Cottonwood Institute Blog

New Interns Storm the Cottonwood Institute

Several new sets of helping-hands have joined the Cottonwood Institute as interns. In the future, you will be seeing their work around this blog and beyond. Our new Cottonwood Institute Blog interns, Cailin and Misra, will be contributing steady updates about Cottonwood Institute courses, news and other juicy bits. It is their hope to offer some windows of perspective into relevant current events and aspects of daily life, which will hopefully get our readers thinking about their impact on their communities and the environment. Feedback is always appreciated and if you happen across any articles or happenings in the world you believe others would appreciate reading about -- let us know!

Misra Cohen-Macgill is a 2007 graduate of New Vista High School in Boulder, CO where she completed two winter camping Community Adventure Program (CAP) courses. In any season, any country, Misra loves spending as much time as she can outside. She is an artist, great sushi chef, world traveler and is looking forward to the greater awareness and perspective she expects to gain through this internship by seeking out material to share on this blog.

Cailin Marsden (New Vista High School ’07) has also participated in a winter CAP course--the first one ever offered--ever. Glad to be active in the Cottonwood Institute community, Cailin will be posting while commencing her first year at Marlboro College in Vermont. She loves backpacking, rafting through the canyons of the Southwest desert country and jumps at every opportunity to travel abroad. This past year, she and Misra took a gap year between high school and their post-secondary endeavors during which they traveled through Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and New Zealand for 5 1/2 months. To check out their travel blog Click Here.

Our new marketing intern, Jacob Rothbaum, is currently a student at the University of Denver. He is attending the Daniels College of Business and his major is marketing. Jacob was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and has lived in Colorado for the past three years. His family has always been active outdoors and they often vacationed in Colorado during the summer. Jacob has always been a hiker and a camper and is excited to be working for a company like the Cottonwood Institute.

Winner Of The Jack Johnson Registration Promotion!

We are excited to announce that Steven Cordova is the big winner of the Jack Johnson Registration Promotion! Steven and a lucky guest will receive two tickets to the SOLD OUT Jack Johnson show at Red Rocks on Sunday, August 17th, 2008. Steven is a Denver Zoo Teen Volunteer and he is registered for our Endangered Wolves and Animal Tracking Course with the Denver Zoo in July. Congrats Steven!

Free Change the World Movie Night: The 11th Hour

Join the Cottonwood Institute at the Fluid Coffee Bar in Denver this Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 6:30pm as we host a free screening of Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour. After we watch the movie, we will host a discussion regarding things we can do to reduce our environmental footprint. We will also learn about the Cottonwood Institute and the Fluid Coffee Bar's environmental commitment and learn about opportunities to take action.  

The 11th Hour is the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how we’ve arrived at this moment -- how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, we will hear from over 50 leading scientists, thinkers and leaders who discuss the most important issues that face our planet and people.  

 

Help the Cottonwood Institute Win a $2,500 Matching Gift from Jack Johnson!

In March, we announced that Jack Johnson had committed to supporting the Cottonwood Institute this year through All At Once and the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation. Below are three exciting ways you can help us win a $2,500 matching gift from Jack Johnson to support our Griffith Scholarship Fund, win tickets to his sold out show at Red Rocks this summer, and learn how to volunteer at the Jack Johnson concert:

1. Register for a Course: If you register for a 2008 Cottonwood Institute course before Monday, June 9, 2008, you will be entered into a drawing to receive two tickets to Jack Johnson's sold out Red Rocks show on Sunday, August 17th, 2008.


2. Donate $25 to our Griffith Scholarship Fund: When you make a $25 donation or more to our Griffith Scholarship Fund by Sunday, August 10th, 2008, not only will your donation be matched by Jack Johnson (up to $2,500), but you will be entered into a drawing to receive two tickets to the sold out Red Rocks show on Sunday, August 17th, 2008. Please consider making your donation through the Cottonwood Institute Facebook Cause. If you don't have a Facebook account, but you would still like to help us reach our goal, please Click Here to make your donation online and enter "All At Once" in the designation section. We also accept checks made payable to: Cottonwood Institute, PO Box 7067, Denver, CO 80207.


3. Volunteer at the Jack Johnson Concert: Folks that register for a course before June 9, 2008 and/or make a $25 donation or more to the Griffith Scholarship Fund by Sunday, August 10, 2008 are eligible to register on a first come, first serve basis to volunteer at the sold out Jack Johnson Concert on Sunday, August 17th, 2008. Volunteers are needed to to help us with setting up and breaking down the “Village Green” as well as passing out the passports, interacting with the fans, and helping with other general tasks to make the “Village Green” run smoothly.

After you have actively participated in steps 1 and/or 2 listed above, please contact Ford Church via Email or call him directly at 303.447.1076 to register to volunteer at the Jack Johnson concert.

 

Radiating From Her Heart - Honoring A Veteran Of Service: Larry French

“I think it is important to foster an appreciation of nature, no matter how large, or small.” - Molly French

Have you ever taken the initiative to help a stranger? We hope this story inspires you to help those in need, as it has inspired us to tell this story of kindness.

This year, the Cottonwood Institute had an outreach booth at the Green Apple Music Festival in Denver’s City Park. While talking about our exciting Summer Courses for adventurous youth and adults, we met an amazing person, Molly French.

Molly listened as she walked by our booth about the Cottonwood Institute’s need to have proper equipment/gear for our high school aged youth to have during our Community Adventure Program overnights and Summer Course projects. A few weeks later, we received contact from her stating that she wanted to organize a gear drive with her friends (with the help of Kathy Albert and Tracey Roberts), and that she wanted to make a donation to our Griffith Scholarship Fund with her good friend Ilene Bloom in honor of her father’s life. Below are a few words about her father, Larry French:

“My Dad had a keen and subtle appreciation for nature. He spent a large part of his childhood on a lake in Indiana with his family. He took my brothers, sisters and myself camping almost every vacation as children. He wrote a letter to my mother every day he was in Vietnam (he was there for two years), many of the letters describing the beauty of that country in great detail. For as long as I can remember as a child, and into my adulthood, he did volunteer work for the Civitan Club out of Birmingham, Alabama. Part of that volunteer work was helping them prepare a summer camp for kids with disabilities. The few times he was able to visit me in Colorado, I took he and my mom to Steamboat, Durango, and Glenwood Springs. He loved the beauty of this state, and I am so glad he got to see parts of it.

My Dad unexpectedly and sadly died March of 2006. I cherish the times when I had a rare moment alone with my father (I have four siblings). During some of those moments, nature distracted and consumed his attention. For example, one time at the kids camp he came across a grove of birch trees. He took several pictures of the birches while he was lying on his back at the base of the grove. I can remember the first time I saw the photos of the birch trees and learned about his awe of nature. Another time we were walking on the beach, he saw a crab and followed it around for 20 minutes or so. I followed him; he followed the crab - in silence. I knew why he was distracted. He understood the power of nature, even in the smallest things. It's important that young people have an opportunity to connect with nature on any level, then hopefully take that connection into adulthood as a catapult to involvement in environmental preservation - for example, from being part of a hands-on crew in restoring trails to taking on leadership positions in environmental organizations.”
- Molly French, May 30, 2008

On behalf of the Cottonwood Institute we would like to thank Molly, Ilene, Kathy and Tracey for taking the initiative to support our students. To learn how you can support the Cottonwood Institute please consider making a Donation, supporting our Griffith Scholarship Fund to help make our courses accessible to students in need, donating an item on our Wish List, or joining us in the field for one of our amazing Summer Courses.