Success Stories Archive

4 May 2007 - The Tenth Annual Youth Summit at the Denver Zoo - co-presented by FrontRange Earth Force and the Zoo's Community Leadership Project - featured the biggest crowd of students, teachers, chaperones and volunteers in YEARS! Nearly 1,200 people enjoyed this special 10th Anniversary Summit - and 999 of them were youth! More...

25 Jul 2006 - They called themselves the "Student Force," and wouldn't answer to any other name! These student leaders at Mitchell Elementary, led by Ms. Stephanie Reeh, took on several issues in their very first year of work. More...

25 Jul 2006 - Students in Ms. Julie Martinek's gifted and talented class at SkyVista Middle School learned first-hand about the disappearing praries of the West. More...

25 Jul 2006 - They were small, but they were determined! Nothing could stop the forward momentum of the Philips Elementary Youth Council once they realized the threats posed to them and their classmates by...flu germs! Under the guidance of Mr. John Bellamy and Ms. Jennifer Grant, the Council created positive and visible change for student health. More...

25 Jul 2006 - Even before they had ever heard of Earth Force, the members of the Park Hill Youth Council knew the importance of "student voice." Hands-on adviser Mr. Jim Fasnaugh made sure the students had every chance to drive their own work - and drive it they did! More...

25 Jul 2006 - When staring out the classroom window, most kids see trees and playgrounds and long to be outside. The students at Pinnacle Charter School see something different. The empty lot outside their school leaves a lot to be desired; they often long for something to long for. More...

25 Jul 2006 - Three sixth grade classes at Scott Carpenter Middle School expanded their horizons by using Two Lakes Park, a natural area near their school, as their real life science laboratory! More...

25 Jul 2006 - Well, not Scott Carpenter Middle School exactly, according to the students. They just knew they wanted to do something to help their school look as good on the outside as the work going on inside! More...

24 Jul 2006 - One of several groups at Bryant-Webster K-8 working with coaches from the University of Denver, the self-titled "Looney Tunes" championed their cause with an unflagging sense of humor. More...

24 Jul 2006 - Needing to go to the bathroom during class is a situation every kid faces eventually. But what about being AFRAID to go to the bathroom...because of ghost stories circulating through the school? More...

24 Jul 2006 - Kids spend a lot of their days in the classroom, in the halls, in the stairwells, in the schoolyard...but are any of those places that they can truly call their own? Students at Gilpin K-8 wanted to create just that, for themselves and their peers. More...

24 Jul 2006 - Ms. Jill Leitner's special self-contained class at Ellis Elementary has plenty of challenges. Many of the students struggle with learning disabilities or other special circumstances that make regular class rough. But nothing could stop them from amazing everyone with their hard work and enthusiasm on the "Recycle Express!" More...

24 Jul 2006 - In Mr. Jim Jones' fifth/sixth grade class at Gilpin K-8, student voice sounded a lot like dogs barking! Mr. Jones' students championed the cause of Denver canines and came up with a plan for creating more dog parks in the city. More...

24 Jul 2006 - Ms. Ruth Rhodes' class takes us through their CAPS exeperience step-by-step, right up to their triumphant project finish. The students made a huge impact on the community by reducing dog waste and planting attractive plants! More...

24 Jul 2006 - In the minds of students in Ms. Caryl Olson's second-quarter class at Merrill Middle School, their work to address issues in the school bathrooms and with school recycling took them all over the place - from very good experiences to not so great ones. More...

24 Jul 2006 - They may not be big, but they are loud, informed and passionate about the dangers of second-hand smoke. Ms. Bonnie Staack's second-grade class at Ellis Elementary took their energy right into the streets with an old-fashioned anti-smoking protest. More...

24 Jul 2006 - Ms. Caryl Olson's third quarter class wanted to figure out why students weren't allowed to eat outside - and wanted to see if they could break down the barriers to a more sunny lunchtime for the school! More...

24 Jul 2006 - ...especially about their school bathrooms. It's one place everyone has to spend some time during the school day...and yet its the most neglected. The Youth Council at Fairview wasn't going to let another year pass by without making some change! More...

24 Jul 2006 - During a community walk about Mr. Smith’s sixth grade students at Gilpin K-8 noticed something they could not get out of their mind...TRASH! Litter was all over their neighborhood. More...

24 Jul 2006 - Ms. Kelli Trotsky guided three full classes of high schoolers through quality CAPS projects in the last months before school let out for 2005-06. These students - mainly of debate - really knew their stuff...and how to talk about it, too! More...

24 Jul 2006 - When students in Mr. Mike’s sixth grade class at Gilpin K-8 were asked about what they would like to change at their school, students were ready to speak up about their school lunches. Not only were students concerned with the food that was served at lunch, but the portions that their growing sixth grade bodies received. More...

24 Jul 2006 - Don't ever let anyone tell you that you have to be older than the age of nine and tall enough to ride all the roller coasters to make a big difference in the world around you. This class at Centennial K-8 proved just that! More...

20 Jul 2006 - Students at Arvada West High School continued the school's ongoing focus of community work at nearby Standley Lake, led by long-time Earth Force educator and committed science teacher Chris Madsen! More...

20 Jul 2006 - ...Bryant Webster Recycles! Calling themselves the "Better Community Better Life" group, students at Bryant-Webster K-8 were determined to show people what a positive impact recycling can have on their community. More...

20 Jul 2006 - ...Ya Que Todos Somos Humanos! The rallying cry for Bryant-Webster K-8's bi-lingual class was "Di no al la discrinimacion" - or, "Say no to discrimination!" More...

20 Jul 2006 - Despite all their challenges, the Teen Leaders after-school leadership group completed a project to celebrate their school through the arts. More...

20 Jul 2006 - What do blank walls and water quality have in common? Maybe nothing at first glance, but with a closer look, these students from the Brown Elementary School Youth Council made the connection. And a huge difference, once their project was complete. More...

16 Aug 2005 - These incoming sixth-graders wanted to make a statement in their neighborhood. Helping cultivate the local community garden made their commitment to friends, families and neighbors visible - and delicious! More...

16 Aug 2005 - Participants in the summer Rock 'n' Read program at Gilpin K-8 decide to take on the related issues of gang violence and graffiti in their 'hood. Read all about it in their own words... More...

16 Aug 2005 - Students at Kepner Middle School became part of a community effort to keep a well-tended garden at the heart of their community. Read more about their own observations here! More...

21 Jun 2005 - Students addressed the issue of recycling in their school and developed a program to cover their entire campus and promote recycling. More...

21 Jun 2005 - Young girls teaching how to prevent child abuse. More...

21 Jun 2005 - A group of 8th grade students realize community issues that have much to do with their peers having nothing prodective to do with their summer. they brought in workshops to help the students learn how to apply for jobs and many other skills needed to be productive in the workplace. More...

21 Jun 2005 - Monica Garcia and her students learned about GMO's and what they do, they also informed many others about what GMO's are and ways to prevent eating them. More...

21 Jun 2005 - Skinner Middle School is one of the oldest and well maintained buildings in the Denver Public School System, but it still lacked sufficient vegetation in the eyes of the students. Hannah Wecks and her 8th grade service learning class decided that it needed improvement. More...

21 Jun 2005 - Remington Elementary's 3rd grade class learned about birds and their lack of food, water and shelter. They put together ideas and worked to rebuild habitats for the birds. More...

21 Jun 2005 - 5th grade students saw a need for better school lunches and presented their ideas to officials. More...

21 Jun 2005 - With stray cats and dogs running rampant in their neighborhoods, Hannah Wecks' sixth graders decided to take ahold of the issue and find ways to solve the problem in their community. More...

21 Jun 2005 - Students who feel that there was a different level of learning that they were not getting in their regular classroom, and how they found a way to bring it into their school. More...

21 Jun 2005 - 5th grade students at Remington Elementary feel the danger of traffic speeding around the streets that they cross daily to get to and from school. Alerting officials of the danger, they have successfully managed to help slow down the traffic. More...

1 Jun 2005 - “Teamwork” was the name of the game when the ninth-grade classes of Theresa Jacobsen and Louise West joined together to work on the greenhouse at their school, which was not fully functioning. More...

1 Jun 2005 - Ten students from Cole Middle School, lead by Learning Family Coaches Adam Garbus, Meadow Didier and Sarah McCauley, worked together to generate new approaches to combating air pollution in their area. More...

1 Jun 2005 - Middle-school aged students on the Youth Council at Centennial K-8 saw a need for some school spirit among youth their age at the school. So they came up with come creative solutions - crazy hairstyles and pajamas? - to fill the spirit void! More...

1 Jun 2005 - Being part of a nationwide movement to do some good in our communities was a great experience for the Youth Council at Edison Elementary. Their four trees allowed them to accomplish multiple goals for their school and neighborhood. More...

1 Jun 2005 - When Arlene Roberts’ fourth and fifth graders at Fairview Elementary looked around at their community, they didn’t just focus on the problems – they thought a lot about all the good things their community had to offer. Sometimes, though, the bad things cover up the good things – literally! More...

1 Jun 2005 - What is Pet-a-Palooza? Well, how about FUN, EDUCATIONAL, and most of all, a GREAT success! This creative event allowed one group of students to do their part to create sustainable solutions to the problem of stray animals. More...

1 Jun 2005 - The fourth-grade students in Kate Shaw’s class at Edison Elementary were thinking big when they chose their issue to address through the CAPS process. Well, really, they were thinking HUGE – as in, as big as the world. More...

21 Dec 2004 - Special education students at North High School approach the issue of graffiti with open minds - and find there is more than meets the eye! More...

21 Dec 2004 - Standing on the shoulders of giants, these seventh graders keep building on the water issue work of their peers - and put on a Water Fair that is a slam dunk! More...

21 Dec 2004 - These eighth grade students at Cole Middle School decided that their community needed a jump start to its health - so they gave themselves a big dose of healthy and heart knowledge. More...

14 Dec 2004 - A neighborhood doesn't really feel like home without the chatter of birds - and the biodiversity of the area suffers, too. These kids wouldn't take the community's low bird population lying down. Instead they tackled the issue by climbing up...trees! More...

14 Dec 2004 - Cole Middle School has been the site of an intense service-learning effort by FrontRange Earth Force. Split into "Learning Families," lead by enthusiastic coaches and committed to seeing the entire process through, these students covered just about every community issue they could find! More...

14 Dec 2004 - Usually it's grown-ups telling their kids to "Eat your vegetables!" But these young residents of the Clayton neighborhood got proactive about growing and eating healthy plants before anyone had to tell them. More...

14 Dec 2004 - These students used the City Council and other neighborhood groups to school their community in how to keep dogs - and their waste - under control. More...

14 Dec 2004 - Their peers spoke out: they were most concerned about safety at school. So these young leaders found them the resources they needed to feel more secure. More...

14 Dec 2004 - With a long-term vision for the health of their rivers, these Morey Middle Schoolers set out to restore the healthiest habitat for the South Platte River and Cherry Creek. More...

14 Dec 2004 - These third-graders traced the trash around their community all the way to the source - how we use and respect our natural resources. The result? A new team of Reduce, Renew, Recycle and Renew advocates! More...

2 Dec 2004 - These fifth graders combined their efforts to make a habitat a home for local plants, birds and butterflies. More...

2 Dec 2004 - A local contaminated wetland gets transformed through a partnership between elementary and middle school students. More...

2 Dec 2004 - These 7th grade science students went from pollution to politics in dealing with household hazardous waste and its effects on water quality. More...

29 Nov 2004 - The Boys' and Girls' Denver SCORES teams at Cowell Elementary both worked on improving their schoolyard environment. The Boys went for the cosmetic approach while the Girls took bullying head-on. More...

29 Nov 2004 - The Newlon Elementary Denver SCORES boy's team put all their hearts into getting one new one for their friend Daniel. More...

29 Nov 2004 - Can nature really soothe the savage beast? Smedley Elementary students decide that more nature makes communities less violent - and plant trees for peace. More...

29 Nov 2004 - Eagleton Denver SCORES youth build a culture of paper recycling at their school. More...

29 Nov 2004 - Aren't animals part of your community, too? Beach Court Denver SCORES certainly thinks so! And everyone in the community should have a nice place to sleep... More...

29 Nov 2004 - Students in the Denver SCORES program at Fairview wanted to make sure that parents what was coming to them...plenty of thanks, that is! More...

29 Nov 2004 - Youth in Barnum's Denver SCORES program test their peers' "Pet IQ" while raising money for the Denver Dumb Friends' League. More...

29 Nov 2004 - Nosotros primero vimos en el periódico y buscamos a personas que podemos ayudar. Todos los temas que hayamos decidimos a quien ayudar. More...

22 Oct 2004 - Third graders at in Ms. Carrie Symons' class at Harrington Elementary learn to separate the good graffiti from the bad. More...

19 Oct 2004 - What could be a bigger problem than folks not getting along? To combat what they saw as a general lack of harmony in the ‘hood, Mr. Hainsworth’s Learning Family at Cole Middle School decided to connect with their neighbors, young and old. More...

19 Oct 2004 - For Ms. Cross’s Learning Family at Cole Middle School, homelessness among youth emerged as a serious problem from their community inventory. More...

19 Oct 2004 - School can always be more engaging for students – and Skinner Middle School’s eighth-grade service-learning class thought they could uncover some new ideas for making it just that. More...

19 Oct 2004 - The sixth-grade afternoon service learning class at Skinner saw a problem at their school – no spirit. Surveys at every grade level revealed that students felt there was nothing in the building to promote school pride. So the Earth Force team crafted an all-out Arts, Entertainment and Information plan to pump up the spirit amongst their peers. More...

19 Oct 2004 - The seventh-grade Earth Force class at Skinner Middle School took on the establishment with a project that challenged school rules and their effectiveness. More...

19 Oct 2004 - In late January we had to decide on a class project that we would do in the community. The two that we came down to were planting trees around our school campus or helping Highland Lake’s pH level. In the end we chose planting trees because we thought it would have a longer lasting effect. More...

19 Oct 2004 - Mr. LaCrosse’s 8th grade science class illustrates what happens when people summon up that desire and unite under a common cause. More...

19 Oct 2004 - The cityWILD participants at Wyatt-Edison Charter School did a clean sweep of their community in their CAPS inventory – and found it wasn’t so clean! More...

21 Sep 2004 - After going on a community walk-about, interviewing neighbors, and doing some investigation, Brenda Clabaugh’s 3rd grade class at Harrington Elementary identified a lack of birds as their community issue. More...

21 Sep 2004 - After testing the health of the water in the South Platte and Cherry Creek Rivers, Mr. Sherer’s 6th grade Environmental Seminar class knew what their project had to be. More...

21 Sep 2004 - Focusing on health as an issue, the students in Ms. Winter’s class at Cole decided that the unused, poorly maintained weight room was being underutilized by students. More...

21 Sep 2004 - Many of the buildings, park benches and road signs observed by Ms. Moloney’s special education class at North High were covered in graffiti. More...

21 Sep 2004 - Air pollution was a problem for students in the Cole Middle School service learning program – but it had a fun, two-wheeled solution. More...