Written by CI CAP Instructor Chelsea Tossing “Hoot, hoot!” I hollered across the field at Chautauqua Park to gather my students. “Ca-CAWWW” my students yelled back at me in their best bird impressions. On September 10th, the New Vista High School crew headed out to the Enchanted Mesa trailhead for our first walking field day… Read more »
What made Colorado’s 2020 wildfire season such an anomaly? What do you do if you sprain an ankle in the wilderness? Just how much food waste can one pound of worms eat? This spring’s CAP Class at New Vista High School answered all these questions and more! In one of our first units, students conducted… Read more »
Did you know that 2020’s fire season had not one, but three, record-setting wildfires here in Colorado? Have you seen one of our 946 species of native bees buzzing in your garden? Or played on a playground next to one of our 80,000+ active and abandoned oil wells? From wildfires to fracking, each week of… Read more »
“Awesome things happen when you get awesome people together.” -Ford Church If there were a guiding philosophy that underlies everything we do here at Cottonwood Institute, that might just be it; from students to instructors and partners to donors, this past year has only reinforced that CI’s strength truly lies in its people. So when… Read more »
Have you ever seen street art that stopped you in your tracks? A stunning photograph of a protester standing up to power? A video about the impacts of climate change that gave you chills? Art can transcend language and logic to tap into something deeply human. The raw emotion of artistic expression, when used to… Read more »
Any student that’s taken a CAP Class with Cottonwood Institute can tell you that Action Projects are of the highlights of their experience. Typically, students choose an issue that they want to tackle as a whole class. Together, they find solutions and work to plan an action in their community; classes in the past have… Read more »
After three years of leading CAP, DirtWorks, and so much more at Boulder’s New Vista High School (NVHS), CI Instructor Amy Atkins will be moving on and pursuing new adventures this fall. We were sad to learn she will no longer be teaching CAP, but are equally glad to say that Amy is still working… Read more »
As so many of us have done these last 8 weeks or so, Cottonwood Institute needed to pivot and change how we do things in this age of physical distancing. The biggest concern for our instructors was: how do you turn an outdoor, environmental service learning class into a virtual experience? Lucky for CI, experiential… Read more »
With schools transitioning to distance learning and students spending (understandably) less time outside, Cottonwood Institute has been faced with the tough question of how to make environmental education accessible and relevant in a time when we can’t do many of the things that normally make up a CAP Class. Fortunately, our team has quite a… Read more »
How about this for a Cottonwood Institute connection? Tess Eckert took CAP at New Vista High School three times between 2007 and 2010 (tied for the all-time record, not that we’re counting). She got to learn from CI celebrities Ford Church and Paige Doughty. And after seven years in Australia, pursuing art, work, and exploration,… Read more »
