Konocti Unified School District and Brooks Firestone Express Gratitude to Roberts
Solvang, CA (January 16, 2006) – Monty Roberts, internationally acclaimed horse trainer and bestselling author of The Man Who Listens to Horses, was recently honored with two awards; one for service to Konocti Unified School District and another for his role in beautifying his home region of the Santa Ynez Valley with oak trees.
The first of these awards came in the form of a resolution from the Konocti Unified School District in northern California. It reads, in part, “Honoring Monty Roberts for Outstanding Service to the Konocti Unified School District.” The request for Roberts to assist the Konocti Unified School District came immediately after these educators became aware of his recent successes with an English grammar school. Kingshurst Junior School, in Birmingham England, was declared a failing school in 2000.
Roberts’ concepts of Join-Up® — principles of non-violent, non-coercive communication he uses with horses and also children — were put in place in September of that same year. In September of 2004, Kingshurst Junior School was declared a center of excellence. This remarkable achievement in the United Kingdom and the commitment by the Konocti Unified School district to adopt Roberts’ principles was recently featured in an episode of ABC’s Nightline. Proud of his recent award, Roberts quickly stated that, “There is a lot of work to do before the California school can be considered successful.”
The premise behind Roberts’ Join-Up principles is that children take responsibility for their actions without the threat of force, violence, or even raised voices. Students are asked to assist in drawing up two sets of contracts; one set represents consequences of positive behavior and the second set represents consequences of negative behavior. Positive behavior is rewarded with the pre-agreed upon positive consequences. Misbehaviors are conversely acted upon with the pre-arranged negative consequences which the children have written into their own contract. Students can choose which set of contracts he or she prefers. “It doesn’t take long before young people are acting very positive,” said Roberts.
Roberts received his second honors from Brooks Firestone, Santa Barbara County District Supervisor, for contributing to the beautification of the Santa Ynez Valley by planting oak trees. This special award read, “In recognition of outstanding effort to protect and preserve oak trees in Santa Barbara County.”
As far back as 35 years ago, Monty began gathering acorns from Flag Is Up Farms and other locations around the Santa Ynez Valley to raise seedling oak trees in one gallon containers. From this first effort, oak trees have been distributed throughout the area. On Flag Is Up Farms alone, over 1,000 young oaks were planted and many have now grown to beautiful adult trees. Roberts’ oak trees were donated to organizations to help with fundraising auctions such as the Elks Rodeo Queen contest held each year at the Santa Maria Rodeo to support the Youth Recreation Fund.
The deodor trees that so majestically line the corridor from Buellton on highway 246 to Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley were all planted by Roberts in the years 1966 through 1968. Monty has been the force behind propagating trees that have been used to landscape from the Santa Ynez Valley to St. George, Utah to Elko, Nevada. He has shipped trees to the east coast to states such as Kentucky, West Virginia and Maryland. The Santa Ynez Valley however has been the main recipient of trees of many species from Monty Roberts. More than 250,000 trees have found a home in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties through Roberts’ efforts.
Properties in the upper reaches of Happy Canyon and all the way to the Lompoc area are graced by Roberts’ trees. More than 3,000 were planted near Paso Robles. More than 2,000 near the Madonna Inn, San Luis Obispo. The Santa Ynez High School and virtually every school campus in the Santa Ynez Valley display some of Roberts’ trees. Projects such as the granite asphalt plant in the Buellton area have been screened by Roberts dating back to 1969. Coincidentally, on the day that Mr. Firestone notified Mr. Roberts of his award, he was just completing the 2006 Project of approximately 1,000 containers for new oaks.
For Roberts, gathering the acorns and producing young trees has been a labor of love. He continues to raise oak trees from our local acorns and hopes that everyone who visits or moves to the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley will appreciate, cherish and respect the majestic and unique specie, the California oak. When asked about the time factor where oaks are concerned Roberts replied, “I have a college degree and two doctorates and yet I am silly enough to be out planting oaks from acorns at 70 years of age. It is for the generations to come and not for me.”
To learn more about Monty Roberts, his revolutionary Join-Up principles, or the variety of ways in which his philosophies of communication are impacting our global community, visit https://www.montyroberts.com or call (805) 688-6288.
ABOUT MONTY ROBERTS
Monty Roberts first gained widespread fame with the release of his New York Times Best Selling book, The Man Who Listens To Horses; a chronicle of his life and development of his non-violent horse training methods called Join-Up®. Monty grew up on a working horse farm as a firsthand witness to traditional, often violent methods of horse training and breaking the spirit with an abusive hand. Today, Monty’s goal is to share his message that “Violence is never the answer.” Join-Up philosophies can be seen at work with both humans and horses across the world, from farms to major corporations. To learn more about Monty Roberts or the many applications of his Join-Up training methods, visit https://www.montyroberts.com or call (805) 688 – 6288.
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Press Contact: Allison Mahan
(858) 603 – 1681
