In September 2020, Cottonwood Institute partnered with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers (WRV), Thorne Nature Experience, Nature Kids Lafayette, and the City of Lafayette to launch a stewardship internship program for nine Lafayette high school students. The goal was to create a paid environmental job opportunity that also supported the students’ social and emotional well-being. The cohort… Read more »
The CAP class at AXL Academy reinstated a sense of normalcy while celebrating the outdoors on a fun-filled spring day at Cherry Creek State Park. After a year of being cooped up at home and in the classroom, it was a blast to spend the day outside all together! The students started off with a… Read more »
Every year we gather our whole CI community for our annual Base Camp Bash—a night of celebration and stories, fun and fundraising. The theme of this year’s Base Camp Bash was “Changemakers,” but who exactly is a Changemaker? We couldn’t have said it better than Kevin Cano, Lafayette Stewardship Intern and winner of this year’s… Read more »
Trail games are the spontaneous games you play when you have infinite time and imagination and easy rapport with good friends. On CI’s first overnight trip since the pandemic began, the students in our Changemaker Program craved nothing more than being outdoors together. As we wandered up to Solitude Point at Cal-wood, we started playing… Read more »
As Cottonwood Institute prepares for the next season of trips, CI instructors and staff spent a training weekend building community, skills, and a shared mission. Bright and early Saturday morning, we loaded up in the CI van and drove into Bear Creek Lake Park. We spent the day at the Sunset Amphitheater where the clouds… Read more »
When the nation went into lockdown last year and students transitioned to online learning, some learners went into a kind of dormancy. The second period CAP outdoor class at Angevine Middle School had many students who hadn’t participated much in online learning and were both eager and hesitant to go back to school with hybrid… Read more »
Combining things we like to do or want to learn with a desire to help the planet is what Action Projects are all about. The first period CAP class at Angevine Middle School is an enthusiastic bunch with lots of interests, so they decided to bring awareness to pollinators by setting aside a week to… 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 »
Mark your calendars and dust off your best Zoom backgrounds—it’s almost time for the Base Camp Bash! Our annual fundraiser and community celebration will be held on Saturday, April 24th, and this year you can join us from the comfort of your own home. Click here to register! The Base Camp Bash is our annual… Read more »
A wave of violence and hatred against the Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) community has ripped through California, New York, Georgia and across our country. Cottonwood Institute (CI) acknowledges the pain and suffering that AAPI community members have endured and continue to endure. We are in solidarity with them. Words and ideology matter; we… Read more »
