Elevated
Gerri Kier
Founder & Director
In 2006, Gerri began working closely with a local Colorado rotary club and found her passion in helping communities in need. On one adventure with the club, hiking around Buena Vista, Colorado, Gerri met Pemba Dorjee Sherpa (Pem), who grew up in the Chyangba Village in Nepal.
After learning more about the Village, Gerri decided to turn her trek into a fundraising effort to help support the local Nepalese villages. She established Education Elevated in 2007 and currently serves as the Director & Founder.
My Story
With an immense passion for education, Gerri dedicated her efforts to raise money for school children in Nepal after coming to understand the barriers many of the students face just to earn an education.
Through many discussions with Pem, Gerri found three recurring barriers prohibiting students in these rural Nepal villages from earning an education.
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Not all school-aged children had a safe or accessible school, and many had to walk for hours to reach the nearest school, which was simply a stone and clay structure with dirt floors and tables and chairs for student work space.
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Students in Nepal are required by law to have a school uniform. Oftentimes, the only barrier between a child and their education is that their parents are unable to afford the school-mandated attire.
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In order to earn an education that will lead to better jobs and higher wages, Nepalese students need to learn English. However, the Nepalese government will not pay salaries for English teachers, leaving many students without this necessary skill and creating an unbreakable cycle in these communities.
After coming to understand these critical needs, Gerri devoted herself to help the Nepalese communities overcome these barriers and created Education Elevated. After 18 months of hard work to get Education Elevated off the ground, Gerri and her first team of trekkers began their adventure to Everest Base Camp and then to the village of Chyangba in May of 2008. In their first trip, the Education Elevated team painted the village’s schoolhouse and leveled off the playground area to prepare for a dental camp to be set up by a California rotary club to provide critical healthcare to the village residents, something that is largely inaccessible by these rural communities.
Gerri and her team are planning the next trek to the Chyangba Village and are thrilled to see some of the big wins they’ve accomplished over the last several years play out. Most recently, the team at Education Elevated was excited to hear that several young men, after returning to Chyangba from the trekking season, purchased a cow for their families, which indicates that they are going to stay and marry within the village, a huge victory for the Sherpa people. Over the last several decades, most children leave the village to work in the cities to earn a livable wage and many never return home. This phenomenon has led to immense declines in the Sherpa population, which is threatening their way of life, their community and their culture. Seeing young adults return to the Chyangba Village is a sign that the work Education Elevated is doing is giving back to the community and creating a more sustainable way of life which ensures the village can continue for generations to come.
Gerri is a Certified Natural Health Provider – CNHP – and received my education from Trinity School of Natural Health out of Warsaw, IN. After studying with the Loomis Institute of Enzyme Nutrition in Madison, Wisconsin, I have become a Certified Loomis Digestive Health Specialist. Previously I owned and operated a photography studio and custom frame shop.
She lives in Lafayette, Colorado with her husband Greg.