Voices of Western Colorado: Collaboration

Originally published in the Spring 2020 issue of SPOKE+BLOSSOM.

We asked these Western Slope locals to weigh in on this topic.

Kyle Mickelson

“Everybody has strengths and weaknesses. Everybody brings a history of personal experiences. Everybody has their own set of morals and beliefs. When a group of people comes together with open minds and problem solving perspectives, they can truly collaborate. When collaborating, one has to understand that they do not have all of the answers and that it is a game of give and take to solve a problem or resolve an issue. As a survivor of the Columbine High School tragedy of 1999, I experienced firsthand the impact of a community that collaborates together. Through the common pain that we all felt, we were able to reclaim our school and we were more united than ever before. I look back at how my hometown was able to come together and I am proud of the Columbine community. When it seemed impossible to move forward, our community and our school united together to move forward. Differences will always exist, but the Columbine community rallied together. Over twenty years has passed, but I will never forget how the students, staff, parents, community members, local businesses, churches, government officials, local sports teams, and many more were able to work together to help the injured and provide comfort to the survivors. A community collaborated to honor those that were lost and memorialize them as a reminder to never forget the value of human life and the importance of the thirteen special people that were lost. As a community we vowed to never forget them and they are remembered to this date. I know that I would not have made it through that time period if it weren’t for the amazing collaboration of my Columbine community. We were forced to come together because of tragedy, but from that darkness a community came together and was a living, breathing example of collaboration.”

Kyle Mickelson is an Assistant Principal at Rifle High School.

Ashley “Goose” Cameron

“Collaboration is one of the most important factors in fostering community and connection with others. It enables people within an organization, community, team, even family, to engage with each other productively and efficiently. I learned the importance of collaboration in the military very quickly, and continuing to live a life of service to others outside of the military only reinforces that importance. When you work with others to achieve a goal, you uplift one another, make a personal connection, and learn about and from others, as well as yourself. Collaboration teaches the importance of sharing, leading, supporting, and how incredible things are when you have the help of others, building a sense of community and support. In the end you have others to celebrate your accomplishment with, and that is so much better than doing it alone.”

Goose is a military veteran turned yogi, based in Grand Junction.

Ryan Dutch

“I view collaboration as an inherent human strength — the sharing of ideas and strengths of individuals (plus or minus) to create an outcome greater than what could have been done alone. However, in limiting our view of collaboration to a group of people, we often ignore the power of using our natural surroundings and wild spaces as a contributing factor. Through the CMU Outdoor Program, we use intentional collaboration with our environment to not only promote protecting our wild spaces, but also in improving ourselves. We use the outdoors as a classroom to inspire passion in people to become better. In return then, we must give back by protecting and preserving through our political voice, showing compassion by treating everything with respect, and leaving it better than we found it and not being wasteful with resources.”

Ryan Dutch is the Outdoor Program director for Colorado Mesa University.