Articles written by Kira Cordova

KIRA CORDOVA, Writers on the Range|Nov 19, 2025

I was a student at Western Colorado University in Gunnison, Colorado when my professor told our class he had a message for anyone wanting to work as a seasonal in the outdoor industry after graduating. His message was simple: “Get out of my classroom.” It wasn’t that he didn’t want us working as outdoor guides, trail crew leaders or ski bums. He wanted us to work as a seasonal, then come back to college when we were ready to value the economic stability of a degree. “You don’t need a degree to be a guide,” he said. “A degree is so you can move...