The Cottonwood Institute’s Changemaker Program, made up of around 15 high school students, will host a Community Gear Repair Workshop on April 23 and an Ancestral Skills Gathering on April 26 as part of the program’s commitment to community service and environmental stewardship.
Cottonwood Institute’s Changemaker Program is an environmental education and community leadership initiative for high school students who have completed the institute’s Community Adventure Program (CAP) class. The class is an elective for students that teaches them tools to lead, take action, and advocate for environmental change through hands-on outdoor education, service projects, and leadership development. The students involved in the program this year hail from Longmont, Boulder, Lafayette, and other Front Range towns.
The Changemakers will host their Ancestral Skills Gathering at Ollin Farms, in Longmont. The event will feature drop-in skills from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with an opening circle at 12:30 p.m and in-depth workshops at 1:00 p.m. Open to all ages, the gathering will connect teens and families to nature through hands-on activities such as natural fiber cordage, bead making, friction fire, and spoon carving.
The Gear Repair Workshop will take place from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Lafayette Public Library. This student-led project has been in development since the beginning of the school year and will teach participants how to repair outdoor gear typically used on hiking trips.
Students have taken the lead in planning, securing sponsors, coordinating logistics, and promoting the free community events. Cottonwood student Alexander Javier Esquivel Barrios said that the concepts for the events were the students’ idea and that they split the workload in planning them.
“At first, we weren’t really sure what we wanted to do to give back to the community,” Esquivel Barrios said. “But as we had a couple of hiking trips, we thought sometimes fixing gear isn’t cheap, and you don’t know where to take it. It can also be hard to find the right tools without having to go buy them. That’s what we’re trying to offer the community… I just hope that people can all have fun, learn something, and that we can help them even if they don’t take their stuff.”
Beyond these events, Cottonwood Institute is working to secure a long-term land partnership to expand programming and provide a permanent space for outdoor education. Senior CAP Instructor Erin Angel sees this as a critical step in growing their impact.
“We’re hoping to find a long-term land partnership that would allow us to further expand our programs and deepen the experiences we offer students,” Angel said. “Having access to a dedicated space would allow us to engage even more students and foster a stronger connection to nature.”
Angel emphasized the importance of creating a space where students can return, reconnect, and develop a lifelong relationship with the land. “I feel like if we could get land or like a center, a home base, that we have long-term, it would be really cool to have a place where the kids can always come back to and have that continuity,” she said. “Because right now, we’re always moving, and it’s a little bit disjointed. Having a place where they could return to year after year would be really powerful.”
For students like Alexander Javier Esquivel Barrios, that sense of continuity extends beyond a physical space — it’s also about the personal growth and connections fostered through the program.
He described the Changemaker Program as a transformative experience, teaching him not only outdoor skills but also essential life lessons, like self-advocacy. “Especially during cold trips, like if your socks are wet, change them,” Esquivel Barrios said. “And if you don’t have an extra pair, ask for them because it could lead to greater consequences.”
He also emphasized that one of the most lasting impacts of the program has been the relationships he has built. “The friendships are a very big part of Changemakers because of how diverse our group is,” Esquivel Barrios said. “You’re bound to find someone that you genuinely like hanging out with outside of Changemakers.”
Looking ahead, the program has shaped his perspective on future goals. “It’s impacted the way I see my goals and how to get to them,” he said. “And there are a lot of people I’ve met through the program that I feel will be able to help me along the way.”
Angel echoed the importance of these connections and the sense of empowerment the program provides. “I love seeing students step into leadership roles, and just the excitement of like, ‘Oh, we can actually do this, we can make things happen,’” she said. “That’s what we want to cultivate — a belief that they can create change in their communities.”
The Changemaker Program is funded by grants from the Larrk Foundation, Great Outdoors Colorado, Thorne Nature Experience, and the Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program. The institute’s programming is free for all accepted students.
