Joining the NES family

Barbara Lawlor

Next week, the Nederland Elementary School students will clamber off the buses, run up the sidewalk, their backpacks bouncing on their hips, pillows and jackets and school supplies clutched to their chests as they greet friends and teachers that they haven't seen for two and a half months.

Jumping up and down and screeching, huge hugs, feeling the crispness of sparkling clean school and bare classroom walls waiting to be covered with pictures, awards, stories and timelines of they accomplishments.

Most of the students already know the NES teachers and administrative staff, it's like coming back home for a family reunion. This year, three new teachers will be joining the family and they are eager to begin their new jobs in their new school in their new town and are especially looking forward to meeting the students who will be their at-school children.

Michelle Blanton will be teach all grades, preschool through fifth grade, working with students needing speech and language therapy.

She is a native Coloradoan from Broomfield and grew up loving to swim, ski, play soccer, camp, play chess, ping pong, run, play tennis, sled and participate in theatre, plays.

When Michelle was young, she rescued a kitten and was allowed to keep him, named him Popcorn and was inspired by caring for him. She says her first grade teacher Mrs. Forester at Emerald Elementary School and her Broomfield High School teacher Mr. Baldwin both had an impact on her education and life.

She loved sports and playing chess with her cousin; she loved being a Girl Scout and making new friends while helping the community with trash cleanups, singing and visits to nursery homes. Sports were on top of her activity list, she loved skiing and soccer and camping. Her favorite book was "Oh, the Places You Will Go," by Dr. Suess.

Although she grew up thinking she would like to be a pilot and/or a horse jockey, she discovered her educational passion was in high school biology and psychology.

After high school, Michelle went from horticulture to fashion design to construction management and then to journalism. She tried out for a ski instructor position at Breckenridge but wasn't hired, so she attended Colorado State University, Metro State in Denver and the University of Northern Colorado, studying speech/language Pathology because of watching her grandmother struggle after having a stroke.

"I wanted to help her and others like her. I also loved working with children and wanted to teach children to communicate better."

The first half of Michelle's career was spent in the medical field, helping victims of stroke, dementia and traumatic brain injury. The second part involved working in the school system with preschool to fifth grade students.

She jumped at the chance to work in Nederland.

"I finally have the opportunity to be where my heart is most happy...mountains! The mountains give me a happiness like no other.  I've always wanted to live in a small town near or in the Colorado mountains. I'm in love with Nederland! The people I've met are so incredibly friendly and passionate about the outdoors."

Michelle will bring her love for teaching and helping children to the classroom and promises that the students will learn that she is a loyal and compassionate adult.  

She says she can't wait to ski at Eldora after work and is looking forward to finding great hikes in the area.  

"I'm also hoping to get my dad up here for some fishing at Barker Reservoir."

Lindsay Records is the new  occupational therapist, working in the special education department at NES.

She grew up in between Nederland and Boulder and attended NES, enjoyed any outdoor activities but was most passionate about cross country ski racing in high school. She

also loved the hands-on classes she was able to take in high school such as ceramics and cooking.

Lindsay says she doesn't  remember having a set idea of what she wanted to do with her life, except she knew she wanted to attend to attend college and cross country ski race. Lindsay attended Whitman College where she studied economics.

After college, she lived in Crested Butte, where she coached the junior Nordic ski team and also worked at the Adaptive Sports Center, which provides outdoor adventure for people with disabilities. She began to get a clear idea of the profession she wanted to go into. She went back to school and earned a Ph.d degree in Occupational Therapy at Creighton University.

It was Lindsay's experience at the Adaptive Sports Center that led her to go back to school for occupational therapy. Lindsay completed her final internship for graduate school in the Boulder Valley School District and last year worked as an occupational therapist in the Rifle School District.

"I love working with kids, seeing their progress, and the team environment of a school. I went to Nederland Elementary School as a student and am very excited to return as an educator. I look at kids from a lens of what are their strengths, and how can we build on those together to be successful in the classroom."

Jenny Lee is the NES second/third teacher and says teaching in a mountain town is the perfect fit for her. She grew up in Steamboat Springs where skiing was a fact of life, where kids began skiing at the age of two. Her parents owned a combination ski/fly fishing shop and she was on the Steamboat Springs Ski Club competing in free style events, including the Junior Olympics in Park City, Utah.

"I had Olympic dreams at one point," she says. She competed in the mogul event, the half pipe, and the slope style competitions. But her dreams were not to be. When she had her third torn ACL surgery, it was time to dream elsewhere.

Jenny had moved to Boulder to study psychology, taking summer and fall classes and winters off to race. When she had to stop competing in 2008, it was hard for her to know what to do.

"I had lost my identity. But I had also begun to realize I wasn't a one dimensional person."

So Jenny worked as a nanny and then in a preschool classroom run by her sister while she went to college and found that she liked working with children. It was rewarding and inspired her to continue her studies in mental health. She applied for her master's degree in social work at DU. One fourth of the program involved working as a school social worker in Westminster and says that her favorite part of the program was working in the classroom, dealing with the social needs of the children. She left the program to become a teacher.

After joining the Friends' School in Boulder, a unique teacher preparation program, she attained her Colorado teaching license as well as the Master's degree in education. Jenny did her one year internship at Bear Creek Elementary School, in the classroom four days a week and in a seminar on Fridays. She graduated in December with a degree in education and human development. She taught kindergarten last year in Westminster and worked with English language learners.

Jenny says she always respected the Boulder Valley School District programs and, living in Boulder, could always see herself in Nederland. She is an avid rock climber and enjoys looking at the canyon walls on her commute. She has hiked and skied in the wilderness areas.

Her teaching philosophy is to be passionate about the whole child and feels that her demeanor as a calm person helps a child feel safe.

"I want kids to be life-long learners and to not dwell on mistakes, but to be willing to take risks. I have heard that Nederland children have the spirit of adventure and that they come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and I am excited to learn about them and the community."

Jenny says that her class will focus on a connecting with the resources in town and getting the kids out into the community.