Colorado College
EN-3: Student Life

Colorado College Learning Initiative in the Mountains CCLIM partners with the local West Middle School once a week to connect and mentor the kids through fun and educational activities. Our club aims to expose the middle schoolers to the outdoors and give them an opportunity to find a deeper connection with nature. Our activities consist of on campus games at West as well as off campus field trips around Colorado Springs. Student Investment Club (self-governed) The Student Investment Club oversees a team of students interested in sustainable investment and investor action. The team oversees a portfolio of ESG investments that they vet for adherence to ESG principles, trading to produce maximum return on investment and demonstrating that screened investments have on-par (and often better than) performance with 'traditional' portfolios. The team also reviews proxy notices and votes on shareholder resolutions in alignment with established ESG principles. CC Bike Co-op (self-governed) Started by students in 2008, the Bicycle Cooperative’s goals are to empower members of the Colorado College community to maintain and repair their own bicycles by offering instruction and a workspace complete with a full inventory of repair stands, tools, and spare parts. Beginning in 2011, the Co-op began working alongside Outdoor Education and Campus Safety to better address the needs of the Colorado College community. Now officially an organization under the Outdoor Education umbrella, the Co-op is staffed by five part-time student mechanics. The Co-op processes bicycles abandoned on campus and collected by Campus Safety, refurbishing those fit for riding and recycling the rest. The refurbished bicycles are sold at affordable prices at an annual Bike Auction, during which the Co-op works closely with Campus Safety to ensure that all bicycles are purchased with a U-Lock in an effort to reduce bicycle-theft. Services offered at the Co-op range from flat tire repair to full bicycle rebuilds, but all share the common thread of experiential learning. Student mechanics strive to not only repair bikes, but to work alongside students, faculty and staff, ensuring that they are participating in and understanding the repair in order to help foster a more sustainable bicycle culture on the Colorado College Campus. EnAct (self-governed) EnAct, the oldest student group on campus, began after Earth Day 1970 and was influenced by the Colorado Springs Ecology Action group. EnAct serves as a forum to raise environmental and social awareness through research, education, and action at CC and within the Colorado Springs community. EnAct is student-governed and is an umbrella under which students can organize and pursue the environmental and social justice projects they value. In the past, EnAct projects have included Earth Day/Week, developing the college's present recycling program, taking trips to research regional environmental issues, presenting speakers and slideshows to educate students on current environmental issues, instituting the Timothy Linnemann Memorial Lecture on the Environment, running the CC exchange on campus, which is a place for students to donate and take items, collecting compost from off-campus students, and volunteering for the Rocky Mountain Field Institute and other organizations for cleanups and trail maintenance. EnAct is open to all people with an interest in the environment. Project Mush Project Mush's mission is to create a community of students passionate about fungi and their potential as a sustainable material resource. Project Mush, aims to provide hands-on experiences and educational events that enable students to learn about cultivating edible fungi and exploring the latest developments in mycelium-based materials. Through this club, we hope to encourage our members to appreciate fungi's unique and vital role in our ecosystems and promote sustainable practices and healthy living. Sunrise Movement We are a political action group dedicated to cultivating political awareness and action for climate justice by both acting locally and coordinating nationally. Come join the movement! Reinvestment Coalition A diverse group representing the CC student body – working on a common goal to realign our endowment with the school’s core value of environmental sustainability. Website URL: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/campusactivities/student-organizations-leadership/

Greenhouse The student greenhouse is carefully designed as a passive solar system that maximizes the heat capacity of the sun during cold Colorado winters, and employs passive ventilation during the summer to create a hospitable growing climate year round. Water barrels along the north wall provide crucial insulation by absorbing heat during the day and releasing that heat throughout the night, keeping the internal temperatures steady. It is a student-run space maintained through the collaboration of the CC Farm and the Synergy Houses. The greenhouse is home to radishes, beets, turnips, carrots, lettuce, chard, kale, beans, peas, onions, scallions, tomatoes, basil, thyme, spinach, cilantro, and melons. The greenhouse is co-managed by the Student Farm Club and the Synergy Sustainable Living houses. Synergy Garden The Synergy House includes an organic garden in the backyard that is tended by its inhabitants. The garden is harvested in the fall, and its produce is shared with the CC community. The Synergy House garden is self-governed. Website URL: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/campus/tour/sustainability/synergy.html CC Farm Students created the CC Farm on campus in Spring 2008. The CC Farm is self-governed and is run by the CC Farm Club. The farm has had difficulties in operation and continuity, but in recent years has a significant level of interest among the student body. Due to this significant level of interest there is an operational farm club with strong leadership that hosts volunteer days at the farm and has reestablished itself as a source of education and small-scale food production. Some of the seasonal crops grown on the farm are donated to the CC Food Pantry to support students who struggle with food insecurity. Website URL: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/sustainability/get-involved/the-cc-farm.html

CC Exchange The newly established CC Pantry Exchange works to advance Colorado College’s sustainability goals, as well as provide students as opportunity to access clothes and food items.

https://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/sustainability/connect-and-engage/pantry-exchange.html 

The Colorado College Investment Club has a team dedicated to sustainable investments. This team manages Portfolio 21 and other SRI and environmentally responsible funds with the intent of achieving positive returns for the school. This opportunity for sustainable investment practices is a beginning step moving towards total sustainable investment in the future. The team and Investment Club are made up of students (self-governed) with advice from a faculty member from Business/Econ and from the Office of Sustainability. Website URL: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/academics/dept/economics/student-clubs-and-programs/investment-club1.html

Seminars and lectures are offered to the campus community on issues related to sustainability through the Linneman lecture series, the Environmental Program, Enact Environmental Club and the State of the Rockies Project. This year's Linneman speaker was Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Indigenous author, ecologist, and climate activist. https://www.coloradocollege.edu/academics/dept/environmentalprogram/newsevents/linneman-lecture-series.html On every first Monday of the new blocks at Colorado College the school brings in a speaker for the entire student body. Many of these speakers address sustainability issues ranging from climate change to gender issues to race and social justice. https://www.coloradocollege.edu/other/firstmondays/ Colorado College celebrates Earth Week on a yearly basis with an entire week of environmentally-focused activities. In a typical year, events might include student-led activism, lectures, art displays, films, challenges/campaigns, and other engaging volunteer opportunities. https://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/sustainability/connect-and-engage/earth-week/index.html CO Net Zero Energy Collaboratory The Collaboratory meets several times a year at different campuses to create space for collaboration, sharing resources, learning opportunities, and potentially building coalitions with external partners, such as government, industry, philanthropic organizations, and utilities. In September, 2023 the collaboratory met on CC’s campus to learn about the ways CC has worked to achieve carbon neutrality. Sense of Place Tours Acknowledging the intricacies of Colorado is critical if we are to build roots in this community and fully appreciate all that it takes to live in Colorado Springs. The Sense of Place tours foster this mission by bringing a deeper sense of understanding about our geography, so we can build a more connected, conscious, and resilient community.

The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College hosts many different cultural arts events that address sustainability issues. During the 2022-2023 calendar year, four exhibits were hosted in the FAC. The first was an interdisciplinary exhibit co-directed by April Bojorquez and Matthew Garcia entitled “Chicanx Landscapes”. It explored Chicanax perspectives of landscapes as a, “system of ecology, history, culture, and belonging.” The exhibit ran from August, 2022 through March, 2023. During this time the FAC hosted “Breathe into the Past: Crosscurrents in the Caribbean''. This exhibit featured numerous Caribbean artists using multimedia displays to “offer insights into the complex histories that have influenced the present—sometimes on grand scales, at other times in subtler yet still undeniable ways.” The exhibit ran from September, 2022 through January, 2023. The FAC then hosted an exhibit “Contested Terrains” featuring work from Joiri Minaya, Nina Leo, Moez Surani, Carolina Aranibar-Fernández, and Rosa Barba explore and grapple with different connections to and interpretations of the landscape, specifically through the lens of human intervention. The exhibit ran from March, 2023 through September, 2023. Most recently, the FAC hosted an exhibit “From Source to Mouth: A Creative Survey of Monument Creek” in collaboration with Creativity and Innovation at CC. This exhibit showcased Erin Elder’s interdisciplinary study of Monument Creek, which encourages an interrogation of the ways in which the community has and continues to interact with this ecosystem. In this process, marginalized voices were uplifted to get to the bottom of this question. The result highlights an ongoing conversation surrounding an reciprocal and interconnected understanding of care for local landscapes. The exhibit ran from September, 2023 through November, 2023. CC students and classes have been to the FAC in private groups to study and learn about these works of art on display. Website URL: https://fac.coloradocollege.edu The State of the Rockies Project has also facilitated several creative projects showcasing the program’s work towards facilitating a sense of place and highlighting the local impacts of climate change. These projects include a short film on climate change, an “Orange Skies” photography exhibit, the Vintage Poster Contest, and the Conservation in the West Photo Contest. These projects took place during the 2023-2023 academic year into the summer of 2023. Website URL: https://issuu.com/coloradocollege/docs/anthropogenic_summer_2023?fr=xKAE9_zU1NQ

The Outdoor Education Center coordinates and offers student led outdoor activities that include group hiking, camping, backpacking, canyoneering, cross-country skiing, back-country skiing, cycling, kayaking, ice climbing and rock climbing. Student leaders are trained to follow Leave No Trace principles. Website URL: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/outdooreducation/student-organizations/

There are numerous study-abroad opportunities for students to participate in sustainability-related semesters including: SIT Climate and Environment Argentina: People, Environment, and Climate Change in Patagonia and Antarctica Australia: Rainforest, Reef, and Cultural Ecology Australia: Sustainability and Environmental Action Ecuador: Comparative Ecology and Conservation Iceland and Greenland: Climate Change and the Arctic Madagascar: Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management Panama: Tropical Ecology, Marine Ecosystems, and Biodiversity Conservation Portugal: Sustainability and Environmental Justice Samoa: Social and Environmental Change in Oceania Tanzania: Wildlife Conservation and Political Ecology Tanzania: Zanzibar Coastal Ecology and Natural Resource Management School for Field Study Australia: Tropical Rainforest Studies Bhutan: Himalayan Environment and Society in Transition Cambodia: Environmental Justice & Mekong Ecologies Chile: Wild Patagonia: Fire and Ice Costa Rica: Ecological Resilience Studies Croatia: Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals of the Adriatic DIS Copenhagen Sustainability Program Environmental Science for the Arctic Program CC’s Teaching and Research in Environmental Field Study (TREE) Semester Sea Education Association (SEA) Semesters Climate Change & Coastal Resilience - Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Change: Gulf of Maine Climate & Society: Aotearoa New Zealand Coral Reef Conservation: Caribbean – U.S. Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Dominica, and Grenada Marine Biodiversity and Conservation - Aotearoa New Zealand to Tahiti Oceans and Climate – Fiji to Aotearoa New Zealand International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI) Thailand Culture, Ecology, and Community Semester in Chiang Mai, Thailand The University of Chicago Marine Biological Laboratory Semester in Environmental Science Semester in Biological Discovery Frontiers Abroad in New Zealand New Zealand Earth Systems: Environmental Sciences and Studies Carlton Global Education Programs Ecology and Anthropology in Tanzania IES Ecuador - Galapagos Islands Direct Enroll GAIAS semester Germany – Freiburg: Environmental Studies & Sustainability semester Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) African Ecology & Conservation in South Africa Institute for Study Abroad (ISFA) University of Otago, New Zealand (Antarctic research) James Cook University, Australia (rainforest) National University of Ireland, Galway (Marine Science & research project opportunity) University College Dublin There are also numerous sustainability-themed First Year Programs (FYPs). While there is no comprehensive list of FYPs this website below lists out those taught for the 2023-2024 academic year. Courses are grouped into thematic clusters which are interdisciplinarily focused. Website URL: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/academicprograms/fyp/cc100-cc120/index.html

Students can learn sustainable life skills by living in one of the two Synergy houses. Students inhabiting one of the two "Synergy" houses on campus learn to incorporate sustainable practices into their daily lives while teaching these techniques to the larger Colorado College community. Students in Synergy operate a backyard permaculture garden, use gray water from sinks and showers to run toilets, and invite the campus community over for a monthly potluck and an opportunity to learn more about green living. Website URL: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/campus/tour/sustainability/synergy.html

Office of Sustainability Intern The Office of Sustainability currently offers sixteen student internship positions. Interns collaborate with the Sustainability Coordinator and take on projects that mobilize campus sustainability efforts. https://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/sustainability/get-involved/become-an-intern.html

Colorado College offers a Community-Based Learning (CBL) program. Courses with a CBL notation include the intention of equipping students with the skills, knowledge, and experience to exercise influence toward social, cultural, environmental, or civic outcomes that benefit the common good. This applies whether the impact is immediate or deferred. https://www.coloradocollege.edu/academics/curriculum/catalog/interdisciplinary/community-based-learning/index.html