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CAP Students Shed Light on the GMO Debate

In fall of 2014, Community Adventure Program (CAP) students at New Vista High School in Boulder, Colorado, chose to study the controversial topic of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). After watching documentaries, visiting Alfalfa’s Market, and conducting extensive research, they invited speakers from both sides of the issue to their class. Speakers from Right to Know… Read more »

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Students at STRIVE Excel Backpack, Lead, and Learn with CAP

In late October, students from STRIVE Preparatory Schools’ Excel campus went backpacking as part of their Community Adventure Program (CAP) class with Cottonwood Institute. CAP at STRIVE is a semester-long class, which meets two days each week for 15 weeks. The first few weeks of class in August and September focused on teambuilding, nature awareness,… Read more »

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CAP Students at New Vista Explore Planned Obsolescence

An action project in CAP (Community Adventure Program) is when we choose a local environmental issue to focus on and make a difference within our school and community. Our class’ topic was planned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence is the process of industries designing and manufacturing their products to fail after a couple of years of use,… Read more »

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Backpacking, Hiking, and Exploring with CAP

This spring, the Community Adventure Program (CAP) at New Vista High School had many amazing outdoor experiences! Each adventure built upon the last, as the students grew into competent and excited outdoor enthusiasts. On most Friday afternoons throughout their few months together, CAP class headed to the nearby trails at the base of the Flat… Read more »

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Lakewood High School Students Change Their World

Eight months ago, Cottonwood Institute embarked on a new journey, Mini CAP, with a group of sophomores from FAST Tracks, a dropout prevention program at Lakewood High School. Mini CAP is a spin off of our core curriculum at New Vista High School in Boulder, the Community Adventure Program.  We took our CAP curriculum and… Read more »

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Overnights and Action with CAP

CAP students were quite busy this quarter. Before their first overnight they learned about camp setup, packing their bags, proper camp nutrition, and basic outdoor overnight essentials.  Most of them already had a great deal of camping experience for high schoolers. Or so they said, as they arrived for the overnight with overstuffed backpacks –… Read more »

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Hope and Adventure at Casa de la Esperanza

Six weeks ago a group of boys and girls from Casa de la Esperanza gathered together in nervous anticipation for the first ever Casa CAP program. Casa de la Esperanza (House of Hope) is a residential community in Longmont dedicated to helping agricultural workers. The learning resource center at Casa provides educational and recreational services… Read more »

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Students Were Deeply Impacted By CAP This Quarter

Community Adventure Program (CAP) students at New Vista High School were deeply impacted by their outdoor experiences this quarter.  In CAP class, one of our goals is always to awaken students to their gifts and abilities to make change in their own lives and the lives of people in their communities.  The reflections of this… Read more »