Dear Outdoor Lab,
My name is Spencer Coffey. I am 19 years old and was a four-time High School Leader and Spring 2024 Intern at Windy Peak. I am now a freshman student at Colorado State University with a major in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, and I was just hired as a Resident Assistant for one of the dorms here on campus. I wanted to take advantage of the platform I have been given to express my deepest appreciation for the Outdoor Lab program, and the people who make it possible.
Through my first experience of Outdoor Lab in 2018 as a sixth-grader, my four week service as a High School Leader, and my semester as an Intern, the Outdoor Lab program has had a profound and lasting impact on the way I choose to live my life. Of course, the program taught me the quintessential “Outdoor Lab” things, such as how to be responsible in my outdoor practices, how to shoot a bow, and how short a three minute shower really feels. Yet, after almost a year apart from the program, with lots of deliberation time between then and now, these seemingly superficial lessons that I absorbed have resonated through me, leaving much more abstract and important life teachings in their place. These values—curiosity and stewardship—have been intentionally and profoundly weaved into everything the program does for sixth-graders, teachers, High School Leaders, and Interns alike.
This past fall, I began my enrollment as a student at CSU, inspired by the lessons that the ecosystems class at Outdoor Lab teaches. On the surface, this class teaches about different abiotic and biotic interactions, a wonderful introduction to ecology for a sixth-grader. But this class also implies a much deeper lesson: the awe inspiring delicacy and complexity of the world around us. This class, along with the Leave No Trace curriculum, provokes curiosity in each participant to consider their grander place in the world and the impacts of their actions. Outdoor Lab’s curriculum of scientific discovery and implementation demonstrated to me (and I am sure many others) that however many questions or problems life may throw at you, there are always more answers out there waiting to be uncovered.
This mindset drives me through my current employment as an Irrigation Technician focused on sustainable practices and technologies to help conserve water on a large scale. The scientific curiosity that the Outdoor Lab program fostered in me is now an inseparable part of my identity. It inspires me to help make the most substantial impact and assist in the greater scientific community’s mission to understand and protect our beautiful place in space that we call home.
The second virtue that Outdoor Lab steeped into my life was a deep acknowledgement of the stewardship I owe to the communities I participate in, the relationships I foster, and the interactions that I have on a daily basis. The principle of community stewardship, instilled in me through Cabin Leadership, continues to shape my approach in my new role as a Resident Assistant. I strive to share the indescribable feeling of being welcomed and accepted, with no strings attached. I attempt to not only be a steward of community on my floor, but also through the relationships I foster with friends, family, and even strangers. Outdoor Lab has taught me that the energy I put into spreading love and joy will never be wasted.
Thank you, Outdoor Lab, for the truly life-altering impact that you have kindly shared with me and thousands of others.
With immense gratitude,
Spencer Coffey
