Cottonwood Institute is in its third year of partnering with Re:Vision for its Urban Farm Volunteer Project to provide a volunteer day that supports the growing Westwood neighborhood of Denver. Eighteen eager volunteers gathered on a Saturday morning, September 30th, 2017 with various connections to CI including board members, advisory members, instructors, friends of CI,… Read more »
One of the hallmarks of a Community Adventure Program (CAP) classroom with Cottonwood Institute is the use of attunements. What is an attunement? It’s any activity that helps students transition from their outside life to being able to focus in the classroom. Attunements also help students get to know each other and build camaraderie, setting the… Read more »
Seven students from STRIVE Prep-Federal joined two of their teachers and two Cottonwood Instructors for a backpacking overnight at White Ranch Open Space in Golden. Before the group even left the parking lot, a student urged leaders to extend the Wednesday/Thursday trip into Friday! After dividing personal and group gear into packs, the students began the… Read more »
If you have ever wondered what happens when you disconnect teenagers from their technology… Once upon a time, eight brave adventurers set out to explore the wilderness of the mysterious woods of Calwood Camp in Jamestown, Colorado. They had packed all they would need and met sharply at eight am as the talking eagle required. The great… Read more »
A full day of adventure at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge was a spectacular way to launch Cottonwood Institute’s newest CAP Program, at AXL Academy in Aurora! A group of 13 middle schoolers and 3 Cottonwood instructors jumped at the opportunity to escape the daily grind at school to adventure off into an… Read more »
Cottonwood Institute (CI) is interested in how the Community Adventure Program (CAP) influences students long-term and what they take with them from their class. We continue to follow up with CAP alumni and hope to keep tabs on their adventures and where life takes them. We caught up with this CAP student from STRIVE Prep… Read more »
For the past 30 years, ColoradoBiz Magazine looks for the best Colorado companies to be recognized for their annual Top Company Awards. After sifting through hundreds of applicants, Cottonwood Institute was honored to make it through as a finalist in the nonprofit category along with First Descents and Denver Kids. ColoradoBiz Magazine, along with… Read more »
Guest Blogger: Joshua Peterson, Cottonwood Institute Board Member and Treasurer: Mission and Purpose: This is what drives us to get out of bed each morning. Mission and purpose drive our decisions on where and why we work, the organizations we build and why we serve our communities. Without mission and purpose, life would be… Read more »
What started as a cool, misty, and cloudy day at Denver’s Union Station turned into a perfect day for The Throwdown 2017, our annual charity cornhole tournament to benefit Cottonwood Institute. 32 corporate teams and 16 competitive teams battled it out, but only 1 team from each bracket would emerge victorious. In the corporate bracket,… Read more »
On a scorching weekend in July, Cottonwood Institute and a group of military families from Colorado Army National Guard headed to the mountains to momentarily trade the summer heat and the stresses of city living for whispering leaves and gentle breezes of camping amidst the aspen groves at Sanborn Western Camps. Located just west of… Read more »
