years. I feel more secure than ever that this is a positive, healthy and fruitful path for me. I hope that this finds you all very well. Peace.
Sincerely, Corrie
Banga’s Farm in Mancos, Colorado
Hello Open Sky folks! I want to let you all know about something great that will be happening this summer. As many of you know, last summer we sent our adult teams to La Boca Farm in Ignacio. It was a great experience for all- however, they are no longer able to do their programs. I have been talking to Dave Banga in Mancos. Dave is the farmer that supplies O Sky with our CSA (vegetables) off and on throughout the year and in the summer from June- October. Our adult teams are going to go to the farm one at time for 2 weeks in a row on Wednesday or Sunday for 4 hours or so. Then the next adult team will go for 2 weeks in a row and then switch back. We are going to begin this process on May 12th, skip 1-2 weeks and then start up consistently after that. We will be going on Wed.’s for a little while and then always on Sundays. These are some of the things our students will be doing: planting, weeding, harvesting, cooking, natural building, making bread ovens, cooking pizza in the ovens, learning about organic gardening, and participating in growing and harvesting the food they will be eating each week. I think it is great to be working with Dave more and having our students work on the farm that supplies us our food. This is community support and local partnering at their finest! Read the Durango Herald 2009 article about Farmer Dave!
Message from the Field Director:
Hello everyone. I want to say thank you to all the wonderful field and operations employees who have made this summer possible. We have the most students we have ever had and it would not be possible without every one of you. Thanks to Jim, Barry, Scott, Adam and Krystyn for making the Operations Department the best it has ever been! Thanks to David Boyle, Tim, Derek Daley, Danny Quinlan and Robin Wolthausen for doing the amazingly crazy job of FM this summer and making the field flow smoothly. Thanks to each and every field guide who is on the ground running the show! You are the heart of this place and without you we would be able to do anything here- you are ones who make the magic happen! Thanks so much everyone!
