Beverly Capelin encourages others to find strength amid the richness of nature and the power of teamwork, helping them enjoy a life with less fear and more success. Capelin set these intentions long ago and continues to find ways to transform the lives of young people in our communities and beyond.
Capelin is an educator with a passion for guiding others through obstacles and educational experiences. She moved to Durango to attend Fort Lewis College and earned a bachelor’s degree in education. After graduating, Capelin taught elementary school in Silverton and Dolores for seven years. During those years, she led service projects for her third graders, such as picking up trash in alleys near the schools. Seeing children engaged and empowered through community efforts was inspiring, she said.
In 1984, she and her husband, Douglas, left their teaching jobs and founded Deer Hill Expeditions, a wilderness and cultural exchange program for teenagers.
Together, they built a basecamp on their property in Mancos, and they formed partnerships with families and community leaders in Southwest Colorado, including Native American tribes across the region. Capelin said the cultural exchange projects borne out of these relationships were rooted in shared experience, connection and support.
“Most of our programs are from 21 to 24 days, so you have time to immerse, and every program is different,” Capelin said. “We make sure that the participants are truly connected with the expedition from the beginning to end.”
Over the past 35 years, Capelin has been involved from beginning to end, formulating programs alongside field staff and an administrative team. Programs focus on river experiences, such as rafting, canoeing and kayaking or take teenagers to the mountains for backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking and canyoneering adventures. But all programs have a service component.
Groups participate in conservation and community service projects in partnership with other organizations. For some groups, this means working with the U.S. Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management to increase access to wilderness areas and restore sites impacted by humans and weather.
For others, the service component focuses on cross-cultural exchange projects. Participants help members of Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Hopi and Zuni tribes with tasks like reconstructing traditional stone bread ovens, mending fences, shearing sheep and painting and plastering buildings in ceremonial Hopi plazas.
In 1998, Capelin formed a nonprofit to offer scholarships to young people participating in Deer Hill Expeditions. Through the Deer Hill Foundation, Capelin has helped more than 1,000 underserved scholarship students participate in their expeditions.
Capelin has a pioneer’s spirit, unafraid of new ventures. When her daughter, Emily, struggled to find a preschool program to enroll her own daughter, Capelin decided to help her establish an alternative option for early childhood education in Mancos.
Capelin, her daughter and young Mancos parents formed an initial board of directors to help them reach their goal.
Several volunteers offered to provide accounting services, write grants and develop a website. Classroom space was a primary concern. After several failed attempts to find a suitable space, Capelin sectioned off 3 acres of land near the Deer Hill Expeditions basecamp and funded the creation of a new 2,000-square-foot preschool.
In April 2019, contractors broke ground; by September, they opened the doors to Mancos Dragonfly Preschool. The preschool offers opportunities for children ages 2 through 6 to develop a love for learning through a Waldorf-inspired curriculum. The school currently has 18 families enrolled and will welcome more children in the spring.
While she continues work with teenagers at Deer Hill Expeditions, Capelin continually focuses on developing more fearless and successful youths in the region.
“I’d like to make sure that Dragonfly Preschool really maintains its strength,” Capelin said. “I want to make sure this endeavor takes wing and flies.”