Partnerships are Key to Connecting Kids with the Great Outdoors

by Kristen Lummis
SpokeandBlossom.com

Kat Fitzpatrick wears many hats. Since joining The Nature Connection (The Nature Connection) as executive director in 2018, Fitzpatrick has taken on roles as diverse as facilitating K-12 outdoor education, managing grants, fundraising, working with public land agencies, promoting environmental stewardship, and developing community partnerships. She’s even learned how to cut steel, a skill needed when she and a friend designed and built a new storage system for The Nature Connection’s extensive inventory of cross-country ski gear.

Fitzpatrick’s versatility, a trait she shares with The Nature Connection’s Program Director Priscilla Williams, makes her a good fit for The Nature Connection, a nonprofit providing hands-on outdoor experiences to K-12 students in Delta County and Olathe. Interestingly, both Fitzpatrick and Williams are western Colorado natives, with Fitzpatrick coming from Basalt and Williams from Palisade.