Jeanine and I met Brady Grainger (mother of Nico’s roommate) for coffee and breakfast.  We were eventually joined by her son (Tom) and daughter (Aliza) both at Colorado College as well as Nicolai who had spent the night on campus.  Jeanine and I also made a brief stop to deliver a care package to Karuna (Nico’s girlfriend and CC freshman) who was not feeling well enough to join us for breakfast. We then drove up to the Catamount Center to see where Nicolai was living and learn more about the program.  The setting on two lakes at the base of Pike’s Peak is nothing short of stunning.

Nicolai lives in a bio-thermally heated high tech structure high on campus which stands in stark contrast to all other buildings which are very rustic.

Nicolai is studying here as part of the Teaching and Research in Environmental Education (TREE) program, a 16-week, residential semester program that mirrors the traditional study abroad experience. The TREE Semester is specifically designed for undergraduate students interested in exploring both environmental and educational fields. Nicolai will spend over a hundred hours teaching a group of  K-12 students while simultaneously cultivating his own conceptions of environmental stewardship and researching his students’ development.

Visiting parents were treated to astudent-ledd tour of the campus and later Nico, his friend, Cameron, and I hiked to the location where he did his solo vision quest returning to base just as the Grainger family arrived.

A subsequent hike was aborted due to the onset of a brief hail storm. The entire group had dinner together at a Mexican restaurant in Woodland Park.  I joined the group later after returning to the Catamount Center to take advantage of the post storm evening light.  I lucked upon a herd of elk that were perfectly positioned at the top of a ridge and am very happy with the resulting images.