Creating healthy ecosystems

September 17, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

photo: Grow dome with sustainability students

Eden Vardy of The Farm Collaborative at Cozy Point Ranch near Aspen, explains to students from CMC’s sustainability studies program about the tropical plants living inside the farm’s grow dome – at 7,500 feet. Photo Charles Engelbert

Creating healthy ecosystems

By Carrie Click

This summer, Colorado’s smoky haze, wildfires, low water levels and hot temperatures provided reasons to worry about the state, the American West and the planet, for that matter.

For a group of sustainability studies students taking permaculture courses at Colorado Mountain College, the effects of climate change and a passion for the environment are motivating them to discover ways to help solve real ecological challenges.

On a recent summer day two dozen students, faculty and staff from CMC Spring Valley at Glenwood Springs and CMC Steamboat Springs gathered at The Farm Collaborative at Cozy Point Ranch near Aspen to study, collaborate and work at the organization’s 14 acres.

Originally called Aspen TREE, The Farm Collaborative is a 10-year-old nonprofit that expanded its lease this spring with the City of Aspen. It’s working to stimulate a global movement toward healthier relationships among food, people and the land.

The basis of culture

According to Dr. Tina Evans, CMC Steamboat Springs professor of sustainability studies, permaculture is “a vision, a set of ethical and practical principles. It is sustainability in action with a special focus on creating food systems that mimic the dynamic stability of healthy ecosystems.”

Eden Vardy is The Farm Collaborative’s founder and executive director. He’s also an adjunct faculty member at Colorado Mountain College. An advocate of regenerative agriculture, which aims to increase biodiversity and improve water cycles, and to create resilience to climate fluctuation, Vardy and The Farm Collaborative provide a working example of what a healthy food ecosystem can look like.

“The way I see it, food is really the basis of culture,” he said. “It’s our third fundamental need next to air and water. We don’t have a tremendous amount of creativity around air and water. But when it comes to food, it’s where we can deliver a little bit of creativity.”

That creativity extends from The Farm Collaborative’s site to CMC students, who are working on permaculture projects at the Spring Valley campus and at the collaborative’s site. One CMC student, for example, is designing a U-Pick orchard, while other students are pitching in at a variety of small farms and ranches throughout the Roaring Fork Valley.

Standing up for the planet

CMC sustainability studies major Monique Vidal is a mother of two and an interior designer from Carbondale. She said she’s always been passionate about nature. As an 8-year-old growing up in southern California, she saw a kid poking an octopus and told him to stop.

“I told him, ‘How would you like it if someone did that to you?’” she said.

That same caring attitude is why she’s pursuing her degree in sustainability studies. Currently, she’s working alongside fellow sustainability studies student Sergio Ortiz. A veteran deployed in 2005, Ortiz is now involved in a vocational program for veterans. Vidal and Ortiz are developing a rotational grazing program for the animals at CMC Spring Valley’s veterinary technology farm.

Vidal said they’re mitigating the nitrogen in the fertilizer in the field above the farm. Their goal is to improve the overall health of the field and the aquifer adjacent to it. “We’re working and helping CMC while getting our bachelor’s in sustainability studies,” she said.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Samantha “Sam” Hankinson, who grew up in the Roaring Fork Valley, graduated from Bridges High School in Carbondale and is earning her bachelor’s degree in sustainability studies at CMC Spring Valley. “These kinds of community ties allow us as students to thrive,” she said.

CMC Library Banned Books Contest

September 13, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

CMC Leadville Banned Books Contest

Banned Books Week is September 23 – 29, 2018. It is an annual event celebrating the fREADom to read. It spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools.

Help the CMC Library celebrate the fREADdom to seek and express ideas by guessing why each of the selected books were banned.

Correct entries will be entered into a drawing for a prize at the end of the month.

Woodward Copper’s Newest Terrain Park Builder

September 13, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

Steve Nicosia in a CMC Leadville SnowCat. Steve is the newest Terrain Park Builder at Woodward Copper. Steve Nicosia photo.

Woodward Copper’s Newest Terrain Park Builder

The Ski Area Operations curriculum blends technical and hands-on training, and is recognized by local resorts for its comprehensive approach in preparing students for lifelong on-mountain careers. Steve Nicosia, a 25 year-old student from East Aurora, NY has been enrolled since fall 2017. One year into the two-year program, and he’s landed a position as a Snowcat Operator and Terrain Park Builder for Woodward Copper.

“I definitely believe that CMC helped me get this position,” says Steve, who is expected to graduate next spring, “Before coming to school, I had no snowcat operating experience with minimal heavy equipment practice. Going to CMC gave me experience in a dozer, back-hoe, and a snowcat.”

Steve began working on the terrain park hand crew at Woodward Copper last winter, and hoped to move up to a snowcat operator in his second season. This past spring, he demonstrated his capabilities while building the summer camp terrain park at Woodward.

“I am looking forward to riding the features that I install,” says Steve, “and building a terrain park that is very well known. Some people come to vacation at Copper, specifically for their top of the line terrain parks. Many years, it is rated in the top 10 terrain parks across the U.S. by NewSchoolers, and I want to be a part of that.”

CMC Students join Aspen Institute discussion on Hate and Intolerance

August 17, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

CMC Students join Aspen Institute discussion on Hate and Intolerance

By Carrie Click

ASPEN – Two Roaring Fork Valley students who will attend Colorado Mountain College this fall were recently given a rare opportunity to participate in an Aspen Institute symposium about an alarming trend. “The Rise of Hate,” held July 18-20, explored the history and underlying causes of hate, and the increasing incidents of hate crimes, intolerance and hate speech.

Invited to attend the forum were Anthony Rodriguez-Moore and Lilian Mixco, who recently graduated from Glenwood Springs and Basalt high schools, respectively. Each student has been awarded an Alpine Bank Latino/Hispanic Scholarship that covers two years of tuition, books and fees at Colorado Mountain College.

photo: CMC student and Alpine Bank Scholar Lilian Mixco

The Aspen Institute invited incoming CMC student and Alpine Bank Scholar Lilian Mixco to participate in its symposium, “The Rise of Hate,” which explored the history and increasing occurrence of hate crimes and hate speech. Photo Phil Dunn

The two students joined a roundtable discussion among participants from the Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows, a national group that supports the institute and its programs.

The students said they’d never before been to anything like the symposium, which required them to read in advance more than 200 pages of material about white supremacists and the history and psychology of hate, as well as to complete a pre-evaluation questionnaire to help the moderators guide discussions.

One of the expert moderators was Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, whom Rodriguez-Moore met at the symposium.

“It was top shelf,” said Rodriguez-Moore. “I want to be a civil rights attorney. Being part of this symposium further drives me to want do this kind of work.”

They also met Tony McAleer, a former organizer of a neo-Nazi group, the White Aryan Resistance. Today, through Life After Hate, he’s helping people involved in any hate group to get out of the group and turn their lives around to embrace all humanity.

At the symposium Mixco, who was born in Aspen, told participants that she has been bullied on social media because of her ethnicity and has had hate speech directed at herself and her family. She said listening to McAleer talk about how he became a supremacist and later, how he stopped, was enlightening.

“When his family fell apart, he sought power,” she said. “He needed power in numbers. It was only when he had his own child, his little girl, that he changed. He had a human in his hands he was in charge of. He had to step back.”

Anthony Rodriguez-Moore was awarded an Alpine Bank Latino/Hispanic Scholarship to attend Colorado Mountain College for two years, and participated in Aspen Institute’s “Rise of Hate” symposium. Photo Phil Dunn

Rodriguez-Moore said he learned that people who have so much hate towards others tend to think the world is against them. “They think it’s a big conspiracy, since they think they’re the center of the universe,” he said. “Based on my experience, hate isn’t really a natural trait. It seems like people who hate or do hateful actions aren’t using their own voice. They’re molded and brainwashed.”

Both students said they believe reaching children can help alleviate the rise of hate.

“One major point we talked about is intervening during the early stages of development,” said Rodriguez-Moore.

“We need to start at schools,” said Mixco. “Having diversity clubs, teaching kids about different cultures. Why are all these people fleeing their countries to start new lives? We need to study history.”

First Ascent: Opportunities in the outdoors

August 14, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

photo: First Ascent students participating in a team building exercise

From left, Paige Flentge of Glenwood Springs, Jackson Houston of Dillon, Mackenzie Cagle and McAllister Glynn of Rifle, Tyler Miller of Parachute, Karuna Owens of Carbondale and Elizabeth Darst of Frisco work together to move marbles along tubing during a trust-building group exercise during First Ascent Youth Leadership at CMC Leadville.

By Carrie Click

LEADVILLE – Executives on corporate outdoor retreats spend a lot of money to climb mountains together while learning to improve their leadership and communication skills. For a group of regional middle and high school students, though, it’s all part of a free, weeklong, college-preparatory summer program called First Ascent Youth Leadership.

Based at Colorado Mountain College Leadville, First Ascent is now in its 23^rd year. From July 8 to 13 this summer, 33 students from the college’s six-county district participated, traveling from Carbondale, Parachute, Glenwood Springs, Rifle, New Castle, Steamboat Springs, Summit County and Vail to take part in the program.

The J. Robert Young Foundation sees to it that First Ascent continues to provide these secondary-school students with unforgettable life lessons. A longtime corporate sponsor, the foundation helps make it possible to provide the program free of charge to attendees.

“We truly appreciate their sponsorship and continued support,” said Carolyn Larsen, First Ascent’s program manager, who, like all First Ascent staff, came up through the ranks, initially as a student participant, then as lead counselor.

Stepping up and leading

“My whole purpose in doing First Ascent is to learn about leadership so I can make the world better and improve civilization,” said Sophia Henry, who in August will enter 10^th grade at Summit High School in Frisco. “Today we need people who know what they’re doing to step up and help lead.”

Counselors and staff break students into teams and guide them through their paces – from hiking Mount Elbert, Colorado’s highest peak, to rock climbing near Camp Hale and rafting down the Arkansas River. All activities are designed to teach team-building skills and increase self-esteem.

“I didn’t know if I could do all these things,” said Allyson Murray, a Rifle High School student entering 10^th grade, “but my team supported me. When I was rock climbing, I only thought I could make it halfway, but my team supported me to the top.”

‘Open-minded to everybody’

Integrated into the program are group dynamic exercises promoting problem solving, consensus-building and conflict resolution. Personality and career assessments help students get a sense of who they are.

“In our society, we learn it’s all about the individual,” said Ethan Gamburg, who will be in 10^th grade at Summit High School in Frisco this August. “But First Ascent has helped me realize you have to be open-minded to everybody. It’s not just about me helping myself. It’s about helping my community.”

Gaining First Ascent insights has other benefits, too.

“I had so many new experiences and learned new skills,” said Mack Henry, who is entering ninth grade at Summit High School. “And that all looks good on a college application. I’m really thrilled.”

“Everybody should have the opportunity to do this,” said Zoe Welch, who will be a 10^th-grader at Steamboat Springs High School. “Culturally, I met so many new friends. All different types of people came to First Ascent and we all blended.”

CMC seeks to fill a vacancy on its board of trustees

August 3, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

CMC seeks to fill a vacancy on its board of trustees

The Colorado Mountain College Board of Trustees has been informed of an upcoming vacancy due to the resignation of Trustee Doris Dewton, and invites expressions of interest from those eligible persons who would accept appointment to the vacant position.

Potential appointees must be an eligible elector, as defined by state statute, and reside within CMC Trustee District 7, encompassing all of the areas within the legal boundaries of Eagle County School District RE-50J. The appointed person will serve until the next biennial regular election for the position, to be held on Nov. 5, 2019.

To receive consideration for appointment, qualified residents of the above trustee district must submit a written statement of interest and description of qualifications. These materials must be delivered to the college’s district administration office, c/o Debbie Novak, 802 Grand Ave., Glenwood Springs, Colorado, 81601, or to dnovak@coloradomtn.edu. Submissions are acceptable via U.S. mail, hand delivery or electronic mail, in all cases with confirmation of receipt from the college. For any questions, please call 970-947-8365.

The deadline for receiving expressions of interest is 5:00 p.m., Aug. 20, 2018. The CMC Board of Trustees will consider appointing a new trustee at its regular meeting on Aug. 29, 2018.