Alumni “Running has taught me to work hard, be persistent, and be patient. I feel like many of these traits have transferred over into other aspects of life,” Colin says, adding that school and academics are much easier when applying lessons he learns from running. “I have always been more of an introvert so was not sure how good of a leader I could be,” he says. He was made a captain of the Cross Country Team his sophomore year. “I found that in many ways, I was successfully able to lead by example.” “My athletic career at Summit allowed me to continue running competitively in college,” says Colin, who had a successful freshman season at Williams College. He has not settled on a major, but feels ready for the future. “I hope to be well prepared regardless of what I choose to do.”
Grace, far right, with another member of her St. Louis AmeriCorps unit, wait for their ride after a firefighting exercise.
Grace Bertsch ’07 Fights Fires with AmeriCorps By Michael Amann ’05 Grace Bertsch ’07 is a member of a 35-member AmeriCorps St. Louis Emergency Response Team. Her job is to assist in the event of natural disasters in Missouri and throughout the Midwest, which has most often meant preventing the spread of forest fires. Prior to this assignment, she worked with an AmeriCorps trail crew in Alaska. Recently, in three intense days of training and burning, she and her team suppressed four wildfires and saved three structures in Missouri. “I couldn’t possibly explain precisely how or why this lifestyle fulfills me,” says Grace. “I simply know the feeling I have when I pause for a drink at a hill’s crest with my crew mates scattered in front and behind me and the fevered wildfire unfurled out over the land like a banderole and the anxious smoke in my eyes, the trembling of my muscles, the ripening blisters on my feet: unadulterated exhilaration.” Grace credits The Summit with giving her a passion for service. “My years at The Summit opened my eyes to the need for volunteering and sparked an interest in taking part in community development,” she says. “I learned then that even the smallest gestures of goodwill can mean a great deal, and that all living creatures are deserving of our love and compassion.”
Colin Cotton leads the pack at the 2010 state cross country meet.
Grace uses a rake as a torch in her first training exercise with her AmeriCorps disaster response unit in St. Louis. Summit Magazine 49