Erin teaches Cottonwood Institute's core CAP Class and Changemaker Programs in Boulder County. Erin helps students expand their definition of nature to create equitable access to the outdoors. By bringing awareness of animals, plants, ecosystems, and natural resources in urban areas immediately surrounding their neighborhood and schools, Erin helps show students that nature is accessible and available on their city block.

During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Erin helped create Thrival Kits and contributed activities to our Explore Outside Handbooks packed with activities and supplies she hand delivered to students at home while they were on lock down. She came up with creative lesson plans like the “World In One Square Foot” and set up map and compass courses in nearby parks that her students could do at home that helped students redefine what it meant to explore nature and the outdoors wherever they were. Whether it was observing a small patch of grass or dandelions on their city block or identifying animal tracks in a nearby park, Erin encouraged her students to appreciate nature in the city, in the foothills, and mountains of Colorado as restrictions began to lift. Erin is hyper aware of equitable access to nature and is committed to busting down barriers to make sure her students always had access to the gear, transportation, instruction, and translation they needed to comfortably and competently explore nature and the outdoors.