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 »
“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 »
For the first time, CAP class at AXL Academy has been offered as a yearlong elective, allowing students to dig deeper into environmental topics and issues specific to their community. CAP Instructor Katie Morton shared some reflections on the first two trimesters as her class moves into spring: In the last year, the words “unprecedented,”… 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 »
Students from Aurora Experiential Learning (AXL) Academy’s CAP class took Thursday and Friday off from their regularly scheduled school activities to spend an overnight in a cabin and get in touch with nature and their peers in Allenspark, CO. During the overnight adventure, students stayed in the Horse Lodge at Highlands Presbyterian Camp. Upon their… Read more »
Students in the second trimester Community Adventure Program (CAP) Class at Aurora Expeditionary Learning Academy (AXL) got to experience a magnificent state park that is less than an hour away from their school! Roxborough State Park is a 45 minute drive Southwest of AXL, but as you can see from the photos, it looked like… Read more »
Students from Aurora Expeditionary Learning (AXL) Academy’s Community Adventure Program (CAP) class packed up their bags and spent Thursday and Friday out of school, cell service, and their comfort zones at Cal-Wood Education Center in Jamestown, CO. The group pulled out of AXL Academy singing along to the Lizzo song “Truth Hurts” on the radio,… Read more »
Students from AXL Academy who chose the Community Adventure Program (CAP) class as their elective this fall trimester embarked on their first field trip last Friday. Only a week prior, they were meeting one another for the first time. All 15 students in the class loaded up in the vehicles and headed northwest for Boulder…. Read more »
The AXL CAP students had a lot of grand ideas for their class action project this last trimester. There were talks of planting gardens and building a Gaga Ball court (a game played at Cheley Outpost on their class overnight). They knew that they definitely wanted to do something that would benefit their school AND… Read more »
One cold yet sunny day in April, AXL Academy CAP students left school to go somewhere better. Somewhere with no internet. Somewhere where they could get lost in its beautiful views. The woods. They got into the van and took off towards the mountains. When they got to the campsite, some students recognized the spot… Read more »
