Rick and Susie Graetz bring a group of students from the University of Montana in Missoula to to the North Fork each January. As a part of their activities while on the North Fork, the Graetz make a presentation with beautiful photographs at Sondreson Hall. This year the presentation is on Monday, January 16, starting at 6:30PM. Please come enjoy this annual event, hear the Graetz, and meet the students.
Following is a letter from Susie Graetz talking about their upcoming visit and presentation… There is something about the holidays that makes me sit back and count my blessings.
Yesterday, while I was putting away the trappings of Christmas at the same time I was hauling out and checking off the gear we [she and her husband Rick Graetz) need to pack for our Polebridge Field Course, it dawned on me that this will be our 10th year of bringing students for a week to the amazing landscape you all are lucky to call home.
The course of study is wide-ranging and a great amount of information is crammed into our short stay… we expose the students to twice daily lectures by experts on fire, wildlife, national and state land management, geography, history, and geology (to name a few subjects), they have pre-trip reading assignments, research projects to complete, lecture notes to turn in, daily snowshoe treks into the landscape they are studying, and as always a final test. But, I feel it is meeting you, the members of this valley that has made the biggest impression on them.
You have shared your knowledge, opened your homes, given advice, and made us feel welcome.
I hope you will join us 6:30pm Monday evening (January 16) at the Community Hall for our traditional gathering and lecture. Come and help us celebrate; we want to thank you for your friendship!
I am so looking forward to seeing you again,
Susie Graetz
P.S. To quote the parent of one of our Polebridge class students, “Thank you for all you’ve done for our son. When he comes home to visit, he no longer talks just about football, but about your classes and what he has learned. You have broadened his world by getting him out into it; you have changed how he sees life.”
We couldn’t have made this kind of impact on our students without the kindness and generosity of you, our North Fork friends.