Do Something Different This Summer!

Sitting on the couch and playing video games or watching re-runs of survival shows like Survivorman and Man Vs. Wild is no way to spend the summer. Do something different this summer!

2009 SUMMER COURSES FOR TEENAGERS

Our unique courses range from  the Stone Age Survival Project to the Endangered Wolves and Animal Tracking Project. All of our courses have an exciting blend of adventure, wilderness survival, and will inspire you to change the world! To view our full course schedule, Click Here.

Scholarships and Payments Plans and Gear Rental Plans are available so please contact us for more information. Also, High School and College Credit are available and our courses look great on college applications! Space is limited, so Register Today!

Spring Promotion: If you register by May 31, 2009 and bring a friend on your course, you will receive an Official Cottonwood Institute Survival Kit, valued at $75! Please note: this offer only applies to our 2009 Summer Courses for teenagers.

SUMMER COURSES FOR ADULTS

If you are obsessed with survival shows like Survivorman and Man Vs. Wild, and you are interested in getting outside to practice these survival skills yourself, then register for the Essential Survival Skills Overnight June 6 -7, 2009. You will learn survival priorities, survival shelters, and survival fires and participate in a 24-hour survival scenario to put your skills to the test. Space is limited, so Register Today!

Mt. Evans Volunteer Project: August 21 – 23, 2009, Mt. Evans near Idaho Springs, CO. This is a great chance to give back to the mountains and head to the high country in a spectacular setting. Grab a group of friends or co-workers and help make a difference on Colorado’s 14,000 foot peaks this summer. Space is limited to the first 15 volunteers, so Register Today!

Please help us spread the word by Forwarding This Post To A friend. We hope to see you in the field with us soon! If you have any questions, please contact me via Email or by phone at 303.447.1076.

Thank you so much for all of your support!

Ford Church, Founder and Executive Director
Cottonwood Institute

CAP Post Course Survey, 4th Quarter 2009

As the quarter comes to a close, I wanted to get some open and honest feedback from this class about how to improve the CAP for future students. This information will not affect your grade, but please take it seriously. It will be reviewed by your school, the Cottonwood Institute, and this information will help us secure funding to make this class accessible to other high school students. Please Click Here to Take the Survey.

CAP Post Course Survey, 4th Quarter 2009

As the quarter comes to a close, I wanted to get some open and honest feedback from this class about how to improve the CAP for future students. This information will not affect your grade, but please take it seriously. It will be reviewed by the school, the Cottonwood Institute, and this information will help us secure funding to make this class accessible to other schools and students. Please Click Here to Take the Survey.

Community Adventure Program, Spring 2009

This quarter the girls in the Community Adventure Program class are working at Atlantis Community Incorporated. Atlantis serves, and advocates for, people with disabilities in Denver and nationwide. In front of the organization’s headquarters in the Baker District is a community garden. The garden, which is part of the Denver Urban Gardens network, provides food for folks with disabilities that Atlantis works with.

We have been working in the garden for about three weeks now and we have turned over their beds, planted corn and we are working on clearing and turning the pumpkin patch next week. We are also donating tiles we painted to the garden and we made non-smoking signs to be posted throughout. Next week we want to make some wind chimes for the grape trellis as well!

We have taken our first overnight camping trip to Gates Camp outside Ward, Colorado as well. At Gates Camp we had the excellent and patient guidance of Richard and Clark, two Cottonwood Institute Instructors. We stayed in a beautiful tee pee with a cozy fire in it, played really fun outdoor games and worked on survival skills. For some of the girls this was their very first outdoor overnight and they were really proud of themselves after the next day was through. Thanks to Gates Camp for hosting us and to the folks at Cottonwood Institute who were so patient and organized throughout our trip!

Our next overnight is scheduled for May 28 and 29 and this time we all want to stay in tents!

And the Environmental Stewardship Award Goes to…

So many amazing Action Projects were completed by Community Adventure Program students in 2008 and it seems like an impossible task to choose which one was the best. Despite the challenge, the Cottonwood Institute assembled an outstanding panel of local judges to set out to do just that.

The panel included:

And the Environmental Stewardship Award goes to…. Every Drop Counts! Action Project designed by 2nd Quarter students from New Vista High School in Boulder. In addition to being super cool individuals, these students chose to tackle the issues of bottled water and water conservation for their action project. Throughout the short 9-week class, they had to complete their project the students made many accomplishments including:

• Researched bottled water usage and water conservation.
• Collaborated with Keep it Clean Partnership and interviewed High Country Hydrology to assist in their research.
• Submitted a proposal to the Boulder Valley School District Coordinator to replace toilets and urinals in the schools with water conserving low-flow models.
• Produced an educational video for the community and held three showing at their school, then submitted it to local Boulder TV station, channel CCTV 54.
• Assisted the community by cleaning Boulder Creek.

Great work students!! We would also like to offer a congratulations to the Tory Salley-Rains, winner of the City of Boulder’s Outstanding Youth Volunteer Award and to runner up Hannah Marshall from New Vista High School! Congratulations Ladies!

Boulder Bash This Sunday!

Tell your friends and mark your calenders, the Boulder Bash is coming to Boulder, CO this Sunday! Since the spring blizzard in April kept many people from attending the Base Camp Bash in Denver, we have decided to bring the Bash to Boulder.

Paige Doughty, Rock Star Community Adventure Program Instructor at New Vista High School, will be hosting a small gathering for CAP students, parents and alumni this Sunday, May 17, 2009 from 3pm-4:30pm. We will celebrate the amazing Action Projects our students put together in 2008, and we will present our 2008 Environmental Stewardship Award to the winning Action Project, recognized by the Governor’s Commission on Community Service. The event is FREE and will take place in the Boulder REI Community Room. Food and drinks will be provided by Hapa Sushi and Old Chicago. We hope to see you there!

Please RSVP with Ford Church at ford@cottonwoodinstitute.org or give us a call at 303.447.1076 so we know how many people to expect.

Ring Your Bike Bell For Leson Hansen!

Leson Dunkley is a much loved school teacher at the Boulder Community School of Integrated Studies and the parent of one of our rock star alumni, Alys Hansen. Leson was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and she is about to undergo her third round of chemotherapy and is in need of financial assistance.

On May 9th, 2009, an amazing fundraiser called “Ring Your Bike Bell For Leson” is being held at New Vista High School so that Leson and her four children may remain living in their Boulder home, while Leson undergoes treatment.

In conjunction with the fundraiser, participants are attempting to break the Guinness World Record for Largest Bicycle Bell Ensemble – the most people ringing their bike bells at once to a recognizable song for at least five minutes. On Saturday, people will be gathering in front of New vista High school for the event between 3-3:45 PM.

Leson’s children have been and continue to be very involved with the Cottonwood Institute and the Community Adventure Program at New Vista High School. Our hearts go out to her and we hope the Bike Bell Fundraiser is a huge success!

To learn more CLICK HERE!

Green Building, Bees, and Local Food!

We began our action project week at Resource 2000 helping around the yard to learn about building green by using reclaimed materials. In exchange for our work we received tiles, fencing, and a few other necessities for our garden.

In the afternoon we met with Ryland Gardner of the Boulder Green Building Guild to hear more about things we can do around home to reduce our environmental footprints.

On Thursday we had an amazing visit from beekeeper Christina Allen. Amongst the many amazing things that we learned about bees here are a few facts:

• It takes bees 10,000 trips between flowers to make one teaspoon of honey.
• If you see a bee at a flower it is a worker, and therefore a female.
• Bee populations are declining and we still don’t know exactly why!
• When there is a lot of nectar in an area bees do a dance called “the bee dance,” which lets other bees in the hive know they should head out and look for nectar.

Students made a bee mural which will be placed in our garden!

On Friday we continued the labor intensive work of digging our garden and planting our seeds! Alex from Growing Gardens joined us to work in the morning.  As well as garden planning help, we received seeds, plant starts, and discounted compost from the generous folks at Growing Gardens. Thank you!

Students toughed it out in less than ideal weather (rainy and 40′s) to create New Vista’s own local food and pollinator garden. We’ll be putting the fence up this week and preparing for our grand opening later this month!

Well done CAP class, we’ve completed another successful action project.

More Pictures Below.

Toss Less Trash

Ever wonder how much of your trash could be kept out of a landfill? A lot, according to the 3rd quarter Community Adventure Program (CAP) class at New Vista High School. Led by teacher Paige Doughty in partnership with the Cottonwood Institute, these students decided to learn about the relationship between overconsumption, wasteful packaging, and the burden of trash on their local and global community.

The students read articles, spoke to the school custodian, looked through their own trash, and visited grocery stores as well as Ellie’s Eco Home Store. They found out Boulder had an excellent recycling program, but it would be more effective if residents understood it better. Their findings-and their creativity-were revealed during a week this March when the students took their Action Project to the community. New Vista was ready to make a difference, and every day brought a new way:

• Day 1: Mini seminars on smart buying to avoid wasteful packaging
• Day 2: Disposal experts stationed at every trash station
• Day 3: Bring your own mug day- score free Folsom Street Coffee!
• Day 4: Dun dun dunnn….. Trash Audit!!!
• Day 5: Clean up the neighborhood- trash pick-up on local streets

A big thank you to Alicia Bouyounan from Eco-Cycle for coordinating the epic trash audit right on the school’s front lawn. The students reduced 8 bags of trash to 2.5! The CAP class also showed a student-made film (check it out below!) and gave a presentation about overconsumption and recycling during the school’s Exhibition Day. This Action Project managed to reach the entire New Vista community between these events, eye-catching 3-D signs, and “trash art.” Yes, you can make art out of trash instead of tossing it!

CAP student Aleyna Porreca found it easy to say goodbye to overconsumption: “My lifestyle now has not become any more difficult but it is much less wasteful.” Classmate Olive Egbert said, “I have been able to discover that we play an essential role in the world as individuals, and we can make a difference… I have also learned that it’s important not to discourage yourself harshly with the big idea of what’s going on environmentally.”