Former Growing Up Boulder Team Members
Keep up to date with our former team members!
Christine Lee, Communications and Development Coordinator
February 2023 - May 2023
February 2023 - May 2023
Christine collaborates with community leaders to ignite community growth and balance communications between GUB and their relationships. She graduated with a BA in Business Management, BA in Music Performance, and MS in Information Systems from the University of Memphis. She is passionate about community development and solutioning ideas that solve problems. Driven to listen to the community’s needs and deliver impact, she has been involved with various youth development and outreach initiatives. When she is not at the office, Christine runs, bikes, swims and converses with friends and family.
Abigail Kahn, Communications and Development Intern
January 2023 - May 2023
|
As Growing Up Boulder’s spring Communications and Development Intern, Abigail has joined us to help support our relations with community leaders and our lines of communication with our partners and supporters. Abigail is currently a senior at The University of Colorado Boulder where she is a Media Studies major with a minor in Leadership. Aside from her studies, she is the president of the Women’s Club Volleyball Team at CU Boulder. She is also passionate about making a difference in the lives of children within the community. Abigail chooses to spend her free time skiing, hiking, or trying a new, local coffee shop!
|
Olivia Szeliga, Development and Communications Coordinator November 2021 - December 2022
|
Olivia graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder where she studied Sociology and Political Science. She is adept at empowering marginalized communities as well as creating sustainable social and environmental solutions to pressing problems. Olivia's passion for social and environmental justice stems from her heritage as an Indigenous - Hunkpapa Lakota - woman.
|
Paola Garcia Barron, Youth Leader Summer 2022
|
Paola is a bilingual and bicultural youth advocate for social issues. She is a Colorado native; she was born and raised in Boulder, forty-five minutes north-west of Denver. Currently, she is a first year student studying Political Science at the University of Denver learning how to get involved and make an impact in her new environment. Previously, she has taken on roles to build relationships, engage in her community and further anti-racism and social justice efforts. Her work has been recognized with the Women Who Light the Community Emerging Youth Award for building a stronger community in Boulder and the Outstanding Freshman and Outstanding Sophomore awards for scholarship, leadership, character and service at Boulder High School. She also participated in an executive committee as a member for the Boulder Valley School District Strategic Metrics Plan to address opportunity gaps among students of color. As she continues to find her place within the University of Denver, she hopes to foster a positive change and ultimately use her education for that same cause.
|
Keaton McCargo, Spring Intern 2022
Nettie Skievaski, Summer and Fall Intern 2021
|
Nettie is a senior in the Environmental Design program at the University of Colorado-Boulder, specializing in Urban Design and Sustainable Planning, with a minor in Human Geography. Prior to the Environmental Design program, she opened and ran a tearoom in Madison, Wisconsin, and worked in the healthcare technology industry. Nettie has a vivacious five-year-old son, who has shown her that children have a voice and opinion about their environment, which should be shared and included in city planning. She is so excited to be part of the Growing Up Boulder team, to learn about child-friendly city initiatives and community engagement strategies, and contribute to its mission with her organization and design skills. One of Nettie’s favorite activities is observing human behavior in public spaces, and to contemplate how complex urban systems impact that behavior. She believes that designing for the urban environment means creating functional and sustainable spaces, which serve their unique communities in a beautiful and flexible way. In her free time, you’ll find her exploring Boulder and Denver, practicing yoga, hacky-sacking, and building a children’s garden in her front yard.
|
Sarah Riddick, Fall Intern 2021
Ryan Younan, Spring Intern 2021
|
Originally from Michigan, Ryan is a senior of the School of Architecture at the University of Detroit Mercy where community research and engagement has prominently shaped his approach at all scales. As an advocate of cultural preservation, Ryan is driven to serve the needs of communities so that neighborhoods, cultures, and sustainably inclusive societies may flourish within their domain, and beyond. Through his internship with Growing up Boulder, he is excited to listen and learn from Boulder’s youth, and help upraise their voices into upcoming developments across Boulder’s communities. His passion for this field of work is rooted in his belief that empowering community members, and placemaking, may assist communities in reaching more sustainable futures. Ryan is often pondering the ways of life and practices of cultures around the world; and what sustainable design measures – through architecture and urban planning– may aid in preserving and uplifting these cultures. In his free time, when not hiking with his dog Boomer, he’s often finding joy through cycling, reading new authors with coffee in hand, traveling, and picking up new hobbies such as woodworking.
|
Savannah Terrell, Spring Intern 2021
|
Savannah is a graduating senior specializing in Sustainable Planning and Urban Design within the Environmental Design Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Originally from Newport Beach, Savannah has traveled extensively and observed unique obstacles and overcomings around the globe; these place- and problem-based solutions continue to inspire and inform her present urban design endeavors. Her heart for design beats for those kept silent and voiceless and she is dedicated to spending her career making those voices not only heard, but respected and embraced within the design process. Her passion for inclusive participatory planning and extensive community engagement melds perfectly with GUB’s pursuant mission within the city of Boulder; Children’s unique perspective and infectious joy has always inspired Savannah and GUB’s close connection with Boulder’s youth is a perfect opportunity for her to connect with, learn from, and grow with the youth in her community. In her spare time, you can find her curled up with a good book, sailing, hiking, or attempting to cook up something delicious.
|
Lauren Oertel, Marketing and Outreach Contractor
|
Lauren is a senior of the Program in Environmental Design at CU Boulder specializing in Sustainable Urban Planning and Design. At age 19, Lauren graduated from Americorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) with the Congressional Award that honored her involvement in nationwide initiatives that support simpler and healthier living conditions across four US states. Through her internship and contract position with Growing Up Boulder she is working her way into a career focused on environmental and social justice. Her passion for this work stems from her belief that all communities deserve equal understanding of the planning processes that affect them. Lauren also loves pondering questions that evolve around why prejudice on minorities exists and how any form of design can play a role in combating it. As a fierce community advocate, Lauren is excited to help implement GUB’s inclusive hands-on approach to city planning and looks forward to inspiring children to be active members of their own communities. In her free time, she loves to train for biathlons, volunteer, and find new opportunities to make the world a better place.
|
Grace Kimes, Spring Intern 2021
|
Grace is in her first year at CU Boulder studying Elementary Education. Grace’s love of education stems from her experience working with students and teachers in elementary classrooms throughout all of high school. In her senior year of high school she completed the Colorado Teacher Cadet Program, during which she began learning about pedagogy and had the opportunity to put that knowledge into practice. She is excited to be applying this experience and her current studies at CU to her work with Growing Up Boulder - showing youth they are capable of making an impact and that they have a powerful voice, unique ideas, and a valuable perspective that needs to be heard. As a future teacher, Grace is inspired to ignite positive change, empowering and motivating young generations to do the same. In her free time, she likes to explore the outdoors, improve her art skills, and make memories with friends and family.
|
Bryan Martino, Fall Intern 2020
|
Originally from San Diego, Bryan is a third-year student at CU Boulder studying Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Design. Bryan is most interested in climate resilience and wildlife restoration. In 2019, he taught at the renowned Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography that showcases research discoveries on climate, earth, and ocean science. As an aspiring designer and climate activist, he believes that Life — by design— is an iterative process, and that community engagement is essential towards empathizing with the environment. Bryan has published on according topics, which have been honored in CU Boulder’s “Occasions - A Collection of Prize-Winning Works”. During Fall 2020, he will support Growing Up Boulder with a focus on the Gunbarrel Hill Integrated Site Plan initiative as well as the updated Boulder Parks & Rec Master Planning process. Bryan also looks forward to learning more about networking with community partners, funders, and applying his design skills. Someday, Bryan hopes to integrate landscape architecture into marine conservation as a career. In his free time, you can find Bryan trail running, swimming or writing design pieces.
|
Ayushi Patel, Spring Intern 2020
|
Ayushi is a senior at CU Boulder in the Environmental Design program with a specialization in Landscape Design. She wants to concentrate on implementing green spaces throughout dense urban centers to allow biological life to flow through cities. Other interests she has include being part of the CU Boulder Taekwondo team and playing board games. She looks forward to interning with Growing Up Boulder and helping the children and families have their ideas produced through the city of Boulder.
|
Tori Civitello, Fall Intern 2019
|
Tori is a senior in the Environmental Design program at CU Boulder, specializing in landscape architecture and lighting design. She is interested in bringing low impact and efficient lighting techniques into the world of landscape architecture and is passionate about finding a balance between lighting for human use while reducing the impact of outdoor light on wildlife. Outside the office, Tori plays on the CU Boulder Women's Rugby team and enjoys rocking climbing and skiing. She is excited to be interning with Growing Up Boulder because of the unique office/classroom experience and hopes to help further give the children of Boulder a voice within their community.
|
Federica Merola, Fall Intern 2019
|
Federica Merola is a senior in the Environmental Design Program at CU Boulder with an emphasis in Sustainable Planning and a minor in Sociology. She is very interested in community engagement with the goal of attracting people to be involved in their communities, and make them understand the importance and impact they have within their neighborhoods. She believes planning is a creative act, and in order to aim the best design approach, it is important to be fully engaged with the community and its environment.
|
Alex Haefling, Volunteer Map Designer
|
Alex is a recent graduate from the ENVD program. He holds a BA in Environmental Design with a focus in Planning. He has used various editing software such as GIS and the Adobe Suite to bring his dreams and ideas to reality throughout all his studies; especially working for Growing Up Boulder. Alex’s interests lie mostly in helping the community whether that be design based or not. He has worked for the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art as an intern to encourage youth to participate and get involved in museums and design. He currently works for the City of Boulder’s Transportation Division, GO Boulder and has continued to hold close ties with the Growing Up Boulder Team and always will! Alex enjoys traveling, being on/in water, New York City, The Rocky Mountains and waking up early! He can adapt to any situation and can sing any song you throw at him. Working with the GUB team has built so many valuable skills for Alex such as time management, critical thinking and immensely productive teamwork sessions. Working intergenerationally is something he hopes to take with him wherever he goes.
|
Max Jongewaard, Intern Summer 2019
|
Max is an incoming senior in the ENVD program with an emphasis in product design. He is interested in creating sustainable products that are adaptable and therefore accessible to everyone around the world. Max also has a passion for ceramics and has gained first hand experience watching children flourish in a workshop setting through his time with Color Me Mine. By interning with GUB, he is excited to involve otherwise disengaged youth on design projects in the Boulder community.
|
Oliver Brooks, Intern Summer 2019 and Spring 2020
|
Oliver is a senior in the Environmental Design program at CU Boulder, with a specialization in urban design and planning studies. His work focuses on designing diverse public spaces in cities through the application of participatory planning and community engagement principles. He is currently interested in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create narratives for cities through data visualization and spatial modeling techniques. In his spare time, Oliver enjoys local film, music, and theater events as well as exploring nature through hiking and rock climbing. Through the Growing Up Boulder internship, he hopes to develop an understanding of how to provide more effective outcomes for end-users and how to better manage systems that support community engagement.
|
Jing Lui, GUB Capstone MENV Graduate Student
|
Jing Liu is a graduate student in the Master of the Environment program with the specialization in sustainability planning and management at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her interests mainly focus on urban design and planning, community engagement, and youth education. Jing enjoys spending her free time skiing, camping, and stay with her family and friends. She worked with Growing Up Boulder to develop bilingual Child-Friendly City Map, compile a Child-Friendly City Toolkit and create a Teen-Friendly City Map. She believes that children and teenagers should have their voices and opinions be considered in the urban planning process since their perspectives are often unique and unbiased. Being a part of GUB members, Jing feels responsible to encourage and empower the young people to be active participants in the communities and raise their social awareness and responsibilities in their early age.
|
Grace Carlin, GUB Capstone MENV Graduate Student
|
Grace Carlin is a graduate student specializing in Sustainability Planning and Management in the Masters of the Environment (MENV) program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Grace came to the MENV program from a position as an aviculture exhibit interpreter at the San Antonio Zoo, where she facilitated interactions between guests and parrots. This inspired her passion for studying the social aspects of nature, especially through the lens of immersive environmental education opportunities for underprivileged groups. As such, she is thrilled to partner with Growing Up Boulder to engage local youth in participatory planning processes regarding urban design and environmental decision-making. Grace received her B.A. in Environmental Studies and a minor in Urban Studies from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. In her free time, Grace enjoys hiking, singing, and consuming science fiction media.
|
Leandre Mills, Intern Fall 2018 and Volunteer Spring 2019
Leandre Mills is a senior ENVS student with a minor in ENVD and a focus in planning at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her interests include environmental education, being active and involved in local government and planning, eco-social justice issues, environmental psychology, and nature-play. In her free time, Leandre enjoys camping, hiking, and climbing. She is currently working with Growing Up Boulder to develop a Child-Friendly City Map that encourages kids to explore their city through child-friendly designs by working with several preschool and elementary students to come up with plans, designs, and ideas for walkable neighborhoods throughout Boulder. She is also working on a research project which explores and analyzes the overall impacts on environmental public policy by introducing affordable and equitable environmental education programs into vulnerable, lower socioeconomic communities within rural Colorado.
Abraham Profit, Intern Fall 2018 and Volunteer Map Designer Spring 2019
Abraham Profitt is a senior ENVD student emphasizing in planning at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His interests include: walk & bike planning, regional planning, social equity and transit issues, creative districts, community engagement, child-friendly cities, and urban food systems. He is currently working with Growing Up Boulder to develop an Early Childhood Development Transportation Master Plan and a Child-Friendly City Map that encourages kids to explore their city through child-friendly designs by working with several preschool and elementary students to come up with plans, designs, and ideas for walkable neighborhoods throughout Boulder. He is also working on a walk/bike infrastructure research project that examines disparities in accessibility between low- and high-income residential neighborhoods in Denver.
Omar De La Mora, Intern Spring 2019
Omar De La Mora is a senior in the ENVD Program with an emphasis in Architecture. He is interested in bioclimatic building design, and the relationship between the built environment and our constantly changing environmental climate. Omar is also a part-time Big Mountain Ski Coach for Team Summit Colorado where he has a developed a passion engaging with youth. He is currently working with Growing Up Boulder to develop a Child-Friendly City Map that encourages kids to explore their city through child-friendly designs by working with several preschool and elementary students to come up with plans, designs, and ideas for walkable neighborhoods throughout Boulder. By interning with Growing Up Boulder, he hopes to learn how to further involve the ideas of local youth into building design.
Aria Dellepiane, Growing Up Boulder Program Associate
Aria Dellepiane is a recent 2017 graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder where she received her Bachelor in Environmental Design with a specialization in Architecture. In her time at CU, Aria studied the concepts and practices of architecture, planning, landscape architecture, and community engagement and learned that all are key to healthy, vibrant, and beautiful communities. In fall of 2016, Aria interned for Growing Up Boulder, where she was able to engage Boulder’s youth in real world city planning projects. In her time at CU, Aria was also a “coach” and TA for Public Achieve- ment, a civic engagement initiative in which undergrads work alongside K-12 students with- in Boulder Valley School Districts and the I Have a Dream Foundation to develop projects around school and community based social justice issues. Aria was also a Puksta Scholar, in which she founded and developed Anyone Anywhere, an interactive reporting tool website that maps out incidents of sexual assault within the city of Boulder and provides resources and advocacy tools to community members impacted by this issue.
Elese Huspeni, Intern, Summer 2018
Elese just finished her junior year in the Environmental Design Program at CU Boulder, with an emphasis in urban planning and design. She hopes to bring people together through design with her education at CU. Throughout her time in the Environmental Design program she has been in EDSG (Environmental Design Student Government) for three semesters. During her free time she likes to spend time outdoors either hiking, camping or slack-lining and spending time with her family and friends. Elese believes that engaging all parts of the community for design is key to maximizing creativity, especially the youth.
Sara Taketatsu, Intern, Spring 2018
Sara is a junior in the Environmental Design Program and has a goal to pursue architectural licensure. With her education she hopes to positively impact people’s daily lives through design. While studying at ENVD she has also been the president of the CU Boulder Chapter of The American Institute of Architecture Students, an ENVD Student Ambassador, and an ENVD Peer Mentor. Sara strongly believes in the importance of children and youth engaging with their community and surroundings, as well as the power of participatory learning. By interning with Growing Up Boulder she plans to learn more about how to better support and encourage youth as they participate in their communities.
Nihan Efeoglu, Intern, Spring 2018
Nihan is a junior in the Environmental Design program at CU Boulder, with an emphasis in Architecture. She is from Izmir, Turkey, and she has been living in Colorado since she moved to the United States. In her spare time, Nia enjoys seeing live music shows, volunteering, traveling, and spending time with friends and family. One of the things that has drawn her to Environmental Design was the study of biomimicry and applying it to Architectural design. She has volunteered as a teaching assistant to 4 and 5 year olds at Thorne Nature Experience, which led to her interest in interning to work with kids at Growing up Boulder. She believes it is important to give kids a voice to ensure their success as members of our society, and to use their imagination as lenses for creative problem solving in the design of cities.
Andrea Rossi, Volunteer, 2017
Andrea Rossi is documentary film producer and assistant editor at Off the Map Media in Boulder, Colorado. She produces films that focus on social and environmental issues, such as masculinity and violence, climate change, and food resilience. Before film, Andrea worked alongside youth as the education and outreach coordinator of an environmental program, where she developed a Youth Environmental Leadership Program that facilitated youth-led and youth-directed environmental entrepreneurship programs in middle and high school. She later was the advocacy services coordinator at a sexual assault services non-profit, providing services for women, men, youth, and children, and then went on to work as a director of oncology for a health clinic and nutrition therapist for individuals with cancer. She is a member of the 2017-2018 Boulder County Leadership Fellows Cohort, and a volunteer for the Boulder County youth roller derby league as the Junior Roller Derby Administrative Head and an assistant trainer. As a volunteer with Growing Up Boulder, she is assisting with the youth participatory action research process on public bus transit. She holds an undergraduate degree in gender and women’s studies, and a post-graduate degree in nutrition therapy.
Jason Green, Intern, Fall 2017
Jason is a junior in the Environmental Design Program, with an emphasis in Design Studies. His passion lies within the design process and using it as a multi-disciplinary tool. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, throwing a frisbee and playing volleyball. For the past six summers, Jason has been working with children, at Camp Echo Lake in Warrensburg, New York, as a cabin specialist, group leader and wood working specialist. He hopes to take the skills acquired here to empower youth to help create a better future.
Erika Chavarria, Intern , Fall 2017
Erika is a junior in the Environmental Design Program at CU Boulder and is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She’s emphasizing in architecture, and wants to help cities transition in an eco-friendly direction through design. In her spare time, Erika loves to paint, sculpt, hike, and read. She has worked collaboratively with a traveling art group called Meow Wolf, who built their own museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Erika has also worked in the Child Life Center at Presbyterian Hospital. The Child Life Center works with children in the Pediatric Oncology Unit, as well as the Pediatric and Neo-Natal, Intensive care Units. As a Volunteer, she spent her time playing with kids and helping to keep them active and involved in projects during their stay in the hospital. Erika loves working with children and believes their involvement in city projects plays a key role in the community’s success.
Winter Roybal, Intern, Summer 2017
Winter is a junior in the Environmental Design Program, with an emphasis in Urban Design and Planning. In her free time, she enjoys reading, being outdoors, and exploring Boulder. For the past three summers, Winter has worked as a leader at a summer program for middle and high school students that focuses on historic preservation and conservation. She hopes to continue to work with youth, especially helping them to make their voices heard. For the past two years in ENVD, she has been a student ambassador and a member of Environmental Design Student Government. She is also a member of the ENVD Peer Mentor Program. As an intern at Growing Up Boulder, Winter hopes to gain knowledge on how to engage youth in decision making and learn more about Boulder.
Hannah Sullivan, Intern, Spring 2017
Hannah is a junior here at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is majoring in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Environmental Justice, as well as minoring in Environmental Design. In her free time she enjoys hiking the Flatirons and exploring coffee shops around Boulder. During Fall Semester 2016 she worked with Casey Middle School students, helping them develop designs for the Alpine- Balsam community project. She sees environmental design as a process that can be used to create solutions for some of the environmental challenges our society faces. She hopes to apply her knowledge and understanding of environmental issues to real life solutions, through a design process that creates innovative ways to fight or minimize the impact of these issues.
Jackie Cameron, Graduate Intern, Spring 2017
Jackie is a PhD student in Society, Media, and Technology at the ATLAS Institute. She is passionate about democratic education practices and ways to engage learners in civic action. Her research focuses on the use of technology to support community-developed science projects to meet their educational and activist goals. This semester, she will be working with GUB to gather children’s input on how they want to participate in the Open Space and Mountain Parks’ master planning process. She plans to take the skills and knowledge she gains through GUB with her as she co-develops an educational nonprofit in her hometown of Pittsburgh, PA.
William Oberlander, Intern, Spring 2017
Will is a junior in the Environmental Design Program, with an emphasis in design studies. He hopes to use his creative skills to break down communication barriers and promote local teamwork. For the past three summers, Will has spent time working directly with children, at sports and sailing camps in Westchester, New York, as a pool and beach director. He aims to continue creating supportive relationship within his community. During the fall of 2016, Will worked with a Growing Up Boulder team at Casey Middle School in order to grasp children’s perspectives toward the future Alpine Balsam site in Boulder. Over the spring of 2017, Will is completing a design-build course at CU. Researching and collaborating with a low-income community in Denver, Will and a team of other ENVD students, will be constructing a customized, modern play space for the community’s children. He is looking forward to becoming more involved in the Denver, Boulder area, as well as perusing passions in music, art and the great outdoors.
Claire Derr, Intern, Fall 2016
Claire is a Junior in the Environmental Design program, emphasizing in Urban Planning and minoring in Geography. She hopes to use her degree to promote affordable housing, alternative transportation, and Open Space preservation. Claire is an outdoor enthusiast and has spent time using the environment as a classroom for adults and children, including spending the last two summers as a high ropes course instructor at CSU’s Mountain Campus. Claire is an artist who enjoys expressing ideas three dimensionally, especially through ceramics. In her spare time, Claire can usually be found leading backpacking trips for the CU Hiking Club. During her internship with Growing Up Boulder, Claire hopes to increase her skills with youth outreach and understanding various approaches to idea communication, while furthering her knowledge in Urban Planning.
Sarah Bartosh, Intern, Summer 2016
Sarah Bartosh recently graduated from CU Boulder’s Environmental Design Program with an emphasis in Urban Planning. The past two summers, Sarah has worked directly with youth at one of the top summer camp in the country, Cheley Colorado Camps, in Estes Park. While working there, she developed a passion for youth empowerment and development. During the spring of 2015, she had the opportunity to closely study urban design and livability in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the future, Sarah hopes to continue working with youth through the design of parks and urban play spaces. While interning at Growing Up Boulder, she is excited to learn more about the process of community engagement and interpretation of results and hopes to integrate it into all of her future designs.
JoAnna Mendoza, Intern, Spring-Summer 2016
JoAnna Mendoza is a recent graduate of the CU Boulder in the Environmental Design Program with an emphasis in Urban Planning. Born and raised in Venezuela, she is interested in creating culturally inclusive spaces that promote diversity and equality. Most importantly, JoAnna is passionate about giving typically unheard communities a voice through building trust and meaningful relationships. During her spring semester of 2015, she was part of a team that focused on community planning in Glen Haven, Colorado, where she was first exposed to working with participatory planning strategies. In the future, JoAnna hopes to work alongside disadvantaged communities towards design solutions that directly address their needs. While interning at Growing Up Boulder, she hopes to gain perspective about the processes needed to incorporate participatory planning in her future endeavors.
Tori Derr, Co-Coordinator, January 2012-June 2016
Tori Derr is a Senior Instructor in the Program in Environmental Design at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is interested in intersections of people and place, and how engagement of children and youth can contribute to more resilient, vibrant, and sustainable places, especially among under-represented communities. Her research includes how children use biophilic spaces, participatory planning of urban and natural spaces, and people's values and relationships to the natural world. Tori has worked with children and youth in planning and education for more than 20 years. She has worked with diverse populations in The Gambia, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Florida, and Colorado. Tori received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 2001. She worked with Growing Up Boulder from January 2012 to June 2016. She will continue to support publications about Growing Up Boulder's work in 2016-2017.
Lori Carlucci, Volunteer, 2015-2016
For more than 20 years, Lori Carlucci has worked in facilities planning and management with an emphasis on the social aspects of the built environment. Currently Lori is a Facilities Planning and Management Consultant and a volunteer with Growing Up Boulder, a child and youth focused design research group. Lori am exploring socially responsible design. Lori received a Bachelors degree in Facilities Planning and Design from Cornell University and in recent graduate work has explored how the built environment can shape human behavior. Her consulting services have been in both the private and public sectors. She is interested in opportunities in both community planning design and research projects as well as professional facilities planning services.
Danica Powell, Volunteer, 2015-2016
Danica Powell has been implementing mid-to large-scale real estate development and planning projects in the Denver/Boulder region since 2001. Danica is a founding partner of Trestle Strategy Group, a real estate consulting firm specializing in providing custom, strategic, and collaborative management for complex development projects. Working as a consultant to private developers, nonprofits, and governmental agencies, Danica develops innovative and effective community engagement programs to support broader organizational and business goals. Danica is on the Board of Directors for the I Have a Dream Foundation of Boulder County, is a member of the Women’s Council of the Leeds School of Business, and is an active member of ULI. She recently served on the City of Boulder Planning Board. Her degree is in Sustainable Urban Systems from The University of California at Berkeley.
Darcy Varney Kitching, Volunteer, 2015; Program Assistant, 2016
Darcy Varney Kitching is a photographer, urban planner and educator who specializes in documenting what people value about places and how places can function better for people. She helped develop the Children, Youth and Environments journal and research center at the University of Colorado in 2003 and subsequently worked for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in Nairobi, Kenya, before returning to Colorado and starting her own small business consulting with local organizations. Darcy enjoys helping communities articulate their values, using photography as a community development tool, and exploring places on foot with people young and old. She holds masters degrees in education and urban/regional planning.
Alyssa Rivas, Intern, Spring 2016
Alyssa Rivas is a senior at CU Boulder in the Environmental Design Program with an emphasis in Urban Planning. Her main areas of interest include transportation and urban development and design. Alyssa is interested in the relationship between people and their environments, their sense of place, and how this impacts the city and its function. She believes that providing children with a connection to the environment, regardless of income, ethnicity or ability, as well as fun, safe places, promotes a positive outlook and can help promote a city’s growth. While interning at Growing Up Boulder, she is looking forward to learning more about the process of participatory planning, improving safety, walkability and play for youth within the community, and aiding in a process that will help to create accessibility to more parks and open spaces that they can call their own.
Angela Kreutz, Visiting Scholar, 2014-2016
Angela Kreutz is a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) postdoctoral fellow with the Program in Environmental Design at University of Colorado Boulder. She received her architectural training from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, and completed her PhD studies with the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre at The University of Queensland, Australia. Angela has worked as a researcher for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, as a consultant for the Department of Communities, Queensland Government, and has directed a collection of short films on the childhood and lives of Aboriginal Elders. She has researched, collaborated, and consulted with various Australian Indigenous communities and their children. Her research interests include children’s ethnography, community participatory planning, ecological psychology, and architectural anthropology. Her most recent book is Children and the Environment in an Australian Indigenous Community (Routledge, 2015). Her transdisciplinary research on children and the environment was inspired by her own cross-cultural childhood experiences.
Morgan Huber, Intern, Fall 2015
Morgan Huber is a senior in the Environmental Design Program at CU Boulder. Morgan is passionate about designing healthy communities that provide active transportation options feasible for all ages as well as creating opportunities for community members to access healthy foods. Morgan has been working with youth in various capacities for almost a decade. In her planning career she hopes to incorporate youth perspectives and advocate for youth involvement in urban planning. Through her internship at Growing Up Boulder, Morgan hopes to gain the skills and techniques to be able to incorporate youth into the planning process.
Steve Sommer, Graduate Assistant Fall 2015
Steve Sommer is a PhD student in the program of Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of Colorado, Boulder School of Education. Some of his current research interests include community based and participatory action research, mixed media STEM education, meta-cognitive learning strategies, critical student engagement, teacher education, and informal learning spaces. In this capacity, Steve works with GUB to implement curriculum and consider strategies to evaluate and share out successes. For more than a decade Steve has worked as an outdoor educator and course director for wilderness based programming. He has a bachelors degree in Philosophy and Sociology/Anthropology from Lewis & Clark College.
Emily Tarantini, Program Assistant, summer 2015; Research Assistant, spring 2015; Intern, fall 2014
Emily Tarantini graduated in 2015 from the University of Colorado at Boulder where she studied Environmental Design with an emphasis in City Planning. Interning with Growing Up Boulder helped Emily better understand the Planning world. As an intern, she learned about the extensive work that goes on behind the scenes before information is compiled and shared with the public or city board members. She has learned the process that goes into having successful interactions and genuine information. Emily continues to work for GUB as a program assistant on special projects.
"Thanks to this organization I know the value children have on our communities
and the inspiring ideas they have been given a chance to share."
"Thanks to this organization I know the value children have on our communities
and the inspiring ideas they have been given a chance to share."
Corey Lunden, Intern, summer 2015
Corey Lunden is an Urban Studies major with a focus on History at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. Corey has studied Urban Planning and Society in Chicago and the City of Groningen in the Netherlands. Her work has focused on housing policy and the social dynamics of urban space. She is interested in the potential of participatory planning to create sustainable communities and to effectively redistribute power and resources. In 2015 she worked for Center for Neighborhood Technology, conducting projects and outreach to expand and modernize public transportation in Chicago. At Growing Up Boulder she is assisting with comprehensive planning, open space planning, and conceptualizing a project to further define 15-minute neighborhoods within the City of Boulder. She will be graduating from Earlham in May of 2016 and hopes to pursue a degree in Urban Design. Her interests include bikeability of urban areas, restorative justice, prison abolition, and public health.
Erica Fine, Program Assistant, spring 2015
Erica Fine is a Program Assistant at University of Colorado Boulder’s Growing Up Boulder. She comes to this work with more than 5 years of experience as an instructor and administrator in the fields of environmental, experiential, outdoor, and adventure education. She most enjoys leading backpacking trips and working with 5th and 6th grades, though she has worked with students as young as 4 and as old as 20, from North Carolina to California. Erica received her Bachelor’s degree in Geology and Environmental Studies at Tufts University, where she was involved in the leadership of the Tufts Mountain Club and the Tufts Wilderness Orientation program. Her primary interest is in facilitating the adoption of conservation values and behaviors through research, programming, and advocacy for unstructured play in natural play spaces.
Simge Yilmaz, Visiting Scholar, 2014-2015
Simge Yilmaz is a PhD student and a full time Research Assistant in the department of Early Childhood Education at Middle East Technical University, Turkey. Her main interests and research are related to preschool children’s landscape preferences, young children’s love of nature, and nature education for young children. She is currently a one year visiting scholar at the Environmental Design Program to contribute to her PhD research. She is working with to engage children and youth in the design process for Boulder's Civic Area through the help of participatory research methods.
Alessandro Rigolon, Participatory Design Assistant, fall 2014
Alessandro Rigolon is a PhD student in Design and Planning at the University of Colorado. His research interests include the design of children’s environments as a means to foster their health and well-being, as well as processes of designing with children. His research at CU focuses on children’s access to urban nature as an environmental justice issue. Alessandro received his Bachelor and Master's degrees in architecture from the University of Bologna, Italy. He is a licensed architect and building engineer in Italy. Working for four years in architectural firms in Italy, he designed educational, residential and sport buildings. He has also worked for the University of Bologna as a part-time lecturer, studio instructor and research assistant. His publications address children’s access to urban parks as well as participatory design processes with children.
Ildiko Kovacs, Visiting Scholar, summer 2014
Ildikó G. Kovács is a Master of Environmental Studies – Planning student at York University in Toronto, Canada. Her general interests are in the areas of human rights, social and environmental sustainability, justice and equity, and international community development. Ildi’s work focuses on planning, education, and research with marginalized populations, such as children, youth, and low-income, immigrant, and/or ethnic minority groups. Her specific research interests are community based participatory planning and action research, examining factors related to children’s changing social, cultural, and physical urban environments, and focusing on the public multi-purpose green spaces in urban children’s health, well-being, and resilience. Ildi worked with Growing Up Boulder on the Great Neighborhoods project, the Valmont City Park concept plan update, and the North Boulder Sub-Community Plan update. Her internship position was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Nathan Brien, Intern, spring 2014
Hi, I'm Nathan Brien. I'm a first year ENVD student primarily interested in the relationship between social conditions and the built environment. As an intern with Growing Up Boulder I am afforded ample opportunity to discover and learn from local particularities of these rich interactions. Thanks to the creative input and guidance of our coordinators and the participation of Boulder community members, I am learning the basics of participatory and qualitative research in an applied setting -- tools which will inform and enable my subsequent inquiries in environmental design.
Anna Reynoso, Intern, spring 2014
Hi, my name is Anna Reynoso. I am a senior at the University of Colorado at Boulder studying Environmental Design with an emphasis in Landscape Architecture. Boulder has been the perfect place for me these past years. This is why being an intern for Growing Up Boulder has been such an amazing opportunity. I am able to take my passion of design, art, and working with children, and combine them to create a youth friendly environment. With my past experience of babysitting and being an Arts and Crafts Director at a day camp, I have developed skills on how to work with children and help them exceed. I am currently working with the Speech, Learning, and Hearing Center in designing an interactive playground.
Nathalie Doyle, Intern, fall 2013
My name is Nathalie Doyle, and I am a junior studying Environmental Design at the University of Colorado in Boulder. In addition to my Environmental Design degree, I am pursuing a teacher license in elementary level education through CU’s Teacher Licensure Program. In my future, I see myself designing child-friendly spaces within city planning, landscapes, and architectural spaces. Interning with Growing Up Boulder has solidified my decision to combine my two passions: design and working with children. Within Growing Up Boulder, I worked closely with Whittier Elementary School’s 3rd grade classrooms. There, we designed an area within Boulder that focused on dense, affordable, housing, through the eyes of 3rd graders. Their input was invaluable and has impacted my design projects ever since. I will continue to include the opinions of the youth and all further knowledge I gather about youth people’s needs and wants, in my future designs.
Flaminia Martufi, Visiting Scholar, fall 2013
Flaminia Martufi is an Italian Student of the combined bachelor and master in Architecture and Building Engineering from University of Trento. Her main interests are urban planning and environmental design.She worked with Growing Up Boulder on two different projects: the Great Neighborhoods Project with Whittier Elementary and Boulder High School and the the Transportation Master Plan Update, with Youth Services Initiative, Casey Middle School and Boulder High School. She is applying her experiences from Growing Up Boulder to her master's thesis which will design a network of child-friendly spaces in downtown Boulder and along the Boulder Creek.
Gianni Franceschi, Intern, spring 2013
My name is Gianni Franceschi and I am currently a sophomore at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where I study Environmental Design with an emphasis on Architecture. I worked on the Boulder Civic Area project a bit, and I'm currently working as an intern on a Photovoice Project with kids associated with the Youth Service Initiative in the North Boulder Rec Center. I was raised in Miami, FL, which definitely influenced me to create cultural and ethnically inclusive surroundings wherever they seem to be needed. With two little brothers and numerous volunteer hours with kids, I've found that I work very well with youth. Not only do I influence them on certain levels, but they also influence me in imaginative, creative, and thoughtful ways. My dream is to design sustainable housing sites in South America for low income families. Until then, I am enjoying Colorado and my experience with Growing Up Boulder!
Imani Haupt, Intern, spring 2013
Hello my name is Imani Haupt. I am a junior at the University of Colorado at Boulder studying Environmental Design with an emphasis in Architecture. Having lots of experience with youth, I wanted to expand my knowledge about youth participation and engagement. I have done so by interning with Growing Up Boulder and working on documenting the youth experience through youth interviews. As a designer, it is my intention to get each individual's view on what is being done in their community environment regardless of age or interest, so that what is designed is a reflection of all members of the community which it serves.
Katherine Buckley, Intern, 2012-13 academic year
Hello! I am Katherine Buckley and I am currently a senior at CU Boulder studying psychology and architecture, and interning with Growing Up Boulder. I'll be working on the Boulder Civic Area project and also revisioning Burke Park in South Boulder. I'm originally from San Diego, CA and contrary to most of my fellow Californian classmates at CU, I did not come here for winter sports – in fact, I had never seen snow until I came here! The reason I chose CU was because it's gorgeous and I wanted to try something new and to actually experience different seasons, which was a big shock coming from southern California! However, it turns out that I love it here and know it'll be hard to leave next Spring, but I am excited to pursue urban planning and design in some great city like New York or Chicago!
Kate Armbruster, Intern, fall 2012
Hello everyone! My name is Kate Armbruster. I am senior at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I will be graduating in the spring with a degree in environmental design with an emphasis in architecture. In the future I want to focus on residential architecture and interior design. Right now I am an intern with Growing Up Boulder and working on the Boulder Civic Area and Burke Park projects. I have a lot of experience working with children and adults. These projects have given me the opportunity to combine working with many different age groups and design; I have loved every moment! In my spare time I enjoy triathlons, painting, any outdoor activity and new adventures. Life is what you make of it; Let’s explore!
Ilaria Fiorini, Visiting Scholar, fall 2012
Ilaria Fiorini is a student of the combined bachelor and master in Architecture and Building Engineering at the University of Bologna (Italy). Her studies relate architecture, urban planning and design. She also has experience as educator for youth and children. She is currently a visiting researcher at CYE to complete her curriculum degree. She is involved in Growing Up Boulder with projects for the Civic Area and the Burke Park and her research focuses also on the design of shading structures for the Columbine Elementary School in Boulder.
Pier Luigi Forte, Visiting Scholar, fall 2012
Pier Luigi Forte is a student of the combined bachelor and master in Architecture and Building Engineering of the University of Bologna (Italy). His interests and research move around architecture and environmental design as part of the wider field of urban development of cities. He is now conducting research as visiting scholar to engage youth in planning the Boulder Civic Area and Burke Park. He is researching also on the design of shading structures for the Columbine Elementary School in Boulder. He is the designer and developer of this website.
Former GUB Board Memebers
|
|
|
|
Growing Up Boulder is a partnership between the University of Colorado's Community Engagement Design and Research Center (CEDaR),
Boulder Valley School District, and City of Boulder.
Boulder Valley School District, and City of Boulder.
