GO CAP!

3rd quarter CAP is off and running… students are planning their action project which focuses on food miles. Some of the events and actions they have planned include:

• The planning and construction of a garden shed to support our garden.
• Repairing and Reworking the garden paths and fencing.
• Volunteer work with Growing Gardens in exchange for seeds and help planning our spring planting.
• The first ever “Fruit Friday” at New Vista, instead of Cookies.

More to information to come soon…

Winter Staff Training 2010

Several weeks have passed since we completed our annual Winter Staff Training for Cottonwood Institute instructors, but now it’s time to reflect on what we learned during that action-packed day. We covered a variety of skills, including: winter safety and risk management concerns, winter survival priorities, quinzhee snow shelters, emergency snow trench shelters, fire-making techniques and how to set up a winter base camp. But the highlight of the day was definitely showing off our mad quinzhee building skills!

Click Here for a complete photo gallery of our hard work, great times, and view step-by-step photos of our snow shelter. And don’t forget to check out our inspiring video. Send the link to your friends by Clicking Here.

Our next Staff Training is scheduled for June 5-6, 2010. If you are interested in instructing for the Cottonwood Institute, please contact Ford Church at 303.447.1076.

2nd Quarter CAP Students Tackle Water and Snow!

The days were shorter and the nights were cooler, but New Vista High School’s 2nd quarter Community Adventure Program class was on fire as they prepared for their two overnight camping trips. While the first trip gave them beautiful fall days, the other made them endure freezing temperatures.

However, both trips were enjoyed by all, as the students practiced basic camping skills, survival strategies, and fire-making techniques.  They also participated in an intense shelter building competition and they even embarked on a midnight hike.

The overnights inspire the students, reminding them what it is they are trying to protect and why.  Paige Doughty, CAP instructor, says it best: “CAP is a completely unique experience because students dictate their own education. They find an environmental issue they are passionate about, and then actively form resolutions to make the world into a better place. They are the Johnny Appleseeds of our time, planting hope for those that come after them.” To read about the environmental issue students tackled this quarter, click on our earlier post called Conserving Water Creatively.

Click here for the complete photo gallery of all the action and check out the uplifting and inspiring video clip below.

Click here for the link to the video and share it with your friends.

(CAP is) “a chance to be yourself, a chance to learn about the environment, a chance to work with others, but most of all it’s a chance to make a change.” Julien Scherliss

Thanks to CAP, I can’t wait to hear the rest of my conversation with nature.” Tess Eckert

I learned to look at people differently and to think differently, and how I can make a difference in the world.” Halsey Black