MENV Students Prepare to Launch Capstone Projects
Who would not want to combine a beautiful summer in Colorado with collaborating on impactful sustainability projects? This is exactly what a summer in the Masters of the Environment, a graduate professional sustainability program, looks like. As the Spring semester wraps up, MENV students are about to launch their official Masters Capstone Projects.听
A Capstone Team with Resource Central standing in front of their presentation. Photo credit: Gregor McGregor听
On Friday, April 10th, 25 Capstone Teams presented the plans for their Capstone projects to the MENV community. 听Kaila Hood, an MENV student, reflected on the event, 鈥淭he presentations were a good way to share what we鈥檝e been working on and learn more about our peers鈥 projects. It made me excited for the summer and ready to dive in with my teammates and partners!鈥听
Two capstone students drink coffee while debriefing with Meghan McCarroll, a capstone advisor.听
The MENV Capstone partners student teams of two to four with government entities, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and private companies to tackle sustainability issues across a variety of sectors. This year鈥檚 cohort of nearly 80 students is MENV鈥檚 tenth Capstone cohort 鈥 and that鈥檚 something worth celebrating! This year鈥檚 Capstone Partners include repeat partners such as the Aspen Global Change Institute, OneEnergy, and the Town of Erie, as well as many new partners including Leitner-Poma of America, Mountain Towns 2030, and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Some of the projects build on the work done by teams in prior years: 听last year, the Colorado State Forest Service and Governor鈥檚 Office of Climate Preparedness and Disaster Recovery partnered with MENV students to identify communities in Colorado that would benefit from an increased urban forest canopy to mitigate the impacts of climate change and performed pilot projects in communities to identify best communication methods. This year, the collaboration continues as the new student team develops a project toolkit for urban foresters that includes funding and implementation guidelines and an interactive, regionally-organized database on recommended tree species and resources.听
MENV program thoughtfully incorporates opportunities for students to mentor each other 鈥 in this case, second year students who completed their Capstone last year were also invited to offer feedback on this year鈥檚 presentations. 鈥淚 really valued watching the Capstone presentations as a second year, especially because I got to be in the same room as my Capstone Advisor from last year,鈥 says Erin Bucchin, who sat in on three presentations. 鈥淚t felt very full-circle, and it was amazing to see how different projects can be - where mine was so stakeholder engagement and research-focused, all the projects I sat in on were field- and land-based. And yet, many of the considerations, questions, and pieces of advice were the same to these teams as they were to mine a year ago.鈥听
Capstone Advisors, MENV faculty members and industry professionals, facilitated discussion in the nine concurrent presentation sessions. "It was exciting to watch students think through complex challenges across the sustainability spectrum, taking time to deeply understand their project scope before jumping in. That early focus on understanding the scope sets them up well for the kind of consultative approach that effective sustainability work demands in the real world. The first-years are clearly up to the challenge, and I can't wait to watch the projects unfold throughout the year!" Maria McDonald, founder of Footprint Sustainability and an instructor for several MENV courses, and a first-time advisor for the capstone program, reflected on her experience.听听
Post-presentation discussion with the Colorado State Forest Service capstone team. Photo credit: Gregor McGregor听
After this event, the teams will finalize their Scopes of Work with their partners and start the work. With summer just around the corner, students are eager to get started on their projects 鈥 all of which offer actionable insights and impactful deliverables to Capstone Partners on the Front Range and beyond!听