New Vista High School Flips the Solar Switch

In an extraordinary effort of achievement, a small group of committed students at New Vista High School witnessed the fruits of their labor as they helped flip the switch to a new solar panel system recently installed at their school.

After completing the Community Adventure Program, the core educational program of the Cottonwood Institute, a group of students came together because they wanted to continue making a difference in their community. They started a student-directed club at New Vista High School called the Earth Task Force and agreed upon a common goal: to help reduce their school’s environmental footprint.

They collaborated with the Boulder Valley School District’s Sustainability Coordinator, Ghita Carroll, who paid for an energy audit of their school. They helped write a grant to the Earth Day Network to install a solar panel system at their school and they won the grant! Simple Solar, a Boulder-based company, installed the solar panel system just before Earth Day 2010. This system will help significantly offset their schools energy bill, reduce CO2 emissions, and help the school save money during tough economic times.

Here are a few impressive stats about the system:

• Simple Solar installed 22 Siliken solar panels, which will produce about 6,765 kilowatt hours per year.
• The clean energy produced by the system will eliminate 12,177 pounds of CO2 per year, the equivalent of reducing the number of vehicle miles driven by 15,154 per year or planting 534 trees.
• Assuming modest increases in electrical rates, the system will save the school about $32,472 to $40,590 over the course of the 40 to 50 year expected life of the system.

According to one Earth Task Force member, “as students in the modern world, we have taken it upon ourselves to act towards our vision of a just and sustainable world. We have dedicated many hours to plan events to raise awareness about environmental issues, and to make our vision a reality.”

This is project is an excellent example of community leaders we are inspiring through the Cottonwood Institute. A special thanks goes out to Boulder Valley School District, New Vista High School, the Earth Task Force, Simple Solar, and the Earth Day Network for making this project possible.

Spring is here!

And in celebration the 4th quarter CAP class has been up and at em’! Check out the photos below of us visiting Flatirons Neighborhood Farm and planting peas, listening for the spring buzz with Growing Gardens Bee Keeper Julie, our overnight complete with silly games in the wild, and of course hiking at Chautauqua:

Growing Food Locally

“The act of putting into your mouth what the earth has grown, is perhaps your most direct interaction with the earth.” ~Francis Moore Lappe

After much discussion and deliberation about their Action Project, “Winter” Community Adventure Program (CAP) students at New Vista High School chose to research food miles and the importance of growing food locally. Students decided to prepare and repair the existing garden for the 2010 growing season, which was originally created by spring 2009 CAP students, and they decided to build a tool-shed for garden tools and other supplies.

In order to put their plan into action, students collaborated with several different community members and organizations. They volunteered at Growing Gardens in exchange for fencing, mulch, and seedlings. They connected with Patrick Padden of Sunrise Ranch to learn about permaculture gardening techniques and how to apply them in their garden. To build the tool-shed, students researched building plans, looked at other tool-sheds for ideas, and procured the materials they needed to build the tool shed. By the end of the quarter, everyone learned a great deal about how to grow food locally.

“This class has opened my mind to the possibility that one person can make a difference and that doing small things still has an effect. I also realized that high school students have a strong voice and people will listen to you if you use it. Before this class I thought of myself as educated about the environment and now I have even more knowledge and ability to make a change in my lifestyle.” Liam Dodd.

This Action Project could not have been completed without the time, dedication, and inspiring willingness of parent volunteer Jon Hall, who is a carpenter. Jon volunteered 8 + hours of time to help us create a tool-shed and teach students about building throughout the process. Many thanks to all the incredible community members who are always willing to help students make their Action Projects a success.

CAP 3rd Quarter Wrap Up

“The act of putting into your mouth what the earth has grown, is perhaps your most direct interaction with the earth.” ~Francis Moore Lappe

During third quarter, or “Winter” CAP students decided to focus their action project efforts on Food Miles. After much discussion and deliberation students chose to prepare (and repair) the existing garden at New Vista High School (created by 4th quarter CAP 2009) for the 2010 growing season! In addition students came together to build a tool-shed for garden tools and other supplies.

In order to complete their goals students collaborated with several different community members and organizations. From volunteering hours at Growing Gardens in exchange for fencing, mulch, and seedlings, to connecting with Patrick Padden of Sunrise Ranch to learn about permaculture gardening techniques and apply them in the garden students learned a great deal about how growing food locally. To build the tool-shed students researched building plans and looked at other tool-sheds for ideas. Students also procured the materials for the tool shed.

This action project could not have been complete with out the time, dedication, and inspiring willingness of parent volunteer Jon Hall, who is a carpenter. Jon volunteered 8 + hours of time to help us create a tool-shed and teach students about building throughout the process.

Many thanks to all the incredible community members who are always willing to help students make their action projects a success.

Here are a few of the thoughts from students from the third quarter CAP class:

“With all the things that I learned in this CAP class I know that I have made a difference and will make a difference in my community. Since starting this CAP class I have built a compost bin, planted seeds, talked to my friends about our environmental impact, started recycling more, avoiding food with excessive packaging, staying away from most fast food, and in general beings aware of EVERY SINGLE THING I do having an environmental impact… I will make a difference in my community by setting an example of someone who can still live their life just as well without giving in to all the luxuries our society has forced upon us. With all the knowledge I have gained from this course, the most valuable piece of information I learned was that I can and WILL make a difference in my community.” ~ Jonah Eskin

“Cap class was a nice change from my regular classes. I thought it had a lot more depth than some other classes, and that the weekend overnights were a good opportunity. The action project taught me a lot about causing change. I also learned a lot from the weekend overnights even though I have taken many backpacking trips with my family. I learned that I have a large environmental footprint and that yes, there is something I can do about it. I am trying to convince my parents to begin buying local, organic food. This class helped raise my awareness of environmental and social issues that I take part in every day.” Evan Blum

“The overall experience of this class was very overwhelming but totally worth it. It takes a lot of effort and s requires leaderships skills, problem solving skills, team work,and many others. I feel by joining this class I began to become closer to nature and have it be a close friend of mine. I believe that some of the students were not totally committed to the class and over time this became frustrating! I learned a lot about people and how not everyone can have the dedication to school that some people do. I think that as a person I have become MUCH more aware of environmental issues and by passing this information on to my family we are making efforts together.” ~Maddie Dana

“This class has opened my  mind to the possibility that one person can make a difference and that doing small things still has an effect. I also realized that high school students have a strong voice and people will listen to you if you use it. Before this class I thought of myself as educated about the environment and now I have even more knowledge and ability to make a change in my lifestyle.” Liam Dodd.

“I learned a lot about the environment from our guest speakers. I used to think that we had an unlimited amount of resources, and it didn’t matter that much if you threw away one plastic bottle when it could have been recycled. This class has made me recycle and use less resources, because I know understand the consequences of seemingly insignificant actions.” ~Ben Nageler

“I’ve always wanted to have a garden and it really makes me happy that New Vista is just that cool that we have one and we got to work on it. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life before this class. But now I know I want to help this earth stay alive in anyway possible. There’s so much I could do to help and I just have to find one thing that makes me really happy and do it… I really have enjoyed this class. People I thought I would hate have now become my friends. I’ve learned to accept people as they are and that will really help me the rest of my life.” ~Kelly Percy

5th Annual Base Camp Bash: Leading The Way!

Set your GPS coordinates, orient your map, and save the date for the 5th Annual Base Camp Bash fundraising event and silent auction to benefit the Cottonwood Institute.

Come enjoy a glass of wine and delicious appetizers.  Bid on fabulous trips, mountain getaways, outdoor gear, concert and event tickets, and night on the town packages.  Challenge your friends to an outdoor Wii competition and learn more about how we are leading the way and “changing the world, one adventure at a time!”

THE LOGISTICS:
Base Camp Bash
Friday, April 16, 2010
Rox Room at Lodo’s Bar and Grill
1946 Market Street
Denver, CO 80202
Doors open at 7:00 pm
Casual Dress

TICKETS:
Tickets are $30 if you buy them by Friday, April 9, 2010 or $35 at the door, and include a complimentary glass of wine.  Tickets are limited to the first 150 guests, so invite your friends and buy your tickets today by clicking here.

CAN’T ATTEND BUT STILL WANT TO HELP?
Consider making a tax deductible donation to our 2010 Base Camp Bash Campaign.  Please help us give diverse students the opportunity to explore the outdoors by donating $20.10,  $201.0, or $2010 by clicking here.