What’s Cooking in Kelli’s Kitchen

When Neil and I moved to Nevada in 2009, we were looking for something different from the life we left behind. We wanted a smaller community where we could know our neighbors, people still showed up for one another, and it was possible to get involved and build a life connected to place and community.

What we found here exceeded anything we expected.

Last weekend, I graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a master’s degree in urban leadership and was honored to be named one of UNLV’s spring 2026 Outstanding Graduates. While the ceremony happened in Las Vegas, this milestone feels deeply rooted in the people and communities that helped make it possible.

Anyone who gardens or farms understands that growth is never just about the seed itself. It depends on the conditions around it: good soil, water, sunlight, care, and time.

In many ways, that is what Nevada has been for me.

There is something distinctive about this state. Nevada gives people room to step forward, solve problems, and become more than they imagined they could be. It is a place where people can still get involved and make a tangible difference in their communities.

And Churchill County, especially, has been fertile ground for that kind of growth.

Over the years, people here have invited me into conversations, trusted me with responsibility, encouraged me to take on challenges, and supported ideas that might have seemed too ambitious elsewhere. I have had the opportunity to work alongside people who care deeply about this community and who consistently show up to make it better, often quietly and without recognition.

Like many people who move to small towns, we originally hoped to become part of the community. What I did not fully anticipate was how much the community itself would shape who I became.

Graduate school gave me the opportunity to think more deeply about leadership and community systems. But many of the most important lessons were already being taught here long before I entered a classroom — through collaboration, mentorship, volunteerism, and people investing in one another.

One of the things I have come to believe strongly is that communities flourish when they intentionally create space for people to grow. Sometimes that means inviting someone into the room or encouraging them to lead before they feel fully ready. Sometimes it simply means helping people feel like they belong.

Seeds germinate more readily in healthy environments. People do, too.

This season of my life feels a little like harvest — not an ending, but an opportunity to pause and recognize the many people who helped cultivate the conditions that allowed growth to happen in the first place.

Looking back, this milestone feels less like an individual accomplishment and more like stone soup. So many people contributed along the way — encouragement, trust, opportunity, friendship, and space to grow. None of it happens alone.

So this week, more than anything else, I simply want to say thank you.

Thank you to the mentors, neighbors, colleagues, community leaders, friends, classmates, and family members who have invested in me over the years. Thank you to the people who welcomed Neil and me when we first arrived in Nevada. Thank you to everyone who continues doing the steady, often unglamorous work of strengthening this community. I feel incredibly fortunate that Fallon and Churchill County became home.