Anika was incredibly creative. She helped launch the county rodeo; organized events to celebrate Boulder; supported youth through Big Brothers & Sisters; generated business opportunities through the Chamber; helped youth develop a love of animals and agriculture through 4H; and spent a lifetime turning young people into learners.
Anika’s passion for sharing life with young people led her to a career in education. She started teaching in Cardwell in 1992 and, a year later, moved to the Boulder Elementary School, where she taught 7th and 8th grade science and social studies and art for all elementary grades.
Anika not only wanted young people to learn about our world through science, but experience the science for themselves. She tried to know each student as well as possible, then help them utilize their strengths to “experience” education. Her style was very hands on. She didn’t want to just stand up front and talk; she felt the more she could gain student participation and sharing with each other, the more they would learn individually. The concept of “no student left behind” belonged to Anika well before it became a national slogan.
She organized an annual school field trip to the Elkhorn Mountains each autumn for students to conduct experiments to identify ages of trees, identify plants and animals, and learn about the needs for a natural balance between forest plants and animals. She enjoyed being part of the “Forest for Every Classroom.” For several students, that experience was a pathway into a forestry career.
She also helped arrange a winter trip back to the Elkhorns to observe how plants change in cold weather; identify animal tracks in the snow; and determine what animals eat when many plants are dormant and there is snow on the ground. Many years, students learned the additional science of snow by wearing snowshoes in the Elkhorn Mountains, and snow skis on trips to Discovery Ski Area.
Anika helped organize junior high field trips to different parts of Montana. She even accompanied students to Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. And on family vacations, Anika would collect material to share with students: A trip to Mt. Saint Helens in Washington yielded a unit about volcanoes; a trip to visit “Free Willy” in Oregon became a unit on behaviors of killer whales; and a trip to Seattle offered classroom material on Mt. Rainier, Mt. Olympus, the Puget Sound and rain forests.
She took her teaching responsibilities very seriously, earning both a Master’s Degree in education and a National Board Certification designation. She was twice nominated for Montana State Teacher of the Year. Even after retiring from the local school district, Anika continued her passion for youth education by serving as Jefferson County’s Superintendent of Schools.
But Anika’s creativity didn’t stop in the classroom. In 1997, she and a partner created the only coffee stand in Boulder, on a vacant lot next to the Elkhorn Café, for those with a passion for gourmet coffee. She shared her artistic skills by painting the “Have a Swig at Sig’s” mural on the side of a building on Boulder’s Main Street; and painted signs for the Jefferson County Faigrounds entrances along with numerous signs for ranches, friends and family. One of her last paintings was a self-portrait fly fishing on the Boulder River.
Anika was known for her incredible gift of story-telling. With her enthusiasm, quick wit and charisma, it was nearly impossible not to get caught up in her stories. She had the ability to draw us in by sharing her passion for one of her experiences, or by creating a tale that included us in the moment. She loved music, too, because songs create stories with melody. Anika wanted us to feel something, rather than just hear it. She knew that most things we hear are forgotten quickly, but things we feel can last forever.
Anika was all about creating moments. She lived in the moment and wanted us to stop and appreciate the present together. She would want to stop and share a sunset, stop and share the smells in the forest, stop and celebrate a student’s victory, stop and laugh about something silly, stop and consider the wonder of a glacier or stop and praise a child for something small. She took the time to help create moments with her family and friends; with students and fellow teachers and with her community. Anika wanted us to pause and remember the special moments in our lives.
When we stack all the special moments Anika helped create with us, we have a special lifetime. A life full of moments with a very special person; a person who cared deeply about us. And those moments have become memories; memories that will never leave our hearts.
