Independence Training Program

Yes, it’s time to start getting the garden ready for the 2017 growing season! Tuesday morning some of our Colorado Master Gardeners from the Arapahoe County 

Extension Office came by to start getting our Legacy Garden area ready for planting next month, clearing out and cutting down all manner of last year’s growth. Zach, our student from Montana, couldn’t pass up the chance to be outside on such a lovely morning.

In the photos below, he takes the stalks of Russian Sage to task, making way for new growth this year. The Russian Sage has a great scent throughout the summer, and is just one plant of many that offer odors, from savory to sweet in our Legacy Garden. And we can’t forget about the great veggies and herbs that we’ll be planting soon!

The weather’s been great, so Jen took her Braille classes outside one day last week. They took turns reading aloud from a Braille book. Can’t think of a more relaxing way to learn the critical skills of literacy for the blind!

Everyone does a project in Wood Shop, and since Ryan is a fitness professional he built a pull-up station in our gym:

Tilapia and ratatouille were served to fifteen with flair for Ceci’s mini-meal, but that was no surprise!

Julie admits she’d barely cooked at all before coming to the Center, but now she’s cooked and served a meal for fifteen!

And no one left hungry … no one!

On Tuesday all four Home Management classes took charge of the deep-fryer, making a “copy-cat” chicken recipe. Watch to see how things turned out!

Both Julie and Serena are new to the Wood Shop class, but Chris has them in touch with the beginnings of a refinishing project.

Chaz admits he was only a little above the average college student with respect to his cooking skills. Now he’s made lasagna from scratch and fed fifteen people witt it.

Was last Thursday night/Friday’s snow the last of the 2017 ski season? Well, it definitely was for CCB, as Friday was our last trip to Eldora (21 miles west of Boulder) for the year. It hasn’t proven to be the last of the snow, however, which is great news for the diehards who just have to take one more run before the season closes.

The idea is to have each ITP student go three times and, if there are empty seats for any reason, students can go more than that. For most of Friday’s group, it was their only chance for the year because they’ve only just arrived in the past week or two!

Linssey has been here for a couple of weeks, but she’d never hit the slopes before – she loved snowboarding! Leon had been surfing in Florida, so he took to snowboarding right away.

No, you won’t be singing any Disney song when you go under the pool.

It’s dirty and dark and forgotten … Except by Travel Instructor David Nietfeld, who today took the Philosophy class on an historical tour of the Center, which was formerly a YMCA. Since part of the student body was off at a boxing gym and another in our gym doing Martial Arts, David had a smaller contingent to take on his tour. He explained where there were once windows overlooking the raquetball courts, whose office once were locker room showers and whose had toilets at one time.