“Orsch is having a positive impact on students, families, the community and will undoubtedly impact education as a whole in a positive way.” – Dawn Kinateder
Jackie Burt is no stranger to the alternative.
In fact, alternative might just be the place Jackie calls home, or at least that’s what she calls her One Room School House.
In the fall of 2009 Jackie started an alternative school for elementary through 8th grade students. Jackie knew she “could create an environment where children loved school,” and she hopes it will change education for the better, forever. Of the last 22 years Jackie has lived in Gunnison, 19 have been spent working in education. She taught 6th grade, preschool, a multiple age program, a gifted and talented program and now she teaches and runs Orsch.
What ‘s an Orsch?
Orsch, the name of Jackie’s school, is an acronym for One Room School House. “It’s unconventional, like we are,” Jackie says, “I felt like kids needed a more individualized and creative environment,” and the key is that it had to be “child driven.” Orsch is a place where kids learn at their ability level rather than their age, where they are rewarded with creative time, and homework is unheard of. Community member, Cea Mount, explains that the school is “based on building confidence in [the children] and their skills…[and] helping each child become a leader.”
Old School Meets New School
It was not an easy task. The idea was new, and like most new ideas, it was met with resistance. “It took guts, dedication, hard work, determination, organization, and fearlessness,” says Dawn Kinateder, a parent of an Orsch student. Jackie knew that the education system was missing something, and she wanted to find “solid methods and systems to help reform education in a good way,” so she left the community school and formed a new school for the new ideas. “I give credit to my son Sam who wouldn’t let me give up on this idea … he was probably my biggest inspiration.”
“I have already seen a positive difference in my son just two weeks in,” says Dawn Kinateder.
The heart behind the environment is to give kids a passion for learning and a chance to find their strengths. Appropriate grouping is important because students can progress at their own pace. The small class sizes allow for the time, creativity, flexibility or individuality necessary to meet each student’s needs. If students finish their assignments early, they are rewarded with time to “create,” which could mean anything from writing a poem to making a 3-D robot. The students also need to know that they “can impact their community,” says Jackie, so each year every child does their own community project. This entails doing something outside their family to benefit others. Last year students brought “Pennies for Peace” to Gunnison and raised hundreds of dollars to send to the nonprofit organization.
What Can You Do?
If kids can impact our community, our community can impact kids. Jackie says that she“ would like members of the [Gunnison] community to see [Orsch] as a place to share their passion or career with children [who have] open minds.” She does not accept any donations, nor fundraise for the school itself; but for the students, scholarship donations are accepted.
Support your Community Hero by supporting a community kid; give someone a chance to love school. Scholarship donations can be made out to Orsch and sent to:
Orsch Business Office, 303 East San Juan, Gunnison, CO 81230 Interested? Check it out at www.orsch.net
The Go To Guide is proud to donate $100.00 to the Gunnison Arts Center in celebration of Jackie Burt – Community Hero of 2011.
“I just do what I love to do.”
Doctor! Doctor!
Professionally, Dr. Rhett Griggs is an orthopedic surgeon with specialty fellowship training in upper extremity, shoulder, elbow and hand surgery. Personally, Griggs is an athlete with a vision to give back to the athletic community. He says he’s nothing special, “I sleep and work and ride my bike sometimes.” But community member, Lynda K. MacLennan, gives another angle. “Griggs helps so many people in the Gunnison Valley with sponsorships, financial assistance to many clubs and sports in Crested Butte, Gunnison and Western State College.” Griggs experiences frequent success in many arenas, but what makes this doctor different is that he takes his success and shares it with others.
Pre-Med
Griggs was born and raised in Jackson, Wyoming where his passions were skiing and cycling. “My life was what I did as an athlete,” says Griggs. He competed and placed well in many Cyclocross and other bike races including winning the Utah State Cyclocross Championship and then taking 6th in Nationals. He also skied on three Junior Olympic Ski Teams. Realizing that orthopedics was a way athletics would naturally mix with his interest in anatomy, Griggs knew orthopedic surgery was, as he puts it, “his calling.”
“Gunnison needs to know that we have great orthopedic doctors, and also they need to know what these doctors do … we have to work hard to keep [Griggs] in our community.” – Lynda MacLennan
His first degree, in Occupational Therapy, came from Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, CA in 1993. Years of study followed: fellowship training specializing in hand therapy, owning Teton Hand Therapy, studying and graduating from Saba University School of Medicine, interning, orthopedic residency, research and publishing chapters on surgery and rehab on the hand. Then in July of 2008, Griggs joined Dr. Gloria Biem at Alpine Orthopaedics and moved to Crested Butte.
When Griggs came to interview at Alpine Orthopaedics he thought to bring along his bike.
He ended up interviewing with a broken wrist: Welcome to Crested Butte.
Griggs says that before coming to Crested Butte he “interviewed in 20 different cities and just wasn’t happy.” He then circled places on a map of where he wanted to live, wanting to “build a practice around the lifestyle [he] wanted,” and after choosing Crested Butte for its prolific biking and backcountry skiing he found Alpine Orthopaedics. Since starting here Griggs has gained the approval of his many patients. MacLennan, a knee replacement patient, says, “He is one of the most caring and proficient doctors I have ever known.”
Vision To Give Back
Drawing from his experiences as an athlete, Griggs got an idea. When he was competing in bike races he had sponsors he relied on, and though sponsors were good, Griggs “thought it was better to start a team.” Griggs says local rider Dave Ochs had the same vision to start a team, Ochs got everything together and “All I said was, ‘Yeah! Let’s do it.’” The result was Team Alpine Orthopaedics Cycling, which consists of men and women from grassroots to pro riders. Last fall, Griggs found another way to give back when he was chosen as the Australia 2010 World Road Championships team doctor for USA cycling. “That was sweet,” Griggs says, “that was a good experience.”
“This community is phenomenal.” – Dr. Rhett Griggs
Griggs would not be able to do all that he does without support. He has no problem admitting, “I’ve got a lot of credit to give out. Dave Ochs with biking, and Gloria my partner, and the community: the ranchers, skiers and cyclists.” Griggs also points to Gunnison Trails for all Dave Wiens does with race promotion, trail maintenance, BLM and forest service. Griggs asks that if you would like to support him and what he does, support the local youth mentoring program Gunnison Country Partners. Like Griggs, you can take your successes and share them with others, and you can do this through the Gunnison based mentor program.
Learn more by going online: www.gunnisonmentors.com
Or send a check: Partners, 101 North 8th, Gunnison, Colorado 81230
The Go To Guide is proud to donate $100.00 to the Gunnison Country Partners in celebration of Dr. Rhett Griggs – Community Hero of 2011.
Jerry Gray
“I look at the stuff I do as just paying my dues.”
To simply call Jerry Gray “Lake city’s Jack of all trades” would be an understatement.
Jerry has been known in Lake City as a volunteer for 32 years. With his unique life résumé and humble approach to all he does, Jerry is more like the Jack who does it all and after directing EMTs and 50 mile races, caring for the deceased, running ultra races and volunteering everywhere else, he’s the man who says he’s just “paying my dues.”
The History of the Hero
Since 1976, Jerry has called Lake City his home. He’s raised four boys here and began his industrious career by starting a tipi manufacturing company. His boys’ many stitches, however, inspired Jerry to take a step farther in his interest in emergency medicine and enroll in a basic EMT class. Several years later in 1991, he turned that interest into a vocation as he became an intermediate EMT and then the EMS director of Lake City. As director, he says he is “very fortunate to have such a stellar team.” In 1995, Jerry became a paramedic and the Emergency Services Director, so Emergency Management became his duty. Currently he is the only full time residential paramedic. His “hardest job” Jerry admits, is being a small town’s Deputy Coroner. But despite the gravity of such a job he notes that he is privileged because he gets to take part in “writing the final chapter in the lives of the deceased.”
Vocation Aside
Service to humanity isn’t just what Jerry does for a living, it is in his character. Since 1988, he has operated a nonprofit Haute Route System in Hinsdale county. Currently there are three operational yurts in the system. Last year Jerry also volunteered his time to work with high school senior Andy McNitt. Andy was interested in forensics as a future occupation, so Jerry took him under his wing and worked with him, even so far as taking him to the Coroner’s Conference in Colorado Springs.
Running The Race
Jerry finds ultra races intriguing; so much so that he is both a runner and volunteer. For several years he was an Aid Station captain at the Hard Rock Hundred mile race. Then he, being the champion that he is, completed his first 50 mile race in 1997 at the age of 50! But he didn’t stop at the 50 mile mark, he ran the full Hard Rock 100. He continues to volunteer at the Hundred and is now the Race Director for the San Juan Solstice 50. The Solstice raises 10 to 15 thousand dollars a year for the Friends of Lake City EMT.
How You Can Support Jerry
The impressive thing about Jerry is that so much of his life is spent giving to others and he sums it up by saying, “I think making a big deal of the stuff I do is silly, because I am just really really lucky to be here and do them.” You can join Jerry in helping your community by participating and donating to any of these causes:
San Juan Solstice 50 Mile Run: www.lakecity50.com
Hard Rock 100: www.hardrock100.com
Friends of Lake City EMT’s:
www.hinsdalecountycolorado.us/EMS.html or www.lcamc.org/ems.html
Haute Route System: www.hinsdalehauteroute.org or www.lakeforkcf.org/
The Go To Guide is proud to donate $100.00 to the Hinsdale Haute Route in celebration of Jerry Grey – Community Hero of 2011.
