Cottonwood Institute is teaming up with Re:Vision for our annual Urban Farm Volunteer Day on Saturday, September 29th 2018 from 9am-1:30pm at their headquarters: 3738 Morrison Road, Denver, CO 80219. CI loves partnering with Re:Vision every year because they are a visionary and inspiring organization doing a whole lotta good in the Westwood community of Denver. Register Today… Read more »
We caught up with Peter Zola, an amazing Community Adventure Program (CAP) student alumni from New Vista High School in Boulder, CO who is now 31 years old. He was gracious enough to fill us in on what he’s up to these days. Of course, he’s still “Livin’ the Dream!” as our Executive Director, Ford… Read more »
During late October, the student-led New Vista High School club called Earth Task Force (ETF) ran a competition focused on creating student awareness about the school waste stream. Each of the school advisories (home rooms) participated in a race to sort out a bucket of various waste found around the school. This included Starbucks cups,… Read more »
A couple weeks ago, Cottonwood Institute teamed up with Casa de la Esperanza, a housing community in Longmont hosted by Boulder County Housing Authority, and engaged seven kids, one chaperon, and two Cottonwood Instructors in a weekend adventure exploring new lands. As the bus pulled away from the city and entered the luscious green of the Boulder… Read more »
On February 22nd, a group of four Earth Task Force members attended the Alliance for Sustainability Conference at the Colorado State Capitol Building. At the conference the Earth Task Force learned about current bills that focus on sustainability, climate change and the environment. Adam Stenftenagel, the co-founder and CEO of Snugg Home presented at the… Read more »
Johnson and Wales University (JWU) worked with the Cottonwood Institute for the third year in a row to offer another great Environmental Leadership Summit. Eyes were opened, ideas were hatched and questions raised as the day got underway with excellent speakers and hands on activities. By the end of the day, 21 students had participated… Read more »
The Cottonwood Institute‘s core education program called the Community Adventure Program (CAP) has received some media attention recently. Students enrolled in CAP at New Vista High School recently had an article written about their environmental service project, which involved building a greenhouse at the school in order to raise an awareness of the importance of… Read more »
The Cottonwood Institute recently hosted a screening of Freedom Writers, starring Hillary Swank, for our latest "Change the World Movie Night." The movie chronicles a new teacher in a recently integrated public school in Long Beach, CA during the early 1990’s, following the Rodney King beating and LA riots when racial tensions were high. Erin… Read more »
When I teach a Cottonwood Institute course, I typically begin by asking students what they think about volunteering and community service. Very consistently, students tell me that community service is what their parents make them do, what their school makes them do, or it involves a parole officer. Using community service as a punishment tool… Read more »
I started a non-profit organization about a year ago called the Cottonwood Institute, whose mission is to teach students how to change the world through an exciting blend of adventure and service. I have dedicated my life to inspiring the youth of America and I continually hear my mom say, "where did he come from?"… Read more »
