Telluride Institute News: Bridal Veil Living Classroom

12 Jan Telluride Institute News: Bridal Veil Living Classroom

2009 BVLC students take a close look at the plants in learning identification skills

by Alessandra Jacobson

Telluride Institute is proud to announce the upcoming offering of a fourth year of Bridal Veil Living Classroom (BVLC) to the region’s sophomore and junior high school students!  This is a dual accredited intensive summer science program offered free of charge by the Telluride Institute, every-other summer.  BVLC representatives will be making appearances in Telluride, Norwood, and Nucla schools in the coming weeks to present this one-of-a-kind environmental education program to prospective students. 

The six-month long course kicks off this summer with two weeks of intensive fieldwork in the beautiful and ecologically rich headwaters of Bridal Veil Basin, and culminates with a fall component of writing scientific research papers about the work conducted and presenting results in a public presentation.  Topics covered in the field by intriguing regional experts include:  biodiversity, botany, forest ecology, aquatic insects, water quality, ornithology (birding), threats of climate change in the alpine ecosystem and art in nature.  Individual research projects are structured according to students’ realized interest in those subjects, and are carried out with meticulous mentor oversight in a low student-to-mentor ratio. 

Past students of Bridal Veil Living Classroom have often been inspired enough to seek out educational and career paths in the environmental sciences and conservation, and Bridal Veil Living Classroom has helped to open doors to their future.

Not only is BVLC an eye-opening experience to inspiring environmental stewardship and an appreciation of science, it is also fun!  Overnights take place in Bridal Veil Basin and a true sense of camaraderie develops between participants. 

Those interested in applying to Bridal Veil Living Classroom, gaining more information, or making a donation to the program, should visit www.tellurideinstitute.org and click on Programs, or contact Alessandra Jacobson at (970)729-1737.

 
2007 BVLC students hike up to the high camp near Blue Lake for an overnight and alpine ecology 

“In such a materialistic world, BVLC could be the way to keep kids realizing how great we really have it and how special it is to have this environment as our back yard.”

-Sarah Carlson, 2007 BVLC participant