University of Colorado Denver College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UC Denver

You are here: Home > July 19, 2012 Issue > Cole Middle School Enjoys A Glimpse Into Sustainability on Second Annual University Visit

Cole Middle School Enjoys A Glimpse Into Sustainability on Second Annual University Visit

Keith Nguyen and Mark Maceda, CU Denver engineering students, stand next to the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle they built.

Sixth-graders from Cole Middle School flocked around the Mile Highdrogen Car -- a senior design project by a group of University of Colorado Denver mechanical engineering students -- during their visit to CU Denver on July 6. Keith Nguyen and Mark Maceda, members of Team MileHighdrogen, demonstrated how their car's hydrogen fuel-cell battery works to the enthusiastic middle-schoolers. About 100 students participated in Cole's second annual summer visit to the downtown campus.

Laurel Dodds, director of Initiatives and Continuing and Professional Education in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said Cole approached CU Denver three years ago about forming a partnership focused on the theme of sustainability. Cole is a Denver School of Science and Technology, part of a network of high-performing middle-school charters. Similar partnerships exist with Aurora Public Schools and the Anschutz Medical Campus. Those sessions are geared toward giving students insight into the medical arts and health care careers.

On the downtown campus, Cole students met with faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and visited various laboratories, including the biofuels lab, concrete testing lab and an aquaponics demonstration. They also visited the Business School where they learned how to calculate carbon footprinting. Later in the day they toured the Auraria Library, Event Center and Tivoli Student Union, which itself is an example of sustainability, having been converted from a brewery into a student center. "We have sustainability as a focus on this campus ... This is their introduction to CU Denver," Dodds said.

For more information, find the complete article on the Cole visit here.