Good News: Cottonwood Institute is celebrating its 20th birthday on September 27th, 2024 – Look out! Cottonwood has served over 7,185 students over the years breaking down barriers to connect more kids to nature and inspiring them to become changemakers in their communities. Challenge: Cottonwood had another outstanding programming year as highlighted in our Impact… Read more »
What can make a day spent playing golf at the Harvard Gulch Golf Invitational, surrounded by friends, raising money for a good cause more fun? Why, adding costumes, croquet mallets, hockey sticks, and prizes of course! This year’s Harvard Gulch Golf Invitational to benefit Cottonwood Institute was a fantastic success! Collectively we raised over $12,000… Read more »
On Saturday July 13th, 2024, 30 teams gathered downtown at McGregor Square to participate in Denver’s favorite Charity Cornhole Tournament, The Throwdown! With proceeds from the tournament going to supporting Cottonwood Institute’s CAP Class at AXL Academy in Aurora, the tournament gives teams a highlight their cornhole prowess, win epic prizes, and participate in an… Read more »
Discovering Nature, Building Community, and Making Memories. Written by Assistant Instructor Sasha Trask. Day 1 – Get-to-know-you and basic skills! We started off our first day of the Explore Outside program at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College (DMLK). After a cool, cloudy morning of games, we headed off to Barr Lake State Park…. Read more »
Cottonwood Institute (CI) has been so grateful for our amazing partnership with Casa de la Esperanza (Casa) in Longmont, CO, for the past 13 years! This year, we decided to kick our collaboration up a notch by co-creating the Familias Unidas en la Naturaleza (FUN) Program, a new program to inspire youth and their… Read more »
August 2nd, 2024 Update: The 2024 Beats on the Creek summer concert series to benefit Cottonwood Institute is a wrap. A huge thank you to Tom and Diane Coohill and the Coohills Restaurant staff and volunteers for helping us raise over $23,000 to support our Colorado Watershed Projects with Lincoln Hills Cares this summer. And… Read more »
From Fish Hatcheries to Fierce Rapids, RiseUp Community High School Students Navigate Nature and Themselves in Leadville. Written by CI Field Instructor Hailey Schmidt. A small group of RiseUp Community High School students spent a wonderful week with Cottonwood Institute, learning about watersheds, getting to know each other better, and experiencing nature’s joys in the… Read more »
From tent-building challenges to catching their own dinner, these 7th graders embraced the beauty (and briskness!) of Camp Patiya. Written by CI Field Instructor Hailey Schmidt AXL Academy 7th Graders had a chilly yet beautiful overnight trip to Camp Patiya outside of Boulder, Colorado. Expecting strong winds and potential precipitation, we were pleasantly surprised by… Read more »
No Tents, No Problem! Angevine Middle School Makes Memories on Action-Packed Day Trips. Written by CI Field Instructor Hailey Schmidt Last month, Angevine Middle School students were disappointed to hear that their overnight trip had been switched to two day trips due to excessively cold weather predicted for the night of their May campout. However,… Read more »
We recently caught up with Coral Amayi, who took one of our original Community Adventure Programs (CAP Class) at New Vista High School 20 years ago back in 2004 with Ford Church, our Founder and Executive Director How have you used the skills you learned in CAP Class in your career today? I have absolutely… Read more »
