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!

CAP Pre-Course Survey, 3rd Quarter 2009

Welcome to the Community Adventure Program. Before we get started, we need to get some feedback about your outdoor experience, your thoughts about the environment, your community, etc. Please answer this survey honestly and to the best of your ability. The good folks who fund this class use this information to assess the performance of the class and this information will help us acquire new grants. Please Click Here To Take The Survey.

CAP Post Course Survey, 2nd Quarter 2008

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 high school students. Please Click Here to Take the Survey.

Action Project: Promote Bike Commuting!

For our Action Project, the Community Adventure Program (CAP) students at PS1 have decided to take a look at transportation.  In doing so, we found out that most of the students in our class are pretty good at using public transportation (since they can’t drive!).  However, we also found that it would be much more efficient and healthy if they could ride their bikes to school, friends houses, on errands, etc.

CAP partnered with Derailer Bicycle Collective to fix up a fleet of bikes for the students.  In the end, every student was able to have a functioning bike to take home.  Furthermore, students learned about safe routes to school, safety, and most importantly- how to keep their bike in working order.

Many of the donated bikes were completely un-rideable when we got them.  Now however, they look almost new!  Thank you so much to the volunteers at Derailer for their time, expertise, tools, and extra parts!

Students work with Derailer volunteers to fix brakes, wheels, and spokes.

“I liked being able to have someone show me what to do, then getting a chance to try it myself.” - Indio

Day Trip: Three Sister’s & Rock Climbing

PS1 students took a day trip up to Three Sister’s Park outside of Evergreen, CO.  We hiked, practiced shelter building, and had an all around great time!  In the afternoon, we ventured over to Thrillseekers, an indoor rock climbing gym.  For many of us, this was our first attempt on a rock wall.  It’s a lot more difficult than it looks!  After learning about the equipment, safety issues, and a few techniques, we were ready to go– Climb on!

 

 

 

 

Overnight at Calwood

Our second trip to Calwood was a great success. We arrived to BEAUTIFUL weather, hiked to our base camp, made natural shelters, partook in a cooking competition, practiced our fire skills, and then played stalking/night games till we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer! On day two we learned about fire mitigation and helped Calwood out by cutting down trees. Our group cut so fast we were able to end the service project early, play a few more games, and get a little bowdrill practice in! We had a great time!

Natural Shelters:

Sam builds his natural shelter

Dionte tries his out!

Matthew practices one-match fires

Cottonball fires

Camping at Golden Gate Canyon

Our first overnight to Golden Gate Canyon State Park was a blast! For most of the students it was their first time camping overnight in a tent. We practice many skills including map and compass skills, fire skills, leave no trace principles, cooking, and nature awareness. We also went on a long hike and few of us bravely ate some grasshoppers. Here are some pictures we’d like to share:

The whole group overlooking the Continental Divide

Tavier and Kenia enjoying our hike

Zach and Kenia practicing their fire skills

Zach roasting grasshoppers

Jacob tells us ghost stories around the fire

Oktobre and Kenia practice the bowdrill

Edward finishes our LONG hike!

Pre-Course Survey, 2nd Quarter 2008

Welcome to the Community Adventure Program. Before we get started, we
need to get some feedback about your outdoor experience, your thoughts
about the environment, your community, etc. Please answer this survey
honestly and to the best of your ability. The good folks who fund this
class use this information to assess the performance of the class and
this information will help us acquire new grants. Please Click Here To Take The Survey.

CAP Post Course Survey, 1st Quarter 2008

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
high school students. Please Click Here to Take the Survey.