Hi Simon, welcome back to HMI! Can you tell us a bit about your new role and your connection to HMI?
Thank you so much! I couldn’t be more excited to be back at HMI and in Leadville and I’m really looking forward to seeing the school from a staff perspective. My role is Advancement Associate, which means I will be focused on alumni relations, fundraising, and external communications. I’ll be one of the main people at HMI interfacing with our wonderful group of alumni. I was a student in HMI Semester 38 in spring 2017.
What have you been up to since you were last with HMI?
Most of my time since being a student here was spent studying at CU Boulder where I graduated last spring with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in leadership. Along with my time in Boulder, I also spent some time living in Montana and New Mexico, and since graduating from college I have had an incredible year of travel including a few months living in France and following my mountain running dreams!
So you’re a semi-professional runner? Tell us more.
Haha yes! Running is a huge part of my life. I was an avid runner all through high school and got into the trail and mountain running world very young. I took a few years mostly off of running during college while dealing with some injuries but I came back to the sport over the last year and a half and had a lot of success, including the running FKT (fastest known time) on Mount Hood, some solid domestic race results and capped off 2023 by spending three months living in the European Alps competing in the Skyrunner World Series (check out this video for a sense of what the series is all about) and running up and down as many peaks there as I could. Possibly my most proud running achievement is my HMI Fun Run course record (1:04:14) which I believe I still hold.
Sounds like you’ve been having a blast! What excites you most about this job?
Oh so many things to be excited about. On the job side of things I am really looking forward to being more connected with alumni from all of the HMI Semesters, and getting to know so many new people that are part of this wonderful community. A lot of my closest friends are HMI alumni either from my semester or others so having the focus of my job be all about connecting members of the alumni community is a dream. Outside of the job itself I am also really excited about being back in Leadville. I am from a tiny Colorado town myself (Mancos) so it feels very homey here. Plus getting to really explore all of the surrounding mountains by foot, bike and ski is something I have wanted to do for a long time.
Do you have a core memory from your time at HMI?
It’s hard to pick one core memory from my time as a student, but the winter expedition has always stood out in my mind as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was incredible to live in a quigloo and ski to my heart’s content every day.
