The Bridal Veil Living Classroom is one of Telluride Institute’s most intensive, individualized and scientific WEP courses. The program is a summer science intensive for high school students and college intern field assistants, located in a fragile sub-alpine basin approximately 5 miles southeast of, and 2000 feet above, the town of Telluride.
Students earn high school and college credit for spending eight to ten days in the field collecting biodiversity data for an ongoing Long Term Biodiversity Monitoring Project*, conducting individual field-based research projects, and following through with regularly scheduled fall study sessions. Mentor oversight during summer field work and subsequent fall research and work sessions provides students with necessary supervision and guidance for successful completion of real scientific projects, papers and presentations.
The program provides an in-depth hands-on scientific learning experience, in which data collection and species identification skills are acquired, along with a broad understanding of important ecological concepts and environmental stewardship.
Telluride Institute anticipates expansion of the Bridal Veil Living Classroom to include several options for continuing education students to become involved. The setting and structure of the program provide an excellent basis for undergraduate and graduate level studies in natural sciences, historical land use, environmental education and beyond.
*In 2002 Pinhead Institute and
