Julia Marchant retired in July 2009 from her position as principal of the Gardner School, a rural campus for preschool through eighth-grade students in south central Colorado. She was also the assessment coordinator for the Huerfano RE-1 School District and coordinated the federal consolidated programs such as Title I, II, III and IV. For fun, says Ms. Marchant, she taught math to seventh and eighth graders in her school. Her aim as principal was to create "a school environment of excitement where everyone—students, parents, teachers, support staff and community members—contribute to the educational of all and feel that they belong." Among the innovative programs she helped initiate and are still in place at the school were the One Room Schoolhouse celebration, a study and celebration of local history, Voices of the Past, an oral history program, job shadowing and mentoring for middle school students, Artist Day, a days where local artists teach workshops with all students, and PALS (People Actively Listening to Students) program, which enlists volunteers to listen each week to children reading aloud and then follow up with discussions. She has also reached out to the community for support created with much help the Gardner School Foundation, a 501c3 group that is endowed and financially supports the arts, supplemental and enrichment activities for the children at Gardner School. She presently serves on the Huerfano RE-1 School Board and is a board member of the Sangre de Cristo Center for Youth and is a "Friend" of Lathrop State Park. She volunteers at the school and with the youth programs, when not traveling or windsurfing.
1976 MA Educational Administration, University of New Mexico
1968 University of Maryland - College Park, B.A.
