Board & Staff

Jill Shenkel Henwood came to the Yampa Valley Partnership for Students, Stewardship & Sustainability as a passionate educator and non-profit leader.  Her personal mission since student teaching in inner-city Philadelphia has been to help empower young people with the skills and abilities needed  to change their world.  Jill is a western Colorado native, received her Bachelor’s Degree in Human Biology, with a focus on cross-cultural education, from Stanford University, and her Master’s Degree in Education from University of Pennsylvania.  Her teaching career began on the Zuni and Navajo reservations in New Mexico before moving back to Western Colorado, eventually landing with her family in Olathe, Colorado. 

While in Western Colorado, Jill established and grew Girls on the Run of Western Colorado. The organization began with 40 girls and 12 coaches at two sites, and under  leadership it grew to serve more than 2500 girls annually (coached by 600+ volunteer coaches) at 120 sites (23 counties) throughout Western Colorado, eastern Utah and northwest New Mexico.  Jill simultaneously maintained her connections to K-12 education as an ESL teacher and cross country/track coach in Olathe.  After moving to the Denver metro area, she returned to the classroom as a STEAM teacher in Englewood, but remained committed to educational equity and opportunity for all students, especially those in rural Colorado.

Her passion for rural Colorado education while living in Littleton brought her to the Nathan Yip Foundation, an organization committed to supporting rural Colorado schools through grants.  After three years with the Nathan Yip Foundation, the YVPS3 opportunity arose in northwest Colorado and was a chance for her to actually live with her husband in Yampa, CO after many years living and working in different areas and returning to the western slope.

Jill has three daughters who experienced both the opportunities and the limitations of rural education in Olathe, Colorado, and a husband who is a rural Colorado superintendent.  She is a lifelong runner who finds inspiration and ideas on trail runs with her dog, enjoys time running in the pool or on trails with her running with her friends.  Most of all, she enjoys visiting her daughters – wherever their lives take them – currently Pennsylvania, Florida and South Carolina.

Jesse LaRose is the Dean of Students at South Routt School District. Jesse is a father of five in a blended family. He is a first-generation college graduate and the first of his direct family to graduate high school. Jesse has been teaching for more than a decade. He has both taught, and built a math curriculum for kindergarten through college students. Before becoming the Dean of Students at SOROCO, he was the Dean of Craig Campus and Academics at Colorado Northwestern Community College. He served as the Dean of Arts and Sciences, and prior to that, the Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences. Jesse is also active in his community through his leadership in extracurricular activities.

He has coached over 20 seasons for the local high school track and field team, football team, girls’ basketball team. In addition, he coached the local middle school boys’ basketball team, cross country team, track and wrestling teams.  He enjoys spending his free time hunting with his daughter and wife, boating on Colorado’s amazing reservoirs, floating the Yampa River, and hiking the Rocky Mountains. Jesse also is a huge fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Tim is currently the Director of Teaching and Learning for Steamboat Springs School District and the proud husband of Andrea Ridder and proud father of Henrietta and Elijah Ridder. Tim's previous stops include his role as a building administrator in Breckenridge, Loveland, Leadville, and Greeley, Colorado. Tim also has experience as a teacher in both Indianapolis, Indiana and Greeley, Colorado. He coached football for a year each at the University of Utah and the University of Colorado.

Nick Cocozzella serves as the Chief Operations Officer and Director of Secondary Partnerships at Colorado Northwestern Community College (CNCC) where he has led transformative initiatives in education for over ten years. His leadership contributed to CNCC receiving the 2022 Outstanding Postsecondary Program Award from the Colorado Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association. As a strategic and community-driven leader, Cocozzella is deeply committed to expanding access to education through collaborative partnerships, particularly in underserved and under-resourced regions. He brings a bold, solutions-oriented approach to building meaningful partnerships that drive opportunity and long-term success for students.

Tammie Delaney grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado as the youngest of a large family that treasured social gatherings, the outdoors and competitions.  This upbringing led her into a diverse path of special events coordination, systems operation management and community visioning and land use planning.

Tammie met her husband Patrick while leading bicycle tours in New England and Europe.  With a shared love of historic places, they settled in Hayden, Colorado in 1994 raising their two children along with livestock, horses and poultry –and a few yaks – on their historic 1919 ranch.

In December 2008 Tammie and Patrick purchased the historic Hayden Granary built in 1917 and soon re-purposed the former feed store into Wild Goose Coffee - a connecting place for people and ideas. The current effort utilizes insights on community visions to transform a former grain elevator into a community hub for local food, beverage and creative industries. 

Tammie currently is a barista at their Wild Goose Coffee shop; coordinator for the non-profit Historic Hayden Granary; and served 8 years on the Hayden School District Board of Education (2 as President).  Through the years she has been highly active in the planning and economic development realms with a focus on agriculture and community engagement.

A passion for gathering friends and family around food, horses, skiing, agriculture, historic preservation and the outdoors is shared with her active family.

Mr. Eric Owen moved to the Yampa Valley in July 2023, and is the Superintendent of Schools for the Hayden School District RE-1. Mr. Owen has been a public educator for the past 23 years and joins us following years as an elementary school teacher, assistant principal, and principal in the Fountain-Fort Carson and Woodland Park School Districts. He is a strong advocate for the power of education and is a staunch believer that a school should be the hub of a small community. He is excited to become a part of the Hayden community and the Valley.

Prior to beginning his career in education, Eric grew up on the Front Range of Colorado within shouting distance of Pikes Peak. Following his graduation from Ft. Lewis College in Durango, Mr. Owen worked in the business sector for a financial institution and community non-profit in New Mexico. He moved back to the Front Range to begin his career in education. He has two grown children, a daughter living in Florida, and a son living in Colorado Springs. When not working, Eric enjoys spending time outside whether that’s hiking, kayaking, cycling, snowshoeing, or simply spending time at a campsite.

Dr. John Lawrence is the Dean of the School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math for the Colorado Mountain College system. He previously served the CMC-Steamboat Campus as an Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and as an Assistant Dean of Instruction. He champions concurrent enrollment, forms meaningful articulation agreements and partnerships, and looks forward to creating more pathways, degrees, and training that will benefit people living in Colorado Rocky Mountain towns. Prior to CMC, John was an Assistant Professor at Northern Michigan University, the Laboratory Director at the Upper Michigan Brain Tumor Center and a postdoctoral research fellow, as well as an adjunct faculty and instructor. He resides in Steamboat Springs with his family and likes to ski, bike, and camp, sometimes a combination of these activities at the same time.

Mark is the Chief Operating Officer at Rocky Mountain Youth Corps. He leads the organization's partnership development and manages the Program Directors. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors for the Yampa Valley Partnership for Students, Stewardship, and Sustainability, Mark serves on the South Routt Recreation Association Board and several regional outdoor-orientation coalitions and committees. After moving to Colorado in 1994, Mark found himself in paradise! Mark earned a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Naropa University (Boulder, CO) in 1999 and a Master of Science in Environmental Education from Leslie University’s Audubon Expedition Institute (a field-based program across the nation) in 2005. Following several years of outdoor work in Colorado and Alaska in conservation corps and wilderness guiding programs, he is honored to work with the amazing staff at RMYC and partner organizations to empower young people to make positive changes in their lives and the environment.

Mark finds inspiration from his wife, children, and the young people in RMYC’s programs—people who are fully immersed in curiosity and excitement about the possibilities in life. Mark enjoys time with his wife, Kim, son, Henry, daughter, Alice, dog, Sunday, and cat, Cowie, who joins the family on neighborhood walks near their home in Oak Creek, CO. His favorite activities include talking about, preparing for, and then actually rafting, paddle boarding, hiking, camping, biking, skiing, snowboarding, hunting, fishing, playing guitar, and singing.