Kerry Kurt, R.N., M.Div.: President

Kerry was raised in Charlotte, VT, where she attended local grade school and high school. At the age of six, a local family gave her the opportunity to pursue her passion for horses. She graduated from the University of Vermont School of Nursing in 1983 and moved to New Jersey to become a working student with classical dressage coach Hector Carmona. After returning to Vermont and raising her children, she was elected to the Vermont State House of Representatives, serving from 1992 to 1997. Kerry was, and remains, active in the arts and building industries of Vermont.
In 1997, Kerry and her two sons moved to Colorado where she learned the beef cattle industry while ranching in the Rockies. She later received her Master’s of Divinity, with a focus in Pastoral Counseling from Iliff School of Theology in Denver and founded the non-profit Unbound Grace before moving back to her home state of Vermont. The work involved in resurrecting a defunct dairy farm in Starksboro, turning it into a farm-based educational campus focused on community health and wellness is a labor of Love. The farm is the center of youth and family programming and is the essential ingredient to re-connecting all visitors to activities centered around the action based  responsibilities of Good Stewardship  The farm focuses on raising Grass Fed & Finished beef, chickens and sport horses, a community garden with a seasonal farm market and deli all of which act as skill and resume building first work opportunities for Unbound Grace students.  All aspects of the farm act as a working campus for the expansion of the Unbound Grace mission to Vermont’s youth. Kerry most enjoys offering opportunities for all youth to reconnect to their traditional agricultural roots while fostering a growing and supportive space for attendees, their families and the community as a whole to reconnect to the joy of responsibility of Good Stewardship for all life.

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Morgan Cote: Board Member

Morgan Cote lives in Lincoln, Vermont.  She graduated from Mt. Abraham Union High School and Hannaford Career Center’s  Agribusiness program in 2012.  Morgan now works at Homeward Bound, Addison County Humane Society.  As a teenager Morgan was an Unbound Grace participant working with the horses and cattle and in the on-campus Horse N Rebel General Store & Market. Morgan’s  goal is to help kids and young adults have the same opportunity she had growing up by having a place to go to  learn and work with animals and to enjoy the many physical activities and skills she learned on an active farm. Currently she acts as a mentor with the Unbound Grace ~ Sentinel Farms  youngsters and enjoys returning to weekly camp out nights during the  during the annual summer UGSF  Arts, Agriculture & Equestrian Summer Camp Programs and has now taken on the responsibility of joining the Board of Unbound Grace. In her free time she enjoys being outside riding and driving her horse, Captain, and hiking with her dogs.

 

robindionphotoRobin Dion: Board Member, Treasurer

Robin was raised in South Burlington, Vermont, where she attended public schools. Upon graduation from high school she went on to receive an Associates Degree in Early Childhood Education from Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. She left Vermont for ten years to live in North Carolina, where she gave birth to two sons, and received a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from Fayetteville State University. In 1991 she moved back to her beloved state of Vermont and began working in the field of Early Childhood Education. During this time Robin gave birth to a daughter. In Dec. 2012, she became a Grammy to grandson, Grady. She currently lives in Bristol Vermont, where she works in the public school. Robin spent most of her adult life as mother and teacher loving, nurturing and encouraging all the young people in her life to love themselves and to strive toward being the best they can be. She values public education, although she sees that not all children learn the same way and can benefit through different learning styles. She has a passion for nature, the outdoors and always has a home filled with pets. Robin hopes to continue her journey serving her passions….. God and his children.

 

 Jim Geier: Board Member

While attending high school in Albany, NY and St. Micheal’s College in Winooski, VT, Jim spent summers working with his grandfather in Schodack, NY doing masonry and carpentry work. Enjoying the work as well as the time spent with his grandfather, these summers created the foundation of Jim’s love of working with materials, design and art. After spending a year teaching and three years serving in the Army, Jim returned to Burlington and renovated homes. He started a shop where he designed and built cabinets. This business  grew to become Vermont Folk Rocker, where Jim designs and builds a huge variety of furniture and custom work, and is now located in Starksboro. Jim works with Unbound Grace to provide an opportunity for youth to explore passions of design and art.

 

 

Norbert Kmoch: Board Member

Mr. Kmoch was born and reared on a diversifed agricultural operating farm near Leigh, Nebraska. This experience with livestock, crop growing, working with other people and managing employees instilled in him a basis of respect for animals, Mother Nature, planning ahead and executing in order to accomplish tasks in an orderly manner. These early work experiences provided significant training for a lifelong methodology: make good decisions now in order to accomplish results months and years later. Attendant to the experiences set forth, it was important to know that the people who were associated would do what they said to be able to count on those relationships to make things move forward in unison. Anyone whose word was not good was soon vetted out of the group of people doning business with the farm.

Mr. Kmoch attended the Univesity of Nebraska where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geology and a commission the the U. S. Navy. After returning to civilian life, Mr. Kmoch sold ranches in the Western United States and did work in minerals development, which he is still doing as his primary occupation. His focus with Unbound Grace is to help people who have had none of these farm-related experiences to have the opportunity to take part in the operatives and agriculturally-oriented experiences at the farm in Vermont and hopefully, later in other places as Unbound Grace experiences growth. Mr. Kmoch sees Unbound Grace as an opportunity to “give back” to people who have not been as fortunate and to teach young people in Unbound Grace’s basic philosophy of “on the job training” in agricultural roots.

 

Keenan Kurt: Advising Director

Keenan was born in Colchester, Vermont and recently moved back to the Green Mountain State from Colorado, where he has lived most of his life. While in Colorado, he spent time on a cattle ranch, gaining horse and livestock experience and completed an Outward Bound Course in the Rockies. Keenan took part in Youth Leadership Jefferson County, Boys State, and MVP Program, gaining leadership and mentoring experience. He has spent the last 3 years learning and practicing horticulture, aquaponics, and permaculture. Keenan is interested in self-sustainability and enjoys gardening, farming and spending time outdoors.

 

 

Rick Mason: Board Member

Rick Mason grew up in Starksboro, VT and presently lives in Hinesburg with his wife, Heather and young son, Everett. Rick is self-employed. In warmer months Rick works as a dry stone wall mason, having learned this art from his dad, Stoney of Starksboro. In the winter, Rick works as a logger. Rick worked for years as the sawyer at a sawmill in Starksboro, formerly Purinton’s Sawmill. Rick is known for “getting the job done” and utilizes his Yankee ingenuity daily. Rick likes to hike, hunt and fish. Mostly during his free time, Rick can be found helping a friend or playing with Everett.

 

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Nicole Morse: Board Member, Secretary
Hi I’m Nicole, I obtained my BSN-RN from Elmira College and currently work as a nurse and serve as a preceptor to new graduate nurses. I have a passion for education and caring for other which includes inspiring others to be the healthiest version of their self, mentally and physically. It is my own strong belief that our youth are our future and what we put into them and teach them is what we will reap from the seeds we plant in their frameworks.

The things I learned in my childhood of the greatest value were learned through my relationship with horses.  Horses taught me patience and understanding as well as, passion, hard work, perseverance, and above all else self respect and love. We must love who we are in order to love anything else and in this day and age it is harder then ever for our youth to learn self love when media tells us who and what we should be. Thus, I believe in the ways of Unbound Grace and stand united with our beautiful Board members and youth to teach and inspire the leaders of our tomorrow’s to do as I’ve done and spread the positive energy and values one learns on a farm and through horses.

 

Sara Williams, PhD: Board Member, Vice-president

Sara Williams is a post doctoral researcher at the University of Montana, where she earned a PhD in wildlife biology. She completed a masters degree at the University of Vermont, where she first became involved with Unbound Grace ~ Sentinel Farms as a new student to riding. During her years in Vermont, she enjoyed the farm, helping out at youth camps, and the long trail rides with Kerry so much that she decided she wanted to be a part of the Unbound Grace ~ Sentinel Farms family no matter where her studies took her. When not in school, Sara enjoys chasing her shepherd-hound mix, Ellie, and hiking around the hills and mountains of Montana.