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Articles by Kate Ott
A story to remember
Photos and reflection by Kate Ott Sopris Stars Correspondent The Holocaust was one of the worst genocides in human history. Considering it wasn’t even 100 years ago, it’s still terrifying. The systematic, industrial killing of over 6 million people in the course of seven years, is anything but natural. I struggle to wrap my head around the fact that humans were capable of doing such things to each other.
The fact and fiction behind teen caffeine use – The Sopris Sun
Teenage caffeine related hospital visits are rare, but the number of visits have roughly doubled over the past six years. That’s according to Indiana University’s Riley Children’s Health hospital, which analyzed over 223 million hospital visits of patients ages 11 to 35, from 2017 to 2023.
Topping out as a team at CRMS – The Sopris Sun
This article comes by way of The Sopris Stars, a new monthly youth publication powered by The Sopris Sun. Halfway through its season, the Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) climbing team is building momentum. Numbering over 50 participants in 2025-2026, the team prioritizes not just individual improvement but also the formation of a community — one that happens to enjoy scaling walls together.
From farm to table at CRMS – The Sopris Sun
One of the core pillars of education at Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) is contributing back to the school community, so much so that service is incorporated into the weekly curriculum. One of the most established facets is its Garden Program, where students, alongside staff, plant, grow and harvest produce, which offsets 40% of the school’s vegetable costs annually.
GUEST APPEARANCE: Driving in fog: A public health director’s view from the road
I hate driving in fog. The familiar landmarks of my daily commute — signs, lights, turns I know by heart — suddenly vanish. Even roads I’ve driven for decades feel unfamiliar. Do I pull over, or keep going and hope for clarity up ahead? Lately, this is exactly how I feel professionally. The landmarks public health practitioners have relied on for decades, are disappearing. I once trusted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I trusted the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
GUEST APPEARANCE: The future was here
Recently, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services announced plans to scale back federal funding for mRNA vaccine research. This will limit our options down the road. I’m not a molecular biologist, but here is mRNA in a nutshell: Messenger Ribonucleic Acid — mRNA — is essentially a delivery system. It carries instructions from your DNA to other parts of the cell, telling it how to build proteins.
GUEST APPEARANCE: The ACIP was fired. What’s the big deal?
Last week, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — better known as the ACIP — was undone; all 17 members were fired. I’d like to say I’m in disbelief, but I’m not. Mostly, I’m sad. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t angry. The ACIP is the gold standard for vaccine decision-making in the United States. Over 340 million Americans benefit from its work.
GUEST APPEARANCE: A day late and a dollar short
I ignored National Public Health Week, which was April 7–13. It felt hollow and insincere this year. Don’t get me wrong: I love working in public health. I’m proud of my team every single day, and I’m fortunate to have a strong, supportive relationship with our governing body. But right now, things feel uncertain. It is difficult to plan, not knowing the future of our usual funding streams. Public health professionals are known for being resourceful, as budgets are trim.
GUEST APPEARANCE: Musings on measles
It has been interesting and concerning watching the measles outbreak unfold in the United States. I’d be less worried if it was pertussis or mumps, as they’re less easy to transmit. Measles spread like wildfire in unvaccinated people. This includes those too young for vaccine, people with medical conditions that exclude them, and individuals who choose not to be vaccinated. My brother and I didn’t get measles. My sisters did.
GUEST APPEARANCE: The good old days - don’t take me back!
It’s a new year, a time to glance back to see how far we’ve come. From rotary phones to cell phones, outhouses to “en suites,” and horses to planes, trains, automobiles and rocket ships, humans have an amazing track record when it comes to innovation, progress, and changing the narrative of life here on the planet. A look back for me, as a nurse and public health practitioner, includes remembering how my great-grandparents lost children to now-preventable and treatable conditions.
Artificial intelligence is here. Now what? Original
The general public’s awareness of artificial intelligence radically expanded when Open AI released ChatGPT in November 2022, sparking major media coverage of artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, the moral panic caused by the magic-like sophistication of OpenAI models fueled misconceptions about artificial intelligence and led many Christians to disengage from critical and constructive conversations about AI and ethics.
How should Christians respond to the challenges of AI?
A friend recently confided to me that he and his dad had used ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence text chatbot, to write an obituary for his uncle. His dad knew the details he wanted to include but was unsure how to write it. After benefiting from ChatGPT’s stylistic ability and conversational writing skill, my friend and his dad added details and corrections. Even though the obituary turned out well, at the wake he shushed his mom when she attempted to tell a family member that they used ChatGPT.
A tech-savvy Christian sexual ethic
If most young Americans receive any sex education at all, they hear flat messages to “just say no” or to wait until marriage. Few learn how to access birth control and fewer still how to properly use it. Many hear not a word about LGBTQ sexualities. Almost none are given resources to navigate the emerging realities of sex online.
Sex and Technology after Roe
Sex, Tech, and Faith by Kate Ott is a values-based, shame-free, pleasure-positive discussion of Christian ethics in response to a range of pressing issues in the digital age. It is now available for pre-order now at Eerdmans, Christian Book, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and more! Ott shared her perspective with EerdWord on the relevance and impact this book could have for our global and digital conversations today.
Sex, Tech, and Faith
Few topics are as polarizing as sexual ethics. In Sex, Tech, and Faith: Ethics for a Digital Age, Kate Ott claims that conversations in this realm too often focus on advocacy and prevention policies that fail to equip people to engage in holistic, healthy sexual relationships that are faith-informed and inclusive of the diversity within human sexuality.
Loving Your Neighbor During a Pandemic, According to Kids
The evening before an Arizona jury decided the fate of Scott Warren, who was charged with a felony for harboring and assisting "illegal aliens," people of faith from around the country gathered in Tucson to show their support. After two hours of deliberation, the jury found Warren not guilty.
Using the Love Commandment to Talk COVID-19 With Kids
As adults are forced into major social and work-related changes, we can quickly lose patience with our children, forget their perspective matters, and resort to “just do it”-type responses. I want to encourage parents to take a deep breath and invite children into a new way of being in the world shaped by COVID-19. Children are morally resilient and creative when we give them the chance. So, how can we talk with our children about this pandemic? Let’s use the love commandment as our guide.
Shouldn't We Just Trust Christian Leaders?
INCIDENTS OF SEXUAL misconduct in faith communities shine a spotlight on issues of power in congregations. As important as recognition, prevention, and intervention are for ending sexual violence, faith communities have significant work to do on routine, everyday abuses of power. The way faith communities distribute labor and educational responsibilities, as well as committee assignments and financial obligations, often fall along stereotypical gender, class, and age lines.
The Internet Endureth Forever
FRANTICALLY GRABBING last-minute items, I rush out the door to get my middle-school son to his pregame warm-up. “Oh, don’t rush; it will only take us 25 minutes to get there,” says my son. Surprised, I question where he got that information.
Using car time to talk to kids about sex
Sex is an important topic, and American parents have a hard time talking to their kids about it - this is not new. Many of our grandparents began their adult lives with very limited information.
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