Recently I chatted with Dr. Kimberly Eimers, a director of the Friends of Idaho Public Television, about her Idaho roots and why she’s a fan of Idaho Public Television. “I grew up watching public TV. I like the programming that they have, and I like the philosophy behind it. The education piece really resonated with me,” she says. “And so I just thought that it would be a good fit for me. I was probably more into learning about what public TV has to offer now and how I could help facilitate that in not only my region but across the state.”
Dr. Eimers is the Director of Student Services and Career Technical Education for the school district in Lewiston. She’s not too far from home. “I grew up in Grangeville; about 70 miles south,” she says. Her family was raised on a ranch. “It was my dad’s hobby ranch, so to speak, and we owned the John Deere dealership in Grangeville. But Dad used to be (in) the rodeo. He loved cows — the ranch was small, about 150 head of cows. So it wasn’t anything huge, but it was something fun. Growing up on a ranch, I had the best childhood ever.” Kim dipped her toe in the family hobby by becoming rodeo queen. “Grangeville Border Days is the oldest rodeo in the Northwest. It’s Grangeville’s Fourth of July celebration. And it’s three days of rodeos and parades … it used to be a professional rodeo, back in the day when my dad was riding.” She was involved in politics as well during her senior year of high school, serving as a page in the Idaho Legislature.
Kim went to college at the University of Idaho. “Is there more than one college in Idaho?” She laughs. “I have three degrees from the University of Idaho and two from Northwest Nazarene [University].” Her bachelor’s degree was in P.E. and English, but she never taught a day in either one, because she fell in love with business education and pursued her master’s and eventually her doctorate in leadership, with an emphasis in career technical education.
Kim likes to hit the links when it’s time for fun. “I was a teaching pro for 20 years,” she says. “For about 20 years, I held my LPGA card and taught lessons.” She adds, “The University of Idaho is where I got my start. I was the assistant pro there. Then we moved a little bit. For about five years at Quail Ridge, across the river; I was an assistant pro. Then at the Grangeville Country Club. I still love teaching golf.” Kim says Lewiston is a great place to swing a club. “It’s the ‘banana belt,’ so it’s 700 feet [in elevation], so we can golf year-round. There are four golf courses: two in Lewiston and two across the river in Clarkston. I’ve just always golfed. My family golfed. It’s been a passion of mine forever.”
She’s also a fan of the Gem State’s outdoors and the accessibility of it in Idaho. “We have a cabin upriver on the Snake River, so we go up there a lot.” And she loves to hang out with her granddaughter, too. “She’s 12 now … we watched [an Outdoor Idaho episode about rivers] … we have the Clearwater that feeds into the Snake here at the confluence and our cabin is up on the Snake. So she drives [our] jet boat up there … so when it got to that section, she was like, ‘Oh, grandma, I know that one!’ She loved that part where it started looking at different rivers.”