Voices of EPUMC: Lucy Scott

How would you like to be the only kid in Sunday School? Lucy Scott knows firsthand. She had one-on-one Sunday school lessons from Susan Newendorp for a few years.

“She would do lessons, we’d color and do different crafts, and Susan would turn on the ceiling speaker so we could hear the sermon upstairs. It was nice of her to give up her Sunday for me.”

Scott moved to Estes Park with her parents Sid and Lois when she was only two years old and EPUMC has been Scott’s “church family” since childhood. Being the only kid at a church filled with retirees attracted attention, of course, something Scott tried to avoid.

“Ask anybody who knew me when I was really young and during church,

I’d just hide right behind my mom,” she says. 

Funny how things change. Now almost 22 years old, Scott has worked numerous jobs, studied abroad twice, traveled to 11 European countries and graduated with honors from Colorado State University this past spring. She wrote her honors thesis in economics about the impact of Estes Park non-profits on the town (10.3% of GDP annually). Members at EPUMC know her best for taking on some pretty big tasks for the church, including at one point acting as financial secretary. Scott has also put together the weekly church bulletins and News from the Pews, among other key tasks. 

“She modernized our office, created our new website and was incredibly patient with me as she tried to bring me into the 21^st century with technology!” says Pastor Ann Lantz.

     “I think I’ve always had the drive to do things for myself. I didn’t want things handed to me.” 

Like a lot of people who grow up in Estes Park, Scott has been working from a young age, helping friends and family in the tourism business. She’s cleaned VRBO’s (“sometimes a little disgusting”), cashiered at Estes’ beloved Donut Haus (“pretty chaotic”), and worked the register at another sweet spot, Cinnamon’s Bakery. (Yes, they let her take some goodies home.)  

“I think I’ve always had the drive to do things for myself,” says Scott. “I didn’t want things handed to me. I wanted to prove that I could do it. I think I’ve always had that kind of self-starter within me. Like, I really wanted to buy my first car, which I did.” 

That first car, a 2008 CRV, is still going strong. She bought it from EPUMC members Nancy and Jim Gunter.

“They gave me a really nice deal so that helped,” says Scott. I think I was 15 when I bought it and had my permit. My parents would have been happy to help but I said, I want to buy it.”

Scott’s ambition led her to a plum job during her last two years at CSU. She worked as a social media coordinator for the university’s president Amy Parsons. “She’s very recognizable, everybody loves her, all the students stop her, take photos with her.” says Scott. “She became this campus celebrity of sorts.”

Scott says Parsons “leverages” her social media to broaden CSU’s state and national recognition and Scott enjoyed playing a part in that. She had fun helping run Parsons’ podcast “The Next 150.”

“I got to do everything from pitching guests, writing the outlines, being there during recording, transcribing the episodes, writing descriptions of them, and doing the graphics and the social cuts” (creating shorter clips of the interview for social media). I never thought I’d be involved in something like that. I also got to meet a lot of really cool people through that, including John Hickenlooper, Governor Polis, SNL’s Marcell Hernandez and Olympian Amy Van Dyken.”

That experience has given Scott a lot of skills which she hopes to use to find a job now that’s she’s graduated. 

“I’m mostly looking into social and digital media. I love working with data and data analytics. I also like editing photo and video,” says Scott. “I really enjoyed the non-profit study I did so if I get a job at a non-profit, great. But I’m open.”

Pastor Lantz calls Scott a “gifted young professional” and says she’s “had the joy of watching Lucy’s journey for the last six years.” 

“I really look forward to seeing where life and God lead Lucy next.”