It all started with an idea. In January, the new sustainability Parent to Parent group (or P2P as it is known) got together with the nascent Colorado Academy Upper School Environmental Club to explore how CA parents could help the club achieve its goal of making our community aware of the importance of environmental stewardship. As we all gathered, we thought about fun ways to celebrate Earth Day that would allow participation on multiple levels and reach a broad audience. When I suggested that we take our already scheduled April 22 Horizons Super Saturday (Earth Day) and turn that into an Earth Day Fair that would be spearheaded by the Environmental Club members, we all had that “a-ha” moment and started to work together to make the idea come alive.
Aside from the Environmental Club, we also collaborated with the CA Horizons Club members. With the clubs joining forces, and with strong parent support, the process became very doable. Putting together an event that was an authentic way for Horizons students to interact with CA students and families made it all worthwhile and reinforced the idea that Horizons is an integral part of the Colorado Academy ecosystem.
Leading up to Earth Day, we needed to rethink our plans for an outdoor event and had to take it indoors because of cold April temperatures in Colorado (no surprise there). While Mother Nature didn’t cooperate with our initial plans, everything ended up working out well! Many CA families attended, and our Horizons students had a great time learning about sustainability. All attendees had an opportunity to engage in many different activities: they learned about beekeeping from Ms. Ortiz, a Knapp Elementary teacher and Horizons tutor; they got to make bird feeders out of pinecones; they learned about worm composting from Mr. Goldstein; and much more. Attendees also got to see CA’s brand new biodigester, Guster, work its magic and convert our compostable trash into compost!
All of this shows that when communities come together, we can accomplish so much. Horizons is a vital part of the CA community, and we need your support on Horizons Giving Day. Our goal is to raise $150,000 so that we can ensure that our students get access to all of the programming that we have planned for them this summer. Please consider helping us by participating in Horizons Giving Day on May 17. Make your gift here. Help keep Horizons and Colorado Academy strong and thriving.
A big thank you to all of the student and parent volunteers who made our Super Saturday Earth Day such a huge success. We look forward to the next one!