Spotlight on: Deb Alpe
Jackson County
County Director
Greetings from lovely North Park, aka Jackson County!
I'm Deb Alpe, the lone Extension
Agent and County Director for CSU Extension in Jackson County for the past four
years. Prior to that I worked with the wild and crazy Extension team in Routt
County for nine years as the FCS/4-H Youth Development agent, including one
crazy year split between Routt and Jackson Counties that required more trips
driving Rabbit Ears Pass than most residents make in a lifetime!
I am
married to hubby Mike, who is the Range Specialist on the Parks District of the
Routt/Medicine Bow National Forest. Together, we have raised three spirited and
well traveled children; Alyssa, 27, Aaron, 25 and Jared, 23. Mike and I met
right here in North Park 33 years ago this summer on a backpacking adventure
with mutual friends.
For more than a decade, we made a living in North
Park horse logging and working for a small house log sawmill company. It was
great spending our summers camping and working in the woods until we had two
kids in diapers and a toddler in tow when outdoor life became a bit more
complicated.
In the late 80's, the timber industry began the massive
decline and we decided we better both go back to further our educations and
figure out a way to settle into more lucrative careers. That journey took us
first to Flagstaff, Arizona to Northern Arizona University where I finished my
B.S. and an M.A. in Applied Sociology from Northern Arizona
University.
Then we were off to the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho
where I completed five semesters of PhD work addressing Social Dimensions of
Natural Resource Management and hubby acquired his M.S. in Range Science. I
burned out on academia during the PhD stint and, unfortunately, never did
complete it. Instead, I immersed myself in community work…did a stint with
AmeriCorps, became the Executive Director of a non-profit operating a homeless
shelter, food and clothing bank, and a thrift store.
I volunteered for Cub Scouts, Campfire Kids,
4-H and the local arts council. Finally, one day in 1996, smack dab in the
middle of a frantic "grant writing for survival" session in my job with the
homeless shelter, Mike tied me to the desk and made me fill out the grueling
application with CSU Extension for the position in Routt County. Life changed
that summer when I got the job and we packed up the family and headed back to
Colorado!
As lucky year number thirteen whizzes by, I reflect back and
realize that my career with CSU Extension has offered a plethora of
opportunities to pursue my passion for community work while keeping my feet
firmly planted in academia…which seems to be just the right balance for
me!