Colorado Academy Primitive Skills Course at Earth Knack was a huge hit. One of the Cottonwood Institute instructors, Clark Patton, lived in a tipi at Earth Knack for nearly a year. Here are his thoughts about the Primitive Skills trip: “Earth Knack is located in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, the largest alpine meadow… Read more »
Colorado Academy (CA) and Cottonwood Institute teamed up to provide a Wildland Firefighting course for the middle school interim trips. The Wildland Firefighting course took place at the base of Mt. Shavano peak near Salida, CO. The group stayed at Angel of Shavano Campground and spent time at the Colorado Firecamp learning about fire mitigation… Read more »
Connections with people, animals, and nature once again brought Cottonwood Institute and Mission: Wolf (M:W) together. During the month of May, Cottonwood Institute delivered two incredible courses for Littleton Academy, serving nearly 50 students. M:W is located near the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountain range just outside of Westcliffe, Colorado. It is a wolf sanctuary… Read more »
The Community Adventure Program (CAP) at New Vista High School wrapped up it’s quarter a couple of weeks ago! The quarter flew by, filled with field trips, guest speakers, hikes, camping trips, and students taking action to have a positive impact on their communities. Here are a few highlights from the quarter, focusing on the… Read more »
On April 20th at the Base Camp Bash, Cottonwood Institute awarded Camille Lauer with the 2013 Ripple Effect Award! The Ripple Effect Award is awarded to an outstanding Cottonwood Institute student each year. Local artist Bryan Buikema created the beautiful award piece, which will be displayed at the recipient’s school each year. Below, take a… Read more »
Although snow covered much of the compost when students arrived at school earlier this spring, but that didn’t stop a brave and motivated group of New Vista High School advisory students from shoveling and moving compost, clearing our gardens out of a foot of snow, digging weeds and spreading compost over all of our gardens!… Read more »
What a difference a few weeks made for the children of Casa de la Esperanza! The Cottonwood Institute worked with Casa youth between the ages of eight to twelve years old once a week this spring to explore the natural world, learn about local environmental issues, and take action to tackle an issue affecting their… Read more »
STRIVE Preparatory Schools recently wrapped up two of our “Mini-CAP” 6-week Community Adventure Programs. The Westwood campus and the Lake campus both had a great time during their 6-weeks together, which concluded with a final overnight camping trip. During the accelerated version of our Community Adventure Program, the students played games, learned more about each… Read more »
Citizens of the United States represent about 5% of the world’s population but produce 30% of the world’s garbage. The Earth Task Force (ETF) was shocked by this amount of waste production. For years the ETF has searched for ways to reduce waste production at New Vista High School (NVHS) and save precious natural resources. Past… Read more »
It is incredible what is possible when the community pulls together to support a good cause. Approximately 250 people and local businesses rallied together to donate money, silent auction items, food, and spirits to help make the 2013 Base Camp Bash our most successful event ever! So how much money did we raise? We raised… Read more »
