As we know at Cottonwood Institute, difficult times often present us with our greatest opportunities for growth. How do we show up when things get tough? How do we use struggle to deepen our connections to one another? Amid the challenges, this year has given us the chance to reflect on ourselves, our communities and… Read more »
At Cottonwood Institute, we’ve got reasons to love every time of year. Winter means plenty of snow for building quinzhees, spring is time for projects in the garden (or more quinzhees if the snow decides to stick around), and summer brings us down to Westcliffe for adventures at Mission: Wolf. But our favorite time of… 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 »
“Pivot and adjust” has been our mantra here at Cottonwood Institute (CI) for the last few months! From figuring out how to interact with our students virtually, and shifting our programs online to coming up with creative ways to hold our events, we have been busy adjusting to the current conditions and finding ways to… Read more »
Our friends and frequent collaborators at Re:Vision Westwood and Lifespan Local have been working hard to support members of the Westwood community during the COVD-19 crisis through their weekly No-Cost Grocery Distribution Program. Residents facing food insecurity can drive up on Wednesday afternoons to collect boxes of food and home goods. With the help of… Read more »
We love to see the Cottonwood Institute community getting recognized for the great work that they do, and we had two great examples this month! Read on for two recent news items spotlighting friends of CI, and be sure to get in touch if you have a story to share! “From a Bad Ass Teen… Read more »
Our next staff spotlight features Program Manager Andrew Miller! After guiding backpacking and paddling programs in the Bay Area, Andrew took a detour to work in the entertainment industry before returning to environmental education with Cottonwood Institute in 2019. As CI’s Program Manager, he’s responsible for many of the logistics behind our field programs, from… Read more »
Cottonwood Institute has always promoted a life of learning, loving, and living nature. This means disconnecting from our ever-connected devices and reconnecting to the natural world through all of our senses. We encourage our students to observe animal behaviors, to listen to whispers of the wind through the trees, to feel the texture of the… Read more »
Hannah Melomo joined the Cottonwood Institute team as a Field Instructor this spring, and has already proven herself to be a multi-talented graphic designer and curriculum developer in the creation of our Explore Outside Handbook and summer programs! If it was designed by CI and it looks amazing, Hannah probably had something to do with… Read more »
This year, our lives changed drastically. We could have never predicted that 2020 would be the year where outdoor education was taught through a screen, where we’d be more likely to see our friends through a video app than in person. With every new challenge, however, we are given an opportunity to use our… Read more »
