All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
Niwot senior Maya Beauvineau is feeling accomplished now that she has finished her CAS project, saying, "CAS has allowed me to invest my time in a variety of environmental opportunities, whether it's my internship, stewardship, or activities with the Environmental Club."
"Our inspiration was really wanting to shift the culture of NHS to be more aware of the election and the potential this election has on our future," said NHS senior Maya Beauvineau of the election ribbon project she organized with the Environmental Club in October 2020. "We thought that it would be an effective way to encourage students at Niwot to vote, to register [and] to recognize the power of their voice."
Niwot senior Maya Beauvineau has a strong connection to the outdoors. From maintaining her chicken coop to participating with Nederland's Nordic Ski Team to being one of the leaders for Niwot High's Environmental Club, much of her time is spent outside. When it came time to consider how she might marry creativity to action and service, it was an easy decision for her--she'd go outside, then she only had to figure out where to go from there.
"I initially was planning on doing a food rescue project with the Environmental Club, I put a good amount of time into that project," explained Beauvineau. "I was collaborating with my co-leader, and we secured a $6,000 grant and we were about to implement it when COVID shut down everything." The club still hopes to complete the project, but until further COVID restrictions are lifted, they are waiting to implement it.
Despite this, Beauvineau still found plenty of opportunities for her to grow in her environmental activism. She interned with 350 Colorado, a climate activism nonprofit, and also worked with the Woodlands Restoration Volunteers.
"I had to get creative because of the pandemic," she said. With rules about social distancing, it became difficult to do group work like she had done previously and had to shift gears. For some of her short-term projects, she learned about sustainable construction and used that knowledge to rebuild her chicken coop. Then, she added in art by taking lessons from her grandfather and a family friend, who are sketch/watercolor and acrylic artists, respectively.
Her creativity and resilience came to a head with planning her new extended project. Inspired by the Climate Ribbon Project, Beauvineau thought it would be a great opportunity to work with the Environmental club to bring awareness to the Niwot community. Given that 2020 was an election year, she decided to shift gears again.
"I decided to go forward with the election [ribbon project], because it was so relevant to the time." She said she and the rest of the club wanted to raise students' voices and encourage others to vote. "It was really empowering to see the tangible results.... It was cool to track the progress of the election with the progress of my project."
While still being in a hybrid learning model, Beauvineau and the club were able to get some in-person involvement. In addition to having a Google form to collect responses on why voting mattered to students, she and her team set up tables for people to make ribbons on the day of the presentation as well.
But the actual activities weren't necessarily the best part of CAS. For Beauvineau, she said one of her favorite aspects of the project was self-reflections on what she did. "The reflection piece really encouraged me to think critically about where I invested my time....I was able to reflect on what went well [or not]... and I can partially credit the success [of her projects] to the reflection throughout the planning process."
Beauvineau described CAS as having the potential to be a fulfilling experience and an opportunity to explore her interests. For her, it helped further pique her interest in both environmental science and policy, which is what she hopes to study in college.
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