Testimonials

What our past students are saying…

This course has felt like a second chance to develop a relationship with my place. The stories and interactions I’ve had this week really give a soul to the world outside my door and inspire a new depth and care for it. It has grounded me in a way I did not expect and am so grateful to be going home excited to deepen my relationship with place.
– Kristin O’Brien, Human & Natural Ecologies of Colorado, Summer 2022

I’d honestly summarize my learning as life shifting. It has truly opened my senses and gives me so much hope for change I’m able to curate. This course has also given me so much insight to myself, and I hope to continue expanding that.
– Natalie Koch, Human & Natural Ecologies of Colorado, Summer 2022

My semester with Keshet and Jeff was particularly impactful because of not only their expertise and innovation as educators but also their choice to center the land as our primary teacher, a decision which made our time a uniquely hands-on, immersive educational experience. Under their guidance, I learned to love the Colorado River by drinking directly from it, by feeling it pull me through the inner canyons of southern Utah, and by watching it, exhausted, fall still in southern Arizona. I learned to love the soil by sinking my fingers into it, by learning about what it needs, by holding a kernel of corn in my palm with the understanding that it is a product of careful collaboration between man and wild, a gift, an embryo. Whether we were searching for water hidden deep within the canyons or simply picking tomatoes, Keshet and Jeff encouraged thoughtful reflection about my interactions with the land by guiding my thinking with discerning questions and their lived knowledge. By centering our personal experiences with the land, our discussions about the climate crisis carried far more meaning and depth than I was able to gain from classroom study alone. Throughout our journey, Keshet and Jeff challenged me to think beyond the bounds of the learning I had anticipated, while also building my confidence by placing value in my ideas. The semester was truly unforgettable, and I’ve emerged from our time together with zeal to learn more and equipped with the questions needed to do so.
– Sam Bateman, Colorado River Semester, Fall 2020

Learning and exploring with Jeff and Keshet, I was pushed to challenge my own conceptions emotionally and intellectually as I strengthened and grew my connection with the land. Moving slowly through space that allowed me to fully process the meaning of the Continental Divide and the earth below my feet. At the time we crossed, I didn’t think much of it, that the divide was even a big deal. In my life as a city-dwelling outdoorsman, changing watersheds is a regular occurrence, but now something is different. My own conceptions of the spaces I have grown up occupying have begun to change. Atop the pass, joyful with pride at our 12,000 ft accomplishment, we were introduced by our instructors to the Quechua term Apacheta . Used to describe a pass and the human-mountain made cairn atop them. Apachetas represent what we leave behind. The pass holds significance not just on this course as we entered the Colorado River Basin, but in my own life as I summit a pass of my independence. What do I leave behind? What do I bring over? What do I return for? Knowing that tomorrow we will exit the wilderness and all its constructs, I am at a moment of pause, atop my own small pass, unable to know what lies ahead beyond my current level of daily comforts. I am sill unable to answer the questions of the pass in full, but I know with the yellow studded willows of the equinox, I continue to change, grow, and leave things behind. In this land that has shaped me, I continue to erode parts of myself underneath like the glacial carved granite cathedral I lay in. Along with my companions, we grow and change. I may not know in full what I believe, what lies underneath the ice, or what I hope to bring over, but I will always be grounded by a mountain wind, a boulder beneath my feet, and the chirp of a pika. I have been challenged by the climb over the pass and pushed to new heights, but now I return to the calm valley having learned more about myself and the world I stand in, craving more with a curious heart.
– Bailey Walker, Colorado River Semester, Fall 2020

Keshet and Jeff both have so much to teach. Their unique experiences and life-long dedication to learning have made them both incredible teachers. They created such an amazing environment for me and the other students. They were always willing to answer any questions, and even our most casual conversations would always leave me with something to think about. If there was anything we wanted to know more about, the would create formal lessons for us. They worked tirelessly to give us the best and most immersive experience they could. More than instructors, they became our close friends who deeply care about all of their students. They are both incredibly passionate people who I feel so lucky to have learned from. My experience with them has left me a better person, and someone who is more connected o the earth and those around me.
– Audrey Smallman, Colorado River Semester, Fall 2020