Aleyna Porreca Instructing at Mission:Wolf

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Alumni Spotlight: Aleyna Porreca

If you’ve been part of the Cottonwood Institute family for while, Aleyna Porreca will already be a familiar face. After taking a CAP class at New Vista High School, Aleyna returned to CI as a Field Instructor back in 2010. Aleyna has been an amazing advocate for Cottonwood Institute’s mission and has gone on some… Read more »

Engineering for the Planet

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Amazing Action Projects in 2018!

Our 2018 season of Cottonwood Institute (CI) CAP classes has come to an end! Each of our CAP classes spend a portion of their time service learning through their class action projects! In case you missed it, check out a few of the amazing Action Projects created by CI CAP students in 2018! Ending Car… Read more »

Top 10 Inspiring Stories From 2018

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Top 10 Inspiring Stories from 2018!

It’s that time of year again! As the year comes to a close, we are excited to share our top 10 inspiring stories from 2018. What exactly have we been up to this past year? See for yourself and get ready to be inspired! 1. Nature Kids Lafayette First Year Of Programming Returns Great Results… Read more »

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New Vista CAP Students Take On Plastic!

More than 350 million tons of plastics are manufactured each year, and it continues to rise. That translates to 1 million plastic bottles per minute.  People in the US purchase about 50 billion water bottles per year, averaging about 13 bottles per month for every person in the U.S. 91% of these are not recycled…. Read more »

CAP Alumni Spotlight: Owen Love

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CAP Alumni Spotlight: Owen Love

It’s always nice to catch up with old friends, and Cottonwood Institute (CI) did just that recently, with CAP alumnus Owen Love (formerly Owen Brown). Living in Boulder, CO, Owen has continued to use his CI skills not only while spending time outdoors with his family but also by becoming a vital part of his… Read more »

Brittany Salley-Rains

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CAP Alumni Spotlight: Brittany Salley-Rains

Say hello to Brittany Salley-Rains! Brittany is a proud Cottonwood Institute alumnus currently living it up and exploring the great outdoors in Montana! We had a chance to catch up with her recently to see what she has been up to and hear how her time spent with Cottonwood Institute and CAP has influenced her… Read more »

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NVHS CAP Students Create Their Unique Safe Space

As with any good class teachers most often begin class with a series of activities that can help facilitate the group adopting a safe space to learn. These activities generally consist of the following elements: Name games, team building exercises, class “rules” and expectations/syllabus review. As I tell all of my students, I alone cannot… Read more »

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New Vista CAP Students Love Learning About Knots!

After any Cottonwood Institute backpacking trip, I routinely ask students what they learned on the trip as a part of our larger debrief and secret pal reveal. Overwhelmingly, students say that they enjoyed learning about knots. The New Vista High School CAP class were no exception.  After their recent trip to Taylor Mountain near Allenspark,… Read more »