Program Contact:
Ford Church, Founder and Executive Director - 303.447.1076

Program Website:
www.CottonwoodInstitute.org

Program Overview:
The Cottonwood Institute offers two core educational programs that integrate outdoor education, environmental education, and environmental service-learning:

1. Community Adventure Program Overview: The Community Adventure Program (CAP) is a unique academic experience offered to active, socially conscience, environmentally aware high school students and is available for high school and college credit. CAP is a coed, quarter-long program designed for adventurous students who want to practice outdoor skills, discuss and debate local outdoor and environmental issues, develop deeper friendships with their classmates, and who want to make a positive impact in their communities. The Community Adventure Program teaches students essential camping and wilderness survival skills necessary to comfortably and competently explore the outdoors, while providing them with the tools and resources to tackle important environmental issues affecting their communities in order to help change the world. Using the community as their textbook, CAP students spend their time reading primary source documents, taking field trips, participating in overnight camping experiences, listening to guest speakers, watching informative films, discussing challenging environmental issues, and finally designing and implementing a student directed environmental service-learning project to tackle a local environmental issue. For more information, click here. 

2. Programs for Schools and Community Organizations: We have designed a series of 1-day field trips for schools and community organizations that do not have the time or ability to incorporate a longer quarter/semester-long program into their existing curriculum or schedule. These 1-day programs are perfect for busy teachers that are looking to add value to their classroom curriculum and help provide real world context to textbook concepts. 2009 programs include: Winter Survival Skills, Avalanche Science, Physiology of Survival, and Physics of Fire. We can also customize any of our longer 5-7 day courses for groups, including our Endangered Wolves and Animal Tracking Project, Stone Age Survival Project, Wildland Firefighter Project, Horse Caretaker Project, and our Mountain Biking Survival Project. These courses are great for fall break, spring break, or May-term school trips. For more information, click here.

BVSD audience:
Community Adventure Program: We currently offer CAP at New Vista High School, but we are open to expanding to other schools that are open to collaborating with us. CAP is appropriate for 9 - 12 grade students and our ideal class size is 12 - 15 students. We currently offer CAP in a quarter and semester-long format and classes typically meet for 1.5 - 2 hours a day for 4 days a week. The Cottonwood Institute works with individual schools to hire the right person and will train them to implement our curriculum and will provide professional management and risk management oversight for facilitating and implementing our weekend overnight camping trips. The Cottonwood Institute offers this program year-round.

Programs for Schools & Community Organizations: We currently offer 1 – 7-day field trips and courses for schools and Community Organizations. These programs are appropriate for 9-12 grade students and our ideal class size is 12-15 students. The Cottonwood Institute provides professional instructors to facilitate these programs and will work with schools and teachers to integrate it into their existing class and align with state standards if requested. The Cottonwood Institute offers these programs year-round.

Through our programs, the Cottonwood Institute has advanced environmental education and environmental service-learning in BVSD schools. Since 2003, the Community Adventure Program was one of the first environmental education program offered in the Boulder Valley School District for academic credit. Our programs have two distinct, but intertwining phases:

1. Wilderness Skill Development: Students spend approximately half of their time learning essential outdoor skills to acquire the basics necessary to comfortably and competently explore the outdoors. The Colorado community is full of world-class outdoors enthusiasts and educators. The CAP provides students with an opportunity to tap into this rich educational resource and to meet new people who have an amazing amount of knowledge, talent, and experience. Below is a sample of some of the summer and winter skills that students become competent in through their participation with the CAP:

• Nature awareness, including: Wide angle vision, animal stalking techniques, nature sketching, journaling, camouflage techniques, nature awareness activities, local cultural history, local natural history, plant identification, edible and medicinal plants, etc.
• Essential camping skills, including: Minimum impact camping, campsite location, modern tents, food and ration planning, outdoor cooking, food hanging, ecologically responsible fires, map, compass, route selection, and back country navigation, etc.
• Essential 3-season wilderness survival skills, including: Survival scenarios, survival priorities, survival kits, natural shelters, 1-match fires, petroleum cotton ball fires, friction fires, natural cordage, traps and snares.
• Winter camping skills, including: Thermodynamics and heat loss, winter gear and equipment, snowshoeing, quinzhees, emergency snow shelters, avalanche awareness, basic mountaineering and snow travel techniques, etc.
• Outdoor leadership and team building skills
• Eco-literacy

2. Environmental Service-Learning: While students are developing and practicing outdoor skills, they become intimately involved with their community by researching local outdoor and environmental issues that directly relate to the skills they are learning. Students participate in Socratic Seminars to discuss these issues, conduct research and contact community experts, and then work together as a class to address the problems they have identified. They then complete an Action Project to help make a positive impact in their community by implementing the following 10-step process:

• Step 1: Explore the community
• Step 2: Identify the issues
• Step 3: Select an issue
• Step 4: Understand issue
• Step 5: Collaborate with the community
• Step 6: Create a sustainable solution
• Step 7: Plan the Action Project
• Step 8: Implement the plan
• Step 9: Complete post Action Project logistics
• Step 10: Evaluate, reflect, and share the experience

History (how long has your program operated in BVSD schools):
5 years

How do you advertise your program?:
Directly to schools and teachers, participate in community events, offer free clinics at REI, website, distribute flyers, email campaigns, direct mail campaigns, phone calls, etc.

Is your program available upon request?:
Yes!

How do schools express interest?
You may contact us by phone or email.
Ford Church - 303.447.1076
Check our our website as well - www.cottonwoodinstitute.org

How much does your program cost schools? How is your program funded?:
Cottonwood Institute costs vary. In some cases, grants fully underwrite the programs. In other cases, schools, students, and Cottonwood Institute fundraising efforts underwrite the programs. Please call the Cottonwood Institute for a custom proposal.

Standards met by your program?:
Cottonwood Institute programs are interdisciplinary in nature and addresses Colorado State Standards in Civics, Reading and Writing, Physical Education, Geography, and Science.