Open Sky Field News Winter/Spring 2010
Field Guides of the Month.
August 2009: Nate Osgood is the recipient of the Field Guide of the Month award for August. Nate came to Open Sky from Second Nature Duchene in September of 2007. Through December 2009 Nate has 271 field days at Open Sky. Nate is able to work in all of our student groups and is an incredible asset to the Field guide team.
September 2009: Nichole Johnson is the recipient of the Field Guide of the Month award for September. Nichole came to Open Sky in December of 2008. Nichole has previous experience working for AYA in Colorado. Nichole departed Open Sky in December 2009 with 130 field days. We are going to miss you Nichole and we wish you luck in the future!
October 2010: Mark Houghton is the recipient of the Field Guide of the Month award for October. Mark came to Open Sky in January of 2009. Mark has a ton of previous experience, mostly from Wilderness Quest where he was a lead guide and a Field Director. Mark has 160 field days at Open Sky through December 2009. Thank you so much Mark for all of your hard work in the field!
Open Sky’s new seniors as of December 2009
Since the last newsletter came out we have had a lot of field guides transition to senior guides. It is a big step to take on this role in the field. Senior guides are the leaders of our student groups and there are so many facets to the job that at times it feels like you are working harder than the CEO of a major company. At Open Sky when one becomes a senior you are rewarded with a large pay raise and a major jump in benefits. As of December 2009, Out of our 34 Field guides 19 of them are seniors. This makes our field guide team an incredibly experienced group.
Amber Fisher: Amber came to Open Sky in March of 2009. Amber has a ton of previous experience at Aspen Achievement Academy. She became senior in August. Amber has been working in our adult groups.
Robin Wolthausen: Robin came to Open Sky in March of 2009. Robin was last working at SUWS in Idaho. He became senior in September. Robin has been working in our adolescent male group and also in the adult groups.
Torrey Baldwin: Torrey came to Open Sky in January of 2009. She became senior in September. Torrey has been working in our adolescent female group and also in the adult groups.
Thea Stanford: Thea came to Open Sky in March of 2009. She was last working at True North Wilderness. Thea became senior in November. She has been working in the adult groups.
Peggy Fulda: Peggy came to Open Sky in September of 2008. Peggy became senior in November. Peggy has been working in our adolescent female group.
Sara Arredondo: Sara came to Open Sky in May of 2009. She became a senior on Dec. 1. Sara has been working in our adult groups.
Recent Departures
Buddy Gurnari came to Open Sky in September of 2007. Buddy was a senior field guide with us and has left Open Sky with 196 field days. Buddy has taken another job in NM in order to be closer to his wife and family.
Nicholas Foster came to Open Sky in January of 2007. Nicholas was a senior field guide with us and has left Open Sky with 365 field days. Nicholas is pursuing other career options and would like to travel out of the country- possibly to Africa to study African drumming. Nicholas was an incredible field guide and could work in any of our student groups!
Alex Phillips came to Open Sky in March of 2008. Alex was a senior field guide and has left Open Sky with 209 field days. Alex has gone back to his home town of Boulder, CO. to be closer to home, to possibly go to graduate school and to pursue other career options.
Dustin Losey came to Open Sky in May of 2008. Dustin was a Guide with us and has left Open Sky with 183 field days. Dustin is doing some travelling and is hoping to find a new job.
Marie Krueger came to Open Sky in January of 2008. Marie has been a senior field guide with us and has 256 field days. Marie is moving into our clinical department and taking a new job as the Family Wellness Counselor. Marie has been an incredible part of the field team, and even though she is staying at Open Sky, she will be greatly missed in the field!! Thanks Marie for all of your time in the field.
Newest Field Guides
In January, we conducted our first training since May 2009. The longest stint between trainings in Open Sky’s history. This is largely attributed to the great retention of our field guides in 2009. After several departures at the end of 2009 and some in 2010, it was time to bring on some great new people.
Jessie Krebs
Pete Reynolds
John Ivey
Caitlin Standish
Emily Rolando
Isaac Murphy
Also, Swain Scales (escort and all-around great operations go-to guy) and Mike Gentry (escort and field guide extraordinaire) and Jonathan Mitchell (family quest therapist) joined us for that training.
In addition, we just completed a short training in April in which we brought on some experienced new guides to assist us with the early Spring and Summer rush.
Karl Welter
Billy Hall
Alwyne Butler
Matt McEttrick
Look for their bios on the website soon!
Updates from Beyond
From KC Meckfessel (former student Winter ‘06 and field guide, spring/summer 2008)
Danny,
Yes… school is half way through and at a quick pace, thanks to the ridiculous amount of work! Besides spurts of stress, I am really enjoying the experience. I’m doing some actual legal work, representing indigent clients in misdemeanor cases through the school’s clinic. This summer, I’m going to continue death penalty work with the ACLU in SF, which I am really stoked about. All this thanks to Open Sky…
Adam (Gorman, senior guide 2006 – 2008) has been interning with an org called Child Haven, so the clients range from toddler to tweens. He’s learned a lot, but I think he’s ready to work with adults again.
I’ll give him a hug for you and you give everyone a hug for me!
Much Love,
K.C.
