The Cottonwood Institute family grows a little bit bigger in 2019 as we welcome Andrew Miller, our new Field Program Coordinator! This is a new role that will provide dedicated support to our instructors to ensure we deliver high quality, high impact programs for our students. Andrew steps in to oversee logistics for our 30+… Read more »
It’s that time of year again! As the year comes to a close, we are excited to share our top 10 inspiring stories from 2018. What exactly have we been up to this past year? See for yourself and get ready to be inspired! 1. Nature Kids Lafayette First Year Of Programming Returns Great Results… Read more »
It was already warm at 7:30am when the group started to trickle into the parking lot of Casa de la Esperanza for our adventure. Sleepiness mixed with excitement as we piled into the van for the four hour trip. Skyscrapers and billboards gave way to mountains and desert sage until we finally reached our destination:… Read more »
Cottonwood Institute staff spent the afternoon at Colorado Academy (CA) on Friday, June 8th. We were there to offer our expertise in the art of team-building and small-group-facilitation to CA’s Day Camp staff who will be entertaining, enriching and wrangling kiddos aged 4-14 all summer. Most of CA’s staff are themselves teenagers and relatively new… Read more »
The Angevine Middle School CAP class was busy this spring – busy learning about pollinators. At first the students weren’t exactly sure how to help pollinators. One group of boys just wanted to “free the bees!” Needless to say, some learning was in order. First the students learned about all different types of pollinators: flies,… Read more »
After any Cottonwood Institute backpacking trip, I routinely ask students what they learned on the trip as a part of our larger debrief and secret pal reveal. Overwhelmingly, students say that they enjoyed learning about knots. The New Vista High School CAP class were no exception. After their recent trip to Taylor Mountain near Allenspark,… Read more »
The average person uses a plastic bag for only about 12 minutes, then that plastic is doomed to roam the earth forever. People think they are going to recycle the bag, but really only about 1 percent of those bags are recycled. Beyond that, plastic is not able to be recycled infinitely, it can only… Read more »
UPDATE: We are happy to report that Wynkoop Brewing Company’s Charity Tap Program in January 2018 was wildly successful and they donated $1,600 to help support Cottonwood Institute programs in 2018! Come on out and support Cottonwood Institute this month at Wynkoop Brewing Company! We are the Charity Tap Beneficiary for the month of January. The… Read more »
“It was terrible, it was awesome”. Who are you when you are at your center? Who are you when you are your best self? These were the questions we asked the New Vista High School Community Adventure Program (CAP) students before we embarked on our backpacking trip to Taylor Mountain. We all have experiences that… Read more »
One of the hallmarks of a Community Adventure Program (CAP) classroom with Cottonwood Institute is the use of attunements. What is an attunement? It’s any activity that helps students transition from their outside life to being able to focus in the classroom. Attunements also help students get to know each other and build camaraderie, setting the… Read more »
