Noticias

Por Julia Caulfield

Shandy Strand had a huge heart. She was a light that encouraged everyone around her to stay positive and find the good in any situation. She was selfless, and joyful.

“She was a rallier, a spirit, a motivator for all us,” said Andy Shoff, Head of School at the Telluride Mountain School.

She loved to get outside, pushed herself, and always had a smile on her face. She was a fierce friend.

Emily Durkin, one of Strand’s teachers, said, “she’s the type of person who would always have your back, and always be there to support you, regardless of the situation.”

Strand was diagnosed with liver cancer at the end of 2018, during her senior year of high school. She underwent chemotherapy treatment and received a liver transplant. In the spring of 2020, she began going between Telluride and Durango for treatment before settling in Durango to be closer to the hospital.

On May 6th Strand was in Telluride with her father, Scott. In a web post entry, Shandy’s family wrote “on the drive back to Durango she passed away peacefully while holding Scott’s hand and enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery”.

Strand was 19 years old. She is survived by her parents Danita and Scott, and her brother, Evan.

Shandy Strand grew up in Telluride and embraced the opportunities of the outdoors and the community. She was a central figure at the Telluride Mountain School, the “mama bear” of her senior class and a role model for the younger students. She would look out for others in her class. Ross Perrot, one of Shandy’s teachers, remembered one trip hiking Mt. Sneffles where Shandy stayed behind with a fellow student who was struggling.

“One of the girls where hiking wasn’t her forte, and Shandy hung out at the back of our group with this girl, and egged her on,” said Perrot, “the girl didn’t make it to the top of Mt. Sneffles, but she made it to the pass that goes down to Blue Lake, and I don’t know if that girl would have been able to make it even to the pass if it hadn’t been for Shandy’s support, positive energy, enthusiasm.

Durkin recognized that instinct in Strand to encourage her classmates and make any experience a positive one.

“In Costa Rica, I was very excited about the kids getting into birding, and birding is harder than you think it is,” said Durkin, “we birded maybe four or five times with experts that knew what they were doing, and after a while the kids got a little bit tired of it. But Shandy was always super engaged and always into it, and her and this other student created this birding for life motto and this hand motion, and it just turned what students were thinking of as a chore into a really great, funny, awesome experience, and engaged everyone in the experience.”

Strand was an avid volunteer with the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program, and an integral part of Ski PE.

Perrot said, “she would always ski around during Ski PE with this jam box, blasting out country, or pop music, or hip hop, you name it. She was always one of the stars that everyone loved to ski with.”

Strand graduated from the Mountain School in 2019. She was planning on attending Westminster College in Utah.

“I wrote in her college recommendation that she thrived in high school for all the right reasons, the most important herself. You never got the feeling that she was doing something for external reward or motivation, and she really had a sense in herself, who she was, and what was important to her,” said Jesse McTigue, Strand’s college counselor, “words that describe Shandy are authentic, vibrant, creative, engaged, funny, and present.”

She loved outdoor education, but was also interested in architecture.

“Many times she would choose, especially when it was a project relating to a trip, she would trace the architecture of Cuba, linking it to the history, and did something in Berlin,” said McTigue, “I have also commented on her voice in writing about the landscape around the Canyonlands and Telluride, and the natural architecture.”

Talking with those who knew her, it’s clear Shandy reflected the mountains of Southwest Colorado she loved so much. She had passion, she was resilient and strong. Shandy Strand had grit.