Gary Barnett led the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks football team to multiple wins over his two seasons as the Fort Lewis College Head Coach. After coaching the Skyhawks, Barnett led the Northwestern Wildcats and Colorado Buffaloes to high-level bowl games. He was named the top college football coach in the country in 1995. In 2001, Barnett’s Colorado Buffaloes beat the number-one-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers 62-36 in a nationally televised contest on ABC.

The theater community is celebrating Nicholaus Sandner as Colorado’s top drama teacher. Sandner is a Durango local, a Fort Lewis College graduate and a drama teacher at Montezuma Cortez High School. Sandner was recently in Denver to accept his Colorado Theater Teacher of the Year award from the Colorado Thespians organization. Sandner says his students might be as happy as he is for the recognition.

Levi Kurlander is leaving his position as Executive Director of Durango Devo after serving for nearly eight years in the role. Under his leadership, Devo’s enrollment numbers have grown by nearly three times. Still, he considers his ability to back up a bike trailer the most important takeaway from his time at Durango Devo. Despite raising numerous Olympians and Pro Tour racers, Kurlander emphasized that Devo's goal remains to foster the love of riding bikes.