Meet Amy, an El Pomar Foundation Fellow (2024) and Boettcher Scholar (2020). Amy grew up in Limon and graduated from University of Northern Colorado with a degree in communications studies.
At El Pomar, she participated in the foundation’s two-year fellowship program — a unique leadership development experience for recent college graduates. The fellowship provides hands-on opportunities in grantmaking, nonprofit leadership, and community engagement, including helping to staff El Pomar’s regional councils that support local initiatives across Colorado.
Over the past two years, Amy has worked closely with communities and leaders throughout the state. As she completes her fellowship, she reflects on her experience and shares what’s next.
Looking back on your two years with El Pomar, what experiences or projects had the greatest impact on your personal or professional growth?
As far as my professional growth, I learned the most through Fellowship Recruiting and working on the San Juan and Southeast Regional Councils. These programs gave me a greater insight to critical thinking, building relationships, and facilitating conversations. I appreciated the opportunity to try new ideas and evaluate processes to make future improvement.
Outward Bound was a wonderful (and challenging) experience for my personal growth, whether it be backpacking in the Holy Cross Wilderness or rafting the Colorado River. Connecting with the Fellows on a deeper level while simultaneously challenging my physical limits reminded me that there is no growth in comfort and no comfort in growth. Overall, I grew exponentially in my time as a Fellow in both a personal and professional way.
How did working with communities and leaders across Colorado shape your understanding of leadership or service?
Engaging with diverse communities and leaders across Colorado has profoundly shaped my perspective on leadership and service. I’ve learned that leadership requires listening, adapting, and empowering others. Each community has unique challenges and strengths, and effective leadership calls one to recognize those differences while fostering collaboration.
Service, I’ve learned, is rooted in the principles of empathy, compassion, and humility and requires a commitment to contributing to the well-being of others and the greater community. The leaders in Colorado communities are service-minded, and that truly inspired me in the work I did at El Pomar.
What was one challenge you faced during the Fellowship, and how did it influence the way you approach your work now?
A challenge I faced during my Fellowship was working with multiple program leads simultaneously. There were moments it was challenging, adapting to the different working and leadership styles, and equally that was such a great opportunity to learn from so many different leaders and adapt pieces of their leadership style that were similar to mine. It taught me that there could be multiple answers to an challenge and to consider solutions from different points of view.
Now that you’ve completed the Fellowship, what’s next for you—and how do you see your El Pomar experience influencing that path?
While I’m still unsure of my career path, I am happy to share that I am training to be a Peace Corps Volunteer in Belize for the next two years, teaching local youth life skills through sports. Throughout my life, sports have been incredibly influential, and to have the opportunity to work with youth through sports while immersing myself in a new culture is truly remarkable.
My experience at El Pomar Foundation showed me the importance of building your network, staying innovative, and collaborating for a greater goal. Seeing leaders across Colorado contributing to their communities, I wanted to challenge myself to use my skillset, knowledge, and experiences to give back.
