Hello, let me introduce myself: I am Kristin Icenogle, but at the school, I go by Miss Kris. I am originally from Arvada and an Arvada West High School 1993 graduate. I joined the U. S. Army that fall where I met my husband. We moved a lot while in the military, but we both finished our time in Maryland. We decided to come to Colorado to live, near my family, but not too close. We looked at property in West Arvada, but my husband was drawn to this house in Gilpin County. For a mountain property, it was flat land with a yard and space between neighbors. We moved in the first week of June of 2004, while it was snowing! We have made so many friends in this community in the last 19 years.

We have two kids in Gilpin County School; Lynda who is a junior, and Maybel who is a second grader. Both my kids started Montessori preschool at Gilpin Elementary at age 3 to get them some social interaction with kids their own age. We chose the school because it was our local school, and we found the Montessori program very open to our way of learning and we hoped that would help our children grow into strong students. Although we chose the same program, Montessori, it has been a very different experience for each of my kids.

Let me introduce you to my children. Lynda is in Student Council, in theater, on the Prom Committee, and is a Cheer Captain. She volunteers me as a chaperone for school dances and we do everything to help support her in these extracurricular activities. Maybel has done theater and has taught herself to swim at our vacation home in Florida.

I met a whole new group of people and found that the school needed me as a volunteer. Since then, I have been in the Montessori Community Group for seven years, the District Accountability Group, and many subgroups like the Wellness and Nutrition Committee, for around five years, the Booster Club for one year, and the Elementary Theater Program for two years. I even ran for the school board once. Plus, I volunteered in my elder daughter’s classrooms for most of those years.

I met two amazing, wonderful, patient, and encouraging teachers in our school that stand out to me and our kids. First, is Ms. Katie Yocom who is a Montessori Pre-K/Kinder teacher and our school Cheer Coach. Second, is Ms. Jen Turkaly who was the Montessori 1st-3rd grade teacher for my older daughter. Now this does not mean I think less of the other teachers in this school and so many of them have had an impact on us even if we were never in that teacher’s class. So many teachers know me, maybe not all by name, but they know my face (and my lack of height).

Yes, we summer in Florida and winter in Colorado: it’s opposite what it should be! While in Florida, we go to Walt Disney World Resort frequently. I would call our Disney life a fun hobby, but many would categorize it as fanatic. To us, it truly is family time with no stress and is relaxing with a major increase in physical activity. We also bought an RV and try to do a few long weekends a year visiting other places like the 4 Corners / Mesa Verde area or the Florida Keys. I am Gilpin County School!

April Open House

Save the date April 26, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. and plan to attend the Open House. Current and prospective students and parents are invited to the Open House to meet other students, parents, and school staff. GCSD students will be providing presentations, demonstrations, and performing theater and music. Students, parents and staff are encouraged to invite a new family as their guest to attend the Open House.