GCO Monthly Newsletter

While there is plenty of summer left on the calendar, the summer break is over! Welcome back everyone.

We're hitting the ground running with school trips on the horizon. We've also been busy planning some opportunities for families to get outside together. First up, we'll be at the Rifle Farmer's Market this Friday, August 16th - come say hello! A few other events to come see us will be on Saturday, August 17th, at the Grand Valley Days parade as well as at Lion's Pond in Rifle on Saturday August 24th for our Rifle Water Day celebration. This is a family event to learn and enjoy all things water, including fishing, obstacle courses, STEM/craft stations, and more. Come chat with GCO and local area partners to learn more about water conservation, recreation safety, and watershed impacts.

We hope you all had a great summer and look forward to sharing all our awesome adventures over the coming year!

We all Grow Better Outside

Happy new school year! At Garfield 16 we have had an exciting summer outdoors and are looking forward to a year of adventure.

This past summer, the District opened up a new summer program experience where students from 1st-6th grade participated in various week-long camps. Options included fishing, arts, cooking, self defence, STEM, and hiking. The Grand Valley Parks and Rec. Association participated in sports programming to offer a rounded collaborative summer option for kids in the area.

We kicked off the end of summer with a Level 1 Facilitator training at the Grand Valley Challenge Course. 8 facilitators joined us at various days for a week of hands on learning around the Assert and Empower experiential model. Facilitators learned to guide groups on team building initiatives, low element challenges, high ropes safety and developing an empowering experience for all ages to gain something from.

Please check out the video more about the Grand Valley Challenge Course HERE. If you are interested in bringing a school group or organization to the challenge course please contact Ari at aphilipson@garfield16.org.

Now that students are back in the classroom, what better time to start getting outside! We have groups scheduled for some low element team building initiatives at BUE with 4th and 5th graders. We are also excited to bring back a high school favorite elective class, Outdoor Science. Led by Lee Rindlisbacher, this class will focus on topics like wilderness survival, wildlife biology, hunter's ed, first aid and more. We will also take part in a River Watch pilot program to monitor water quality of the Parachute Creek.

We will make sure to keep you posted about future outdoor expeditions and events next month. See you outside!

We are stoked to be back! We've got lots in the works for this year. With the students back in the classroom, there are already some awesome trips planned for the coming month - from the highest point in the state on Mt. Elbert to the desert land scape of Mesa Verde National Park, our students are sure to make some life long memories. We can't wait to share all these adventures with you soon!

Youth in Nature cohort kicked off their 24/25 year together with a 4-day backcountry trip to Margy's Hut. With students from six area high schools from Aspen to Parachute, this diverse cohort began to bond in a beautiful wilderness setting.

During our time together, students went foraging for mushrooms with local chef/naturalist Matt Kennedy, spent time with ACES, participated in a stewardship project with Tenth Mountain Division, learned orienteering skills with the Buddy Program, went on sunset hikes and more. This time away from the pressures of everyday life is critical to creating the foundation for a successful year together.

Students said they were looking forward to our next meeting in September and many of our upcoming sessions throughout the 24/25 year.

Individual 24/25 student bios will be published on the RFOV website in September.

On August 10th, YIN students and alumni attended RFOV's Coke Ovens Community Project in Redstone at our first-ever YIN reunion. We saw students from all three program years come together in the beautiful Crystal River Valley!

Garfield County Outdoors is a proud Generation Wild community and is made possible through the generous support of Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO).