We’re excited to share the second round of Student Advisory Board interviews with local community leaders.
Our students asked the leaders questions about how high school impacted their lives and careers as well as issues facing high school students today. They also sought advice for making the most of their time in high school and early on in their careers.
In this edition, we hear from the first Colorado African-American member of Congress, the first female Boulder city manager, a healthcare CEO envisioning healthcare as an industry of service, and the co-founder of a wildly successful yoghurt company.
Below, our students provide a glimpse into their conversations, and you’ll find links to each individual interview.
Joe Neguse represents Colorado’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected to his first term in November 2018, becoming the first Colorado African-American member of Congress in our state’s history. He was interviewed by Jasper Brockett and Audrey Bahintchie.
Jasper enjoyed learning “the degree to which he was involved with things in college” and getting a behind the scenes look at life as a Congressman. Audrey related to how his immigrant parents have influenced how he lives his life, “as I too take on life with the beliefs that were passed down to me from my mother.”
Jane Brautigam is the former city manager of the City of Boulder. She is the first female city manager and longest serving Boulder city manager in modern history and shared her story with Elle Vickey.
More a conversation between the two than an interview, the experience of hearing that Jane enjoyed being a city manager more than being a lawyer surprised Elle. She found it interesting that Jane “believed in doing things that were able to help more people and reach her community.”
Isaac is the CEO of Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville, Colorado. He shared his experience as the son of Cuban immigrants and his journey into healthcare with Sara Cuervo and Lolita Grandbois.
Sara was surprised to hear Isaac talk about how higher positions often have less control but thought it made sense because “you have to rely on others, have trust, and allow for nuance to be a good leader.” Lolita enjoyed the opportunity to hear about Isaac’s journey to CEO “and getting to know him on a personal level.”
Koel Thomae is the Co-Founder of Noosa Yoghurt. She shared her story of building a yoghurt company with Bella Chang and Paul Masters.
Paul found it interesting to “hear from someone with an outside perspective on what it’s like to live in the United States.” And Bella was struck by the importance of building a strong team. Even though Koel didn’t have a background in dairy, “she paired up with someone with dairy experience and she was in charge of the business and marketing.”
Each of the leaders’ What I Know Now interviews highlights the uniqueness of success. We’re proud our Student Advisory Board leaders could bring out each leader’s individual story and learn so much in the process.
In this edition, we hear from the first Colorado African-American member of Congress, the first female Boulder city manager, a healthcare CEO envisioning healthcare as an industry of service, and the founder of a wildly successful yoghurt company.
What do a Google engineer, a Colorado House representative, and two entrepreneurs have in common?
Our Student Advisory Board recently set out to learn from leaders in our local community about how high school impacted their own lives and careers. These virtual interviews discussed favorite classes, important life skills, and issues such as equity, allowing students to glean key insights from a diverse group of community leaders.
How do their high school experiences contrast with those of current students in the Boulder Valley School District? What advice can they offer students navigating personal and academic growth as they look toward their futures?
And of course: what do a Google engineer, a Colorado House representative, and two entrepreneurs have in common? Each community leader emphasized the importance of written communication skills as critical to their success, one insisting that a pen and paper should travel with you everywhere you go!
Below, our students provide a glimpse into four of these conversations, and you’ll find links to each individual interview.
Bhavna Chhabra is the Payment Engineering Director and Boulder Site Lead for Google. She was interviewed by Noah Mollerstuen and Maya Clements. Bhavna shared her unique journey to engineering, emphasizing the importance of hard work and communication skills.
Noah’s favorite part of the interview “was the opportunity to get advice from an industry leader on what students in our position can do to create a more equitable and inclusive school system,” while Maya enjoyed learning what it’s like to hold an influential position, and hearing “ about the trials and tribulations that come with the path when you’re a minority in your field.”
Justin Gold is the Founder of Justin’s, a local natural foods company. He was interviewed by Lindsey Kendall and Mattie Pape. Justin shared his entrepreneurial journey and the importance of surrounding oneself with diverse and smart people who will challenge your thoughts and ideas.
Lindsey was surprised to hear Justin share two important skills for running a business: positivity and curiosity: “Those are the things you are told when you are young, but to know he still thought those were important was surprising.” Mattie enjoyed hearing “how his unique experiences shaped his company. This taught me that all of our unique interests can grow into something big.”
KC Becker is a former Colorado state representative and Speaker in the Colorado House of Representatives. She shared her high school experiences and political journey with our students, Abby Cohen and James Clemson.
When talking about “how to encourage diversity in both government and at school, she told us Colorado is one of two states with a majority female legislature, and emphasized how diversity can only be achieved through active effort,” says James. Abby says it was “an amazing opportunity. I really value her viewpoints … even though we disagreed on a few things.”
Pete Estler is an innovative tech entrepreneur who founded and served as CEO of Quintess, was Chief Executive Officer of dbINTELLECT Technologies, and later founded and served as CEO of MatchLogic. He shared his entrepreneurial lens and perspective with Emery Jansen and Roane Edwards.
Emery found “it was incredibly fascinating to research our interviewee and brainstorm questions that would truly challenge him…Pete recognized the importance of diversity of thought, meeting people from all walks of life … and he emphasized that experiencing life and exiting the bubble Boulder County kids live in is vital to gaining perspective and learning how to better collaborate.”
In this edition, we hear from the first Colorado African-American member of Congress, the first female Boulder city manager, a healthcare CEO envisioning healthcare as an industry of service, and the founder of a wildly successful yoghurt company.
What do a Google engineer, a Colorado House representative, and two entrepreneurs have in common?
Our Student Advisory Board is a fun and collaborative leadership experience for Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) high school students.
We launched this program in 2019 to help advise our efforts and guide our investments. Our Student Advisory Board brings together students currently enrolled in Boulder Valley’s 13 high schools to share their perspectives and insights and create an initiative focused on an issue of importance to them.
A new leadership opportunity for the 2020-2021 Student Advisory Board involves conducting interviews with members of our local community. Pairs of students are preparing questions and sitting down for virtual conversations with a diverse group of local leaders to answer the question: What do you know now?
Looking back from high school to the present, what stands out? What lessons or insights do you want to share with students? And what advice can you offer as students navigate issues from equity to diversity to innovation in public schools?
Students will be interviewing leaders from a variety of industries, including government, tech, natural foods, and healthcare. Each interview will be a little different, but we hope you’ll be inspired by their honest conversations about topics important to our students and maybe learn something new.
Edition 1:
Edition 2:
In this edition, we hear from the first Colorado African-American member of Congress, the first female Boulder city manager, a healthcare CEO envisioning healthcare as an industry of service, and the founder of a wildly successful yoghurt company.
What do a Google engineer, a Colorado House representative, and two entrepreneurs have in common?
The names Earl and Barbara Bolton may ring familiar for you. And if not, we’re so excited to be the ones to share their story with you.
Born in 1920 and 1924 respectively, Barbara and Earl both grew up in Boulder County: Barbara in the City of Boulder and Earl in the City of Longmont. The pair met in grade school, but fell in love while attending Boulder High School.
Barbara’s family owned a stage line that operated between Boulder, Nederland and Eldora, and Earl’s father and stepmother ran a local grocery store in Eldora. They played and worked in Eldora during the summers and in the winter they went to school in Boulder. Barbara’s family has a long history in Eldora and it’s where they eventually built their summer home.
Earl and Barbara were married shortly after Earl graduated from Boulder High, on November 15, 1942, and they spent their first three years of marriage apart while Earl served in WWII. Barbara studied drafting at the University of Colorado during that time. She became the first draftswoman for Boeing in Seattle, Washington, working on the B-17 during the war. Earl’s knack for electronics and engineering directed his service as a pilot in WWII, the Korean War and later the Air National Guard. Barbara and Earl were both avid aviators with Barbara learning to fly at 55 years of age!
The couple was married for 76 years. Barbara passed away in April 2019 and Earl shortly after in August 2019.
After Earl’s distinguished Army service, the two Boulder High School graduates returned to Boulder to work with the National Bureau of Standards (now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology), and retired together in 1980. They dedicated much of their lives to both aviation and education, pursuing leadership and learning opportunities for youth in Boulder County.
The Boltons were incredibly generous throughout their life, fostering several young people and making donations to many organizations in support of people and animals in danger. They were also active in preserving Colorado history, especially in maintaining the historical value of Eldora. As time went by they gave wonderful collections to local libraries, museums, schools, organizations and individuals.
The Boltons traveled to many countries, learning and exploring along the way. They had great compassion for underprivileged cultures and developed passions for geology and anthropology.
With a fondness for Boulder and the Boulder Valley School District, Earl and Barbara named Impact on Education in their will, leaving 70% of their estate to create a new scholarship for deserving BVSD graduates.
While they didn’t leave many assets behind, the sale of the home they built together in 1960 provides a new endowment of over $500,000 to create the Earl and Barbara Bolton Scholarship. We are honored to use this endowment to award deserving BVSD graduates with college scholarships. More details on the eligibility criteria and the application will be shared in February 2021.
It’s been such a tough year for students and we’re excited to have a new way to support a student in need in 2021. And to have an incredible asset that will support our vital work for decades to come.
Want to learn more about the Boltons?
Yes, the Impact on Education Student Advisory Board is back in session, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome our largest SAB team ever! This year’s group comprises 16 BVSD students, passionate about “talking school” and eager to use their experiences and observations to make positive changes within both their schools and the school district in general.
As we heard last night during our first meeting of the year, students are excited to “improve the educational system regarding inequality and inequity,” as one student put it, along with making the most of this great opportunity to “be a platform for minority students at Boulder High School,” as another responded to why she joined SAB. Other reasons for joining range from personal experiences with physically disabled students and wanting to expand those moments for other students to desires to make their schools that much more effective for their younger siblings. One student even boldly stated, “I want to have uncomfortable conversations because uncomfortable conversations are the most important ones to have.” Well, here we go!
For the first time since we started this program, the SAB members represent all four grade levels from freshman to senior, five of the BVSD high schools, and communities truly spanning the district from Nederland to Erie to Superior. As we gather monthly, we will hear from students whose concerns range from the lack of equity in student opportunity and access to the addressing of sexual assault to classism to prioritizing a voice for underrepresented student groups, such as special education students and LGBTQ students. And we will see these student activists collaborate with each other and with us to drive their own efforts and to support BVSD in their striving to improve.
Changes made to the program this year include all remote meetings and a new leadership opportunity involving interviews with community leaders. We can’t wait to see how these students run with what we have planned and what they bring to the table!
Welcome 2020-2021 Impact on Education Student Advisory Board!
info@impactoneducation.org
303.524.3865
Impact on Education
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Louisville, CO 80027
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