Originally published on May 07, 2021.
Christa Jensen Green is most probably a source of envy among an appreciable segment of society as she lives and thrives in what is considered to be the mecca of the mountain biking world, while she engages in and teaches art.
She does not fail to credit Southern Utah University for its help in making her attractive life possible.
Christa, who has taught art at Grand County High School in Moab, Utah, since 2007, grew up in Santa Clara, Utah, and delighted in riding the region’s random dirt roads and empty lots on her bike.
“When I wasn’t exploring I was crafting up something artistic with what was lying around the house,” she says.
After she graduated from Snow Canyon High School, she joined the local mountain bike race team and raced for a few years, while immersing herself in arts at Dixie College. She served an LDS mission, then decided to pursue a teaching degree at SUU, where she expanded her knowledge of all things artistic, aided by “good professors that cared about you, and wanted you to learn and grow as a person,” she says.
After graduating with a major in art education, she worked for Zion Natural History Association as a junior ranger instructor for the summer, then was hired to teach art for Springdale Elementary School, but soon was offered a position in Moab as a tour guide for a mountain bike company and as a river guide as well. A quickly popular candidate for teaching positions in Moab, she accepted the job at the high school where she has flourished with numerous plaudits, including as a Utah Education Association “superstar” in 2019 and the 2021 art teacher of the year of the Utah Art Education Association.
She earned a master’s degree in multi-media from Full Sail University in 2017, and truly lives a multi-media art existence, painting murals in the community, crafting jewelry, and more. She runs the high school’s art club and loves to expand the world of her students. She’s also coached girls’ basketball and cross country, and started the school’s Red Devil Mountain Biking Team. And, she is active as an outdoorswoman.
“My husband Verle and I love to take our little girl Aspen outdoors with us. She has been hiking, hunting, biking, and rafting since she was a baby sleeping in the baby pouch. Being outdoors refreshes my soul and influences my artwork,” she says.
“I also love to explore art museums and galleries. I love the way a piece of art can transform your mind into a different state of thinking, even if for that moment. The art can give you a different vantage point of a situation, bring back a memory, or cause you to look closer at an art technique,” she says.
Much of her success as an art teacher flowed from her SUU experiences where she was “surrounded by good people that want you to become the best you can be,” she says.
