Six years ago, I sat down in the first week of September to facilitate my very first interview with a fiercely passionate, admirably committed college freshman who was beyond eager to spend her free time working to make this world a better place at the EC. This inspiring display of integrity and idealism was replicated in the following twenty-five conversations I had with other applicants. Each of these incredible souls spoke of a conviction that the world was theirs to change. To tackle the challenging tasks of identifying which 10 of these individuals to offer position to, our hiring committee looked for the "stand outs". While every student could speak to their love of the natural world and general value for the environment, those applicants who spoke of an awareness of the impacts that their personal life choices made on this planet coupled with some demonstration of related action/ethic popped--Disciplined vegetarians, bike-commuting aficionados, home-composters rose to the top. Once on the roster, the EC spent the next four years cultivating the incredible personal belief system and practice each of these students held to grow it into a conviction in the need for and tools to work at the scale of social systems, infrastructure, and paradigm. Our work was to graduate not just environmentally responsible individuals but full-fledged agents of social change.

This last week, Marty and I repeated this annual ritual and sat down for interviews with the newest crop of FLC students. The passion was as fierce, the desire to transform just as strong, the inspirational quality of their hope as potent as it has been the last six years. However, there was a difference - this year, we were sitting down with members of Generation Z, a demographic cohort born between 2000-2010, who sociologists characterize as embracing multiculturalism, being reliant on technology and valuing privacy. Beyond their preceding generation's drive towards public service, Generation Z is also predicted to be a 61-million strong demographic army of change makers, leery to serve a broken system and instead eager to build a better one....and our applicants certainly did not disappoint. When it came time for the difficult decision of who to offer staff positions to, our hiring committee could no longer rely on our old framework. EVERY one of these students understood the impact that their personal life choices made on this planet. And EVERY one of them had taken actions in their lives to mitigate these distinction. In this year's cohort, our choices came down to deciding between students who had started community gardens in urban schools to students who had created Sustainability Coordinator positions at their summer camps to teach little kids how to enact Zero Waste principles.

As a life-long educator, environmentalist, and hoper-for-better-things, I have always worked towards that fuzzy, ephemeral goal of "shifting paradigm", our collective value system, to one that houses greater ecological consciousness. Even as a unbreakable optimist, I secretly held little belief that this particular juggernaut would actually change. This past week, the pre-college track record of our Generation Zers proved me wrong, refilling the coffers of hope in this moment of Category 5 hurricanes, raging wildfires and social unrest. We ARE making progress as a society. We ARE seeing a change in the tides. Now, our work is to get out of the way, give this next generation the tools, fuel their spirits, and get the world ready for these amazing and gifted, full-fledged agents of social change.

Join us in supporting Trails 2000, Durango's dedicated non-profit organization to trail-construction and maintenance, this weekend for their festival for all trail-lovers.

Enjoy a night of food and fun on Friday, then learn about energy efficient structures and even tour a solar-powered home on Saturday!