Together with community partners, the CU-Boulder Office for University Outreach sponsors the CU in the Community series in picturesque Trinidad, Colorado. By collaborating with a geographically isolated community, CU-Boulder faculty, staff, and students provide educational and cultural resources while gaining valuable opportunities to engage with and learn from Colorado citizens.
In many ways, the inviting campus at Trinidad State Junior College (TSJC) offers similar appeal to the beautiful campus at the University of Colorado Boulder. In Trinidad, grassy grounds separate brick buildings and the ivy creeps along the stone administration building. Pop music fills the dining hall to appease students eager for a study break. The campus and city of Trinidad are nestled between scenic bluffs to the east and the striking Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the west.
Since 2008, CU-Boulder has collaborated with TSJC to provide a program called CU in the Community, which brings special public and school programs to the historic town. With a population of around 9,000, the city and county seat offer community members and the TSJC campus alike educational and cultural programming. In addition to CU-Boulder and TSJC, the Trinidad Community Foundation, Trinidad & Las Animas County Chamber of Commerce, and The Trinidad Times Independent support CU in the Community as partners. Together the groups have sponsored a variety of public lectures, interactive events, and classroom presentations that connect CU-Boulder faculty, scientists, artists, and students with the community of Trinidad.
“CU in the Community has become a household name in Trinidad,” said Debbie Ulibarri, dean of arts and sciences at Trinidad State Junior College. “We couldn’t be happier with the programming, and it’s just been a great partnership.”
Over the years, program topics in Trinidad have ranged from the pine beetle epidemic to Egyptian mummies to opera performances. Each public program typically includes school visits paired with a public event in the evening, with proceeds from ticket sales benefiting a local nonprofit.
“The partnership with Trinidad continues to evolve, and that’s OK. We want this to be a program that meets the need of the community as they define it,” said Linda Molner Kelley, CU-Boulder director for university outreach.
In April 2012, a cohort of CU-Boulder professors, students, and staff participated in programs and meetings. In response the community’s self-identified concerns about water quality, CU-Boulder professors Mark Williams, geography, and Joe Ryan, environmental engineering, met with local leaders, separately led public presentations about water quality and quantity, gave a group talk with middle school students, and offered an open forum for TSJC students and faculty about mercury contamination in water.
During the same visit CU-Boulder’s Science Discovery Science Explorers program hosted two days worth of hands-on science workshops in area elementary schools, while two CU-Boulder students, Adrianne Kroepsch and Jessica DeHart, provided water-themed workshops as part of the Girls in the Middle initiative. The initiative exposed middle-school girls to math, science, engineering, and technology careers through workshops led by female scientists and role models. Kroepsch is a doctoral student in Environmental Studies, and DeHart is a master’s degree student in Environmental Engineering. Both got into science fields so that they could make contributions to others.
Additionally, as a result of direct requests from the Trinidad community, three CU-Boulder climate science and dance outreach programs provided workshop activities for K-12 students attending the May 17 Trinidad Water Festival.
“We love everything CU does. It is great have programs that put an emphasis on science. The kids here do not normally receive outside programming like this,” said Debbie Krumm, community partner and activity director for the TSJC Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program. “Plus it is nice because the CU presenters are not from around here, so they offer a special intrigue and a reminder that there are opportunities outside of Trinidad.”
Whether the events center on science or the arts, every CU in the Community program aims to extend the resources of CU-Boulder to communities that seek enriched programming. Beyond Trinidad, CU in the Community outreach programs have been hosted in Fort Morgan, Durango, and other locations.