Alumni Snapshot: Cailin Marsden

Cailin Marsden was a part of the very first Community Adventure Program (CAP) class at New Vista High School in the fall of 2003. Since then she has kept in touch with the Cottonwood Institute and for a short time helped to contribute to the Institute’s blog. Cailin’s passion for the environment and the outdoors shines through in everything she does.

Q: What are you up to these days?

A: These days find me in my first year attending Marlboro College in beautiful southern Vermont.  Currently, I’m exploring cultural anthropology as my main vein of study at Marlboro and was recently accepted into their World Studies Program. This program promotes a global perspective through international experience and, for the majority of my junior year, I will find myself abroad in a self-designed internship.  Next semester I will begin working for Marlboro’s Outdoor Program and assist different student expedition groups prepare for their trips with college-provided gear, as well as maintain the vast network of hiking/alpine ski trails and other odd-jobs.  I must say, I will be using some skills I learned during my CAP course while working for Marlboro’s O.P. and am eager to learn more in the process.

Q: What is your favorite Cottonwood Institute memory or story from your course?

A: If you want to walk quietly, you put your foot down gently—first the toe and rolling down to the heel.  This was the fox walk that my class learned during one of our many class outings.  We practiced silently creeping up to a blindfolded person who sat in the middle of a clearing.  Ultimately, we wanted to get close enough to touch the blindfolded person without being pointed-out.  It was one of my favorite experiences with CAP, all of my senses were heightened, each movement deliberate, and I was acutely aware of my natural surroundings and the changing locations of my fellow creepers.

Q: What environmental issue are you most passionate about and what are you doing to address it?

A: Over the past year, I’ve wanted to become more personally involved with the food that I eat, trying to shorten its journey from dirt to fork and reduce my eco-footprint.  Over the summer, I turned my front yard into a vegetable garden and became more involved with the Boulder Farmers’ Market, supporting the local food movement as best I could.  Since arriving at Marlboro College, I’ve been an active caretaker of the school’s garden where we grow a significant amount of fresh produce to be consumed by students year-round.  Most recently, I’ve collaborated with some of my fellow garden-tenders and the Marlboro kitchen staff to compost all  food scraps, including those from the dining hall.  The whole project has been a great success so far, though there are still some kinks to work out (especially in freezing temperatures early next year…that should be interesting).  Overall, I am happy to have helped in reducing the amount of compostable food Marlboro dumps in the trash every day and converting it into rich garden soil.  Go compost!

Gardens for Good

Gardening can often be hot and tiring work. The students in the 3rd and 4th quarter Community Adventure Program class at PS1 Charter School in Denver didn’t think about this when they decided to to address urban gardening and local food production for their Action Project this spring. But what they found is that gardening can be many times more rewarding than they imagined.

To get inspired and pumped up for their Action Project, the students at PS1 began by watching a documentary about a group of people in Harlem who turned vacant lots into community gardens, and wrote reflections on their previous gardening experience. Next it was time to form a plan! The students researched and discussed the importance of community gardens, and decided to use a local organization, Atlantis Communities Inc. as a base for their project. Atlantis is an organization that connects people with disabilities in the Denver area to services available to them. They have a garden to grow food for clients who are home bound or cannot afford fresh food.

At this point, it was time to get their hands dirty,and dive into the soil at the Atlantis gardens! Terrence Turner, who manages the gardens, explained how Atlantis works and showed the students how to turn beds, make rows, and plant crops. Terrence is in a wheelchair and works full-time for Atlantis. Everyday for three weeks, the students sweated in the hot sun planting corn, potatoes, squash, onions, tomatoes, and pumpkins. They also created art pieces to be displayed in the gardens and non smoking signs. According to Terrance, “the girls did a great job I just wish they could have stayed longer. They are the best volunteers I have ever had. I would love to have them back asap. They did more work in the sort time than most.”

In the beginning, the students were not so happy about all the hard work involved in planting a garden. They voiced their complaints and even considered switching projects. But after much discussion everyone agreed that they wanted to continue their work for Atlantis. They realized that they were helping some of the most disadvantaged people in Denver get fresh food, and that their gardens would become a refuge for people in the neighborhood. Atlantis helps hundreds of people in the Denver Metro Area. Throughout the quarter the students not only contributed their energy and hard work to these people, but gained a great deal or compassion and understanding. In the end they were able to see everything they planted begin to peak up through the soil.

One student reflects on the experience, “I didn’t like the garden at first.  It was hot out, and I was thirsty and tired all the time.  But then I saw Terrance come out to see us in his wheelchair and he was so happy to have us there, and he was so thankful.  I realized that we were doing something really nice.”

Sunrise Century Volunteer Opportunity - Proceeds Benefit Cottonwood Institute!

Sunrise Century, July 25, 2009 - Shooting to become the “Bolder Boulder” of cycling, this amazing ride needs our volunteer support to make it a successful event. Best of all, your volunteer efforts will generate a donation to help support the Cottonwood Institute and our educational programs.

Volunteers will be working as Team Cottonwood Institute and may be assisting with start up, rider check-in & sales, aid station, logistics, or finish line crews. Your commitment of only one day will reap a lifetime of benefits and includes an event t-shirt!  So join us on July 25, 2009 and help Cottonwood Institute make the 3rd Annual Sunrise Century the best.

Remember, your volunteer efforts will help raise critical funds to benefit Cottonwood Institute and our core educational program called the Community Adventure Program, which inspires teenagers to become active community members and environmental stewards!

TO REGISTER: Please contact April Pishna, Cottonwood Institute Administrative Coordinator at 303.916.6081 or via email at april@cottonwoodinstitute.org to sign up for this wonderful volunteer opportunity. Volunteers must be at last 16 years old and the deadline for volunteer registrations is July 15, 2009.  Space is limited to the first 10 volunteers, so Register Today!

Bees, Building, and Bites

What’s the buzz? The 4th quarter Community Adventure Program (CAP) students at New Vista High School completed their amazing Action Project: a brand new bee garden, soon to be chock-full of sustainable food! The class was at a crossroads, wishing they could work on three different themes: green building, disappearing bees, and local gardens. Together, the students masterminded a project that addressed all of the above. They decided to plant a garden at their school and jumped right into the action.

Led by teacher Paige Doughty, the students started out at ReSource 2000, an outlet for recycled building materials. They volunteered their time and received reclaimed fencing for their garden in return. Next they learned all about green building and living from the Boulder Green Building Guild’s Ryland Gardner.

Beekeeper Christina Allen visited the CAP class to share eye-opening facts about bees: who knew bees pollinate about one-third of our food supply? The students couldn’t wait to plant a garden for these busy pollinators when they found out how vital bees are-and how fast their population is declining.

Thanks to donations and guidance from Growing Gardens, the planting was a huge success. Now New Vista has a local food-producing garden that is healthy for the economy, people, and environment in their community. This class definitely had an eye on the triple bottom line.

Best of all, the students saw what could happen when they didn’t mind their own beeswax. They got involved in their community, identifying important issues and seeing their project through from start to finish. Abby Heath said, “I can honestly say I’ve never been loaded with so much interesting and useful information before in my life. The biggest impact that CAP has made on me though is that I care. I care when people don’t recycle, and I care about our bee populations. I’ve realized during this short quarter that there is so much I can do to change the world, to impact the earth in so many different ways. I took so much out of CAP, and the best thing is that I can give so much back.”

Colorado Academy Endangered Wolves And Animal Tracking

Ten lucky Colorado Academy students got to go where the wild things are, by spending their May Interim with the Cottonwood Institute during our Endangered Wolves and Animal Tracking Course! Students spent the week at Mission:Wolf, a wolf sanctuary in Colorado’s Wet Mountain Valley, for a week of wolves and tracking.

Led by instructors Brittany Salley-Rains and Richard Vercoe, the students learned about the near extinction of wolves in the United States and the importance of protecting these beautiful animals. Nothing was more inspiring than the hugs and kisses from the wolves themselves! Check out the course’s Photo Gallery for proof of the students’ impressive service project and their awesome meet and greet with the peaceful wolves.

The group decided to help by building an entire staircase for the wolves’ enclosure from scratch. They constructed new benches for the sanctuary and even helped butcher a horse to feed the pack. On top of these accomplishments, the students learned animal tracking and outdoor survival skills.

Co-instructor Brittany Salley-Rains said the students had a fabulous time on their trip. “We had a journal prompt for each day, and after completing the project we reflected on the experience of serving our community. All the students were proud of themselves. It was really rewarding to see how their hard work could help support a great organization like Mission:Wolf.”