Philosophy major Cliff Kipp ¡®99 was working in France as a bike tour guide when 9/11 struck.

In an article in the Missuulian, he recounts, ¡°I felt totally disconnected, and I’m hearing how the rest of the world thinks about America,¡± he said. ¡°I came back to Colorado, and I’m thinking, how am I, one person, going to make a difference on a global scale? The answer, to me, was to go local. If you can move the needle in a local community, it just grows and grows.¡±

Kipp returned to the U.S. and joined AmeriCorps for two years before working directly with the Montana Conservation Corps, for which he now serves as regional director. Kipp also in chairing a complex project, a trailway that connects Herron Park and Foy’s Lake with Blacktail Mountain.