New leaders have been stepping up at the Cottonwood Institute the past few months. We are excited to have April Pishna, our Adventure Coordinator for the past two years, become our first Program Director! She will be responsible for working with our educational partners and instructors to make sure we deliver fun, high quality, high impact programs for our students. Madeline Bachner is still teaching the Community Adventure Program at New Vista High School and is stepping into our Adventure Coordinator role.

New board members have also been working hard behind the scenes to infuse fresh passion, energy, and ideas. Marley Steele-Inama, Education Research and Evaluation Manager at the Denver Zoo recently joined the board to help improve our program logic model and evaluation tools. Jack Derby, a Certified Financial Planner from the Derby Financial Group, is our board Treasurer. Janet Woods, Vendor Manager at Avnet Technology Solutions, is our board Secretary and marketing guru. Chris Zook, Vice President at Q Advisors, is the new Chairman of the Board.

The compass is set and we are so excited about the direction the Cottonwood Institute is headed!