Friday, April 7, 2006

Super lives up to name


By MICHAEL AMES
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Jan Super

After putting in hundreds of hours of behind-the-scenes work, Jan Super is finally getting some recognition for her efforts.

Super has been named the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau Volunteer of the Year. For three years now, she has been helping to organize countless annual events, both through her job as the marketing coordinator for First Bank of Idaho and as an ambassador with the Chamber. It seems only fitting then, that as the beneficiary of so much of her work, the Chamber should be the organization to officially thank Super for a job well done.

For Super, the job as non-stop community volunteer arose as a natural way to stay occupied once her daughters—Angela and Melissa—graduated from Wood River High School in 1999 and 2000, respectively.

"When you are so used to being involved in your children's lives, I just decided I needed to get involved in the community."

Super is humbled by the award and she is not looking for a spotlight. "We (volunteers) like to stay in the background. The highlights are the events and the people who the events are being organized for."

The selfless Super is one of many helpers behind everything from the Herculean task of organizing Ketchum's Wagon Days celebration to the classic Kindercup children's ski race on Dollar Mountain. As a result of the recent Spring Prom fund-raiser, the Chamber will donate a $1,000 college scholarship for Anneka Preston, its Youth Citizen of the Year. Super first got involved in volunteering through the Wagon Days committee. It was a natural fit as she and her husband, Jim Super, run Super Outfitter Adventures of Sun Valley, a guiding service that used a wagon for client rides and horseback trips. They eventually donated the wagon to the wagon train that makes the trip from Fairfield to Ketchum each year before the Wagon Days Parade.

From those hobbyist beginnings, Super now helps select the panel of judges for each year's Wagon Days wagon competition and even takes the panel to Picabo for an educational seminar in wagons with Wayne Orvik, a judge with a great deal of professional knowledge about the wagons.

For Super, it's all part of the fun of living in a community where she can participate in so much and be surrounded by so many others pitching in alongside her.

"That's why I'm so grateful for the recognition: There are a lot of people in this community who donate their time. I'm totally amazed how much volunteerism happens in this valley."




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