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Ripple Effect Award

We are all changemakers; knowingly or unknowingly, the effects of our actions ripple out, changing the world in large and small ways each day. Every year since 2013 at the Base Camp Bash, Cottonwood Institute recognizes the ways our students make change in their schools, their communities, and the world. The Ripple Effect Award celebrates… Read more »

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Consulting & Professional Development

Ongoing and workshop-based professional development for education organizations. Cottonwood Institute collaborates with schools and youth organizations along the Colorado Front Range—primarily for middle and high school students—to provide high quality, high impact environmental education and service-learning programs. We work with schools and other organizations to develop their own toolkits for facilitating student challenge and meaningful… Read more »

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Xcel Energy Foundation Grant 2021-22

Cottonwood Institute is excited to receive a $10,000 grant from Xcel Energy Foundation to help support our CAP Classes at AXL Academy, William Smith High School, Angevine Middle School, Centaurus High School, and New Vista High School during the 2021-22 school year! We are honored to partner with Xcel energy and their commitment to transition… Read more »

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Spring CAP Class Wakes Up Dormant Learners

When the nation went into lockdown last year and students transitioned to online learning, some learners went into a kind of dormancy. The second period CAP outdoor class at Angevine Middle School had many students who hadn’t participated much in online learning and were both eager and hesitant to go back to school with hybrid… Read more »

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Top 10 Inspiring Stories from 2020!

2020 has been a lot of things, and while “inspiring” may not be the first word that comes to mind, there were in fact many things to be inspired by in the world of Cottonwood Institute! Our instructors stepped up to the challenge of adapting their programs in a big way, and our students were… Read more »

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Breaking the Ice in AMS Virtual CAP Class

Imagine that you are trying to give a sales presentation and you are in a video meeting staring at twenty-three icons. You make a joke—trying to break the ice, get a reaction. The icons are unwavering. This is virtual teaching in a COVID autumn. What you are selling is engagement with peers, connection to each… Read more »

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Cottonwood Institute State of the Union 2020

With the US presidential election less than a week away — don’t worry, this is NOT a political post — I wanted to take an opportunity to share Cottonwood Institute‘s (CI) State of the Union in 2020. We are now 8 months into the COVID-19 pandemic and like many, CI’s world has turned upside down…. Read more »

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Real Action Projects in a Virtual World

Any student that’s taken a CAP Class with Cottonwood Institute can tell you that  Action Projects are of the highlights of their experience. Typically, students choose an issue that they want to tackle as a whole class. Together, they find solutions and work to plan an action in their community; classes in the past have… Read more »

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Cottonwood Institute Fall Program Updates

At Cottonwood Institute, we’ve got reasons to love every time of year. Winter means plenty of snow for building quinzhees, spring is time for projects in the garden (or more quinzhees if the snow decides to stick around), and summer brings us down to Westcliffe for adventures at Mission: Wolf. But our favorite time of… Read more »

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Ripple Effect Award

We are all changemakers; knowingly or unknowingly, the effects of our actions ripple out, changing the world in large and small ways each day. Every year since 2013 at the Base Camp Bash, Cottonwood Institute recognizes the ways our students make change in their schools, their communities, and the world. The Ripple Effect Award celebrates… Read more »