university of colorado boulder essay prompts 2023

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How to Respond to the 2023/2024 University of Colorado Boulder Supplemental Essays

Katie Dixon is a former content writer at Scholarships360. Katie is an undergraduate student at Louisiana State University pursuing a degree in Mass Communications with a concentration in Journalism. Katie worked as a reporter for the LSU Reveille Newspaper and now works at the State Library of Louisiana.

Learn about our editorial policies

Bill Jack has over a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. Since 2008, he has worked at Colby College, Wesleyan University, University of Maine at Farmington, and Bates College.

Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research institution that focuses on aerospace, biosciences, energy, environmental sciences, and other major areas. If you are interested in becoming a Colorado Buffalo, it’s time to get to work on your University of Colorado Boulder supplemental essay! Writing stellar essays will help you stand out among all the applicants, so keep reading to learn how! 

The University of Colorado Boulder requires the Common App Personal Essay (250–650 words). Students should choose one of the seven essay prompts offered. In addition, students must submit one supplemental essay which we will go over below!

The UC-Boulder supplemental essay prompt

Research and innovation are a huge part of the University of Colorado’s identity. Before you begin writing, read Colorado Boulder’s strategic plan to learn more about them. This will help you tie your future plans with theirs. They want to know how you will fit in and push the University forward. Let’s take a look at the prompt:

“Please share a bit more about your academic interests. What do you hope to study, and why, at CU Boulder? Or if you don’t know quite yet, think about your studies so far, extracurricular/after-school activities, jobs, volunteering, future goals, or anything else that has shaped your interests.” (250 words)

Think of this prompt as a two-part question. Why did you choose your major? Why did you choose their college? As the prompt states, if you are unsure of a major, focus on what you do when you are not in school. If those activities  happen to relate to a possible major, by all means share! The goal is to connect back to UC-Boulder in a way that shows you belong there. 

Questions to consider:

• What inspired your interest in the major?
• How will Colorado Boulder tie into your future career plans?
• What will you bring to the table? 

Why your major?

Write about what you’ve done thus far that relates to your major of interest. Include clubs, classes, summer programs, etc. If someone special  inspired you, write about conversations you’ve had with them or speeches you’ve attended. 

Dig deep into how you will contribute to this career field. Write about the area you’d like to concentrate in and how you envision your future work. Lastly, write about how the University will further your specific interests to begin merging the two questions for this essay prompt. 

Why Colorado Boulder University?

Imagine you are already enrolled. Visualize what your experience would look like attending their college. Include ways you will attribute to Colorado Boulder. Write about how you would better their community. 

Spend some time researching Colorado Boulder to learn more about how you would fit in. Include their specific programs, classes, and learning techniques in your essay that tie your future career plan to your journey to get your degree. 

Think of ways you have contributed to your high school or outside programs and write how you will continue to show these attributions on campus. Don’t only tell them, show them through examples.

See also : College essay primer: Show, don’t tell

Writing tips:

• Use specific examples of experiences that show your role in the community. At what point did you look around and feel you belong? How has this role shaped you? Get personal. Write about how your role there made a difference. What conflict did you encounter and how was it resolved? You want to make the essay as visual as possible. 
• Try not to repeat what you wrote on other statements in the application process. You want to share as many qualities as you can with the reader.
• Sit down and just write. Don’t worry about the word limit on your first draft. Write everything that comes to mind involving your portrayed community. Then, choose your favorite details and re-write a shorter draft. 
• Connect the skills and values you are writing of with those of  the university. Do they have a similar community that you’d like to join?
• Be direct. Use powerful sentences that show confidence in yourself throughout the essay. 

Additional resources

• How to write a 250 or 500 word essay
• How to write an essay about yourself
• Guide to writing a great supplemental essay
• What looks good on college applications?

Final thoughts for students

When all is said and done, the University of Colorado Boulder supplemental essays are relatively straightforward. Try not to overthink when you begin writing. Your best bet is to write a rough draft without a  word limit. Show your best qualities and skills through examples and write of how you will continue to use them at college. These tips will help you write essays that stand out to Colorado Boulder University. While on your college admissions journey, make sure you apply for all the scholarships you are eligible for as well!

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Writing the CU Boulder Admissions Essay

Written by Steve Fernandez-Brennan on October 6th, 2020

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Application Process

Application priority dates and admission notification.

Applications for degree candidates may be submitted beginning in August for the following spring, summer and fall terms.

The university reserves the right to deny admission to applicants whose total credentials reflect an inability to assume those obligations of performance and behavior deemed essential by the university and relevant to any of its lawful missions, processes and functions as an educational institution.

First-Year Applicants

Students can apply to CU Boulder using the Common Application.  Complete applications include transcripts, essays, a letter of recommendation, application fee and optional test scores.

Spring First-Year Applicants

Spring applications are processed on a rolling basis. The Office of Admissions begins notifying applicants about admission decisions in October. Decisions are made approximately six to eight weeks after an application is complete. Full consideration is given to applications that are complete (including the application fee and all required credentials) by the Oct. 1 deadline.

Summer and Fall First-Year Applicants

There are two admission notification periods for fall and summer candidates.

Non-Binding Early Action

First-year applicants who complete their file by Nov. 15 are considered early action and will receive an admission decision on or before Feb. 1.

Students meeting the non-binding, early action deadline may be admitted, deferred to Regular Decision, or denied admission. Deferred students will receive an additional review and are strongly encouraged to submit additional academic information to strengthen their applications. Students who are deferred do not typically receive an admission decision until April 1.

Early action students are not required to enroll at CU Boulder, but should, if they choose to attend, confirm their intent to enroll by May 1.

Regular Decision Application Deadline

The first-year regular decision application deadline is Jan. 15. All applicants with completed files by Jan. 15 will be notified of their admission decision no later than April 1.

Students should, if they choose to attend, confirm their intent to enroll by May 1.

Transfer Applicants

If a student submits a complete application on or before the transfer application deadline, they will receive an admission decision within six to eight weeks. A complete application includes transcripts (high school and college), academic interest response and application fee.

Transfer Application Deadlines

• Spring Term: Oct. 1
• Summer Term: March 15
• Fall Term Early Notification: March 15
• Fall Term Regular Decision: June 1

Applications are processed in the order in which they are received and completed. The earlier a complete application is submitted, the earlier a decision will be made.

Where to Send the Application, Fee and Credentials

Materials that cannot be submitted electronically, may be mailed to:

Office of Admissions Regent Administrative Center 125 University of Colorado Boulder 552 UCB Boulder, CO 80309-0552

Email and Mailing Addresses

Applicants must keep both their email and mailing addresses current at all times. We use email to communicate with students before, during and after the admissions process.  The mailing address is used for mailings until the applicant arrives on campus. Notices are also sent to this address regarding admission, registration and New Student Welcome, as well as other information. If an address changes or is no longer valid, notify the Office of Admissions immediately at 303-492-6301.

Application Checklist

• Online application for admission
• $65 nonrefundable ($70 USD for international students) application fee, payable online (if a student cannot pay the fee online, contact the Office of Admission at at 303-492-6301 or at [email protected])
• Unofficial high school transcript
• Unofficial college transcripts (if applicable)
• SAT or ACT test scores (optional)
• Common Application essay and one academic interest response (first-year applicants) or one academic interest response (transfer applicants)
• Letter of recommendation (first-year applicants only)
• Résumé or activities list (optional)

Confirmation Procedures

All admitted students are encouraged to confirm their intent to enroll through their application status page as soon as possible after receiving their admission notification. If a student cannot confirm their intent to enroll through their application status page, they must contact the Office of Admissions at 303-492-6301 or at [email protected] .

Confirmation Deadlines

• Summer: May 1
• Fall: May 1
• Spring: Dec. 1
• Transfers: varies; see confirmation instructions on application status page

If students register for classes and then decide not to attend, they may be assessed tuition depending upon the circumstances. For spring and fall semester policies, visit the Office of the Registrar's Withdraw from CU web page; for summer, visit Summer Session's Withdrawal web page. Important policy differences exist for continuing students versus new, readmitted and transfer students.

The confirmation deposits are used as registration deposits each semester as long as registration is completed by the published deadline. Once students have attended CU Boulder, the deposit (minus any fees or other charges owed) will be returned when they graduate. 

International Students

International students need to provide additional materials before they can accept their offer of admission and submit the $200 confirmation deposit. Students must complete the Next Steps Form found on their application status page. Once the Office of Admissions receives these materials they will review them to determine if they are sufficient.

Application Fees

Nonrefundable application fee ($65/$70 for international students), university of colorado boulder application.

Pay online when submitting the application or by check or money order (made payable to the University of Colorado) after submission. If submitting a check or money order, include the student's full legal name and birth date. We recognize that some students may be faced with financial constraints in paying the application fee. Waivers can be granted for documented hardships if the student submits an application fee waiver form. Students currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree program at another University of Colorado campus who are applying to an undergraduate degree program on the Boulder campus are not required to pay the application fee.

Common Application

Pay online when submitting the application. We recognize that some students may be faced with financial constraints in paying the application fee. Waivers can be granted for documented hardships if the student answers the fee waiver question indicating that one or more of the listed financial need criteria are met .

Required Credentials

Credentials or information uploaded by an applicant will be accepted as unofficial documentation . Do not submit samples or photographs of design or artwork. A portfolio is not used for admission purposes and cannot be returned.

Submission of Altered College Transcripts 

All students applying for admission to the University of Colorado Boulder are required to provide unofficial or official, unaltered transcripts from all colleges or universities previously attended. Official transcripts are sent directly to the Office of Admissions by the former institutions and are in a sealed envelope. Digital transcripts sent directly from the institution to the Office of Admissions are also accepted. 

The submission of altered, falsified or counterfeit transcripts is strictly prohibited. Altered transcripts include:

• forged signatures
• tampered grades
• any other modifications that are not in accordance with the issuing institution's official document. 

The University of Colorado Boulder reserves the right to verify the authenticity of submitted transcripts by contacting the issuing institution. Applicants found to have submitted altered or falsified transcripts may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion or revocation of course credit, grades and degree. 

Applicants who believe their transcripts were mistakenly identified as altered or falsified may have the opportunity to appeal the decision. The appeal process, including the required documentation and timeline, will be communicated to the affected individual.

Unofficial Transcripts

Transcripts can be official or unofficial and submitted directly to CU Boulder from the issuing institution for admission review. Transcripts can be uploaded to your status page in the "upload materials" section, mailed or sent to [email protected]. Official final transcripts are required upon enrollment to verify credentials.

Transcripts that are marked, for example, "student copy," "issued to student" or "unofficial" are not accepted as official.

Unofficial transcripts cannot be used to post transfer credit .

High School Transcript

All undergraduate degree-seeking students are required to have graduated from high school or received a high school equivalency prior to their first term of enrollment at CU Boulder regardless of their age at the time of application. Students should request that their high school send an official transcript of all work completed, equivalent to U.S. grade 9 , directly to the Office of Admissions, regardless of the number of college hours the student has completed (if any) or the date of graduation from high school.

Transfer applicants who have completed 24 or more semester hours of work after high school graduation at the time of application do not need to submit a high school transcript unless they enroll at CU Boulder.

Students who have attended more than one high school and whose most recent transcript does not include the complete high school record must submit official transcripts from each school.

If any part of the high school record is missing from the transcript, the processing of the application will be delayed.

Students who have not graduated and do not plan to graduate from high school must request an official certificate of high school equivalency and official GED scores, plus an official transcript of any high school work (grades 9–12) completed, to be sent to the Office of Admissions.

Official transcripts must be sent to the Office of Admissions from the issuing institution either via email to  [email protected] , via electronic transcript services (i.e Parchment,  or by mail and must have the appropriate seals and signatures. All credentials written in languages other than English must be accompanied by a literal certified English translation.

College Transcripts

Students should request that their official transcripts from each collegiate institution attended (except any campus of the University of Colorado) be sent directly from the issuing institution to the Office of Admissions. Be sure to include all institutions, regardless of the length of attendance, whether or not courses were completed and whether or not the record might affect admission or transfer credit. Also include any institutions attended during summers, interim terms and during high school.

Failure to list and submit transcripts from all institutions previously attended before enrolling at CU Boulder is considered a violation of academic ethics and may result in the cancellation of admission or dismissal from the university.

SAT or ACT Test Scores (Optional)

ACT or SAT scores are not required for first-year students, but you may provide self-reported scores if you would like us to take your scores into consideration when reviewing your application.

CU Boulder's SAT code is 4841 and the ACT code is 0532 .

If a student would like their scores considered, they should indicate this on their Common Application. To submit scores, a student can self-report in the application, upload an unofficial score report to their application status page, or submit an official score report to CU Boulder.

The easiest and fastest way for a student’s ACT and/or SAT scores to be received by CU Boulder is to self report them using their application status page. If they did not request their scores to be sent to CU Boulder when they registered for the exam, they will need to request an additional score report from either ACT or SAT.

For further information:

• consult a high school counselor
• visit the SAT website , call 609-771-7600 or write to the College Board (SAT), P.O. Box 6200, Princeton, NJ 08541-6200
• visit the ACT website , call 319-337-1270 or write to ACT Registration, P.O. Box 414, Iowa City, IA 52243-0414

Personal Essays

CU Boulder requires first-year applicants to submit one short personal essay and one academic interest response and transfer applicants to submit one academic interest response. Applications without essays are considered incomplete and will not be reviewed. Personal essays are the best way for the Office of Admissions to learn about applicants as individuals and to evaluate a student’s academic performance within the appropriate context. There are no "correct" answers to the questions—responses should reflect the unique aspects and experiences of the applicant. The specific essay questions are available on the application.

Letters of Recommendation

One academic letter of recommendation will be required for all first-year applicants. The student's full legal name should be included at the top of recommendation letters.

Optional Documents

Applicants may submit additional letters of recommendation if they wish, however, doing so is optional. Applicants may also choose to submit a resume or list of co-curricular activities, work experience, leadership positions and awards.

College of Music applicants must also complete a College of Music application after their admission application has been submitted, submit a music essay, provide a letter of reference and schedule an audition.

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University Of Colorado Boulder Admission Essay Writing Guide

Application Guide

Essay examples, why cu boulder essay.

All college applications require you to submit a motivation letter that is more or else you promoting yourself, expressing your aspirations for future study plans, and how the program you choose will help you achieve your goals.

As part of your application to Colorado Boulder, you are required to respond to two essay prompts. Through the CU Boulder writing supplement essay, you have to bring out the best version of yourself, this being an opportunity for you to market yourself to the admission officers so that they will be able to see your worth and value.

For students writing an application letter for the first time, do not overthink it, or else you will end up trying too hard to impress the officials, thus coming off as a fake which is not what we are going for.

An outstanding CU Boulder application essay will guarantee you admission for graduate school and even for scholarships and for internship offered at the institution.

If you want to get a better sense of what the university is looking for, you can access the school’s site for deeper insights into how the university envisions student success and how they want to grow and evolve this.

University Of Colorado Boulder Writing Prompts

At the University of Colorado Boulder, no two buffs are alike. We value difference and support equity and inclusion of all students and their many intersecting identities. Pick one of your unique identities and describe its significance.

This is a 250 words statement essay requiring you as the applicant to open up and express a part of you that is not as evident in other parts of your application. In other words, CU Boulder wants to know what makes you, you in regards to your beliefs, perspectives, and values — this doesn’t have to be all business; feel free to bring out your charisma and charm if that’s your style.

Since you can only choose one of your identities, make sure you go with the unique one, and make it as human as possible, allowing yourself to find strength in vulnerability. Demonstrate how this identity has shaped you and your worldview, how you have become comfortable with it, what lessons you have learned along the way, and how you hope to impact others.

Please share a bit more about your academic interests. What do you hope to study at CU Boulder? What has inspired your interests in this area? Think about your prior/current coursework, extracurricular activities, work/volunteer experiences, future goals, or anything else that has shaped your interests.

This is also a 250 words essay requiring you to share more about your academic interests. The goal here is to merge your past academic background with future career goals and what you are passionate about. Here, it would help if you thought about the major you will choose and why you chose it.

This section is where you showcase your knowledge and passion about your interests, how they developed and how knew this was what you wanted to be part of. Do not shy away from communicating your interests and fascinations and how you have worked towards gaining the required skills over time.

It is, however, a good practice — for bachelor and for masters degree — to do extensive research to find out as much as possible about the school and the program you are applying for. If there is limited information on the application portal, visit the University of Colorado Boulder website and other public pages for their applicants’ standard expectations, CU Boulder essay examples, and qualifications.

How to Structure Your Motivation Letter

For university applications, writing entrance letters might be overwhelming, and one may tend to deviate from the main points hence losing the relevance of the essay itself.

An introduction letter helps the admissions board understand you, what motivates you and why you this means a lot to you, you are allowing yourself to fully immerse yourself in the process of writing the CU Boulder supplemental essays ensuring you include all the information needed. This structure applies to all applications for college.

The following steps are essential in writing an admission letter:

Write an outline.

Before writing your letter, outline the contents clearly, and think critically about whether you need to include everything you’ve written down. Ensure you do not miss topics on why you want to join CU, choose a specific major, and how your skills and values will benefit the university.

Introduction

This is a brief introduction of yourself to the admissions officials. If possible, address them by name to personalize your letter.

The officials will be going through many applications, so make sure from the first few sentences of your letter you have captured their attention, thus encouraging them to read more; with that being said, ensure to include details of yourself and your achievements in this section.

In this section, you can now expound more about your passion, values, skill sets, and achievements. Remember, this motivation letter aims at convincing the admissions board why you are fit for the opportunity to be part of CU Boulder; use compelling facts to be persuasive, but at the same time, do not be tempted to a little white lie to spice things up, we are aiming for authenticity.

You want to leave the officials reviewing your application with a good taste in their mouths, so summarize your goals and request the board invite you for an interview or contact you for more information. Do not forget to thank them.

After all, is said and done, proofread your letter to make it more concise. Correct any grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and wrong formatting. You can request your teacher, parent, or a trusted friend to proofread your letter. This puts you in confidence knowing you have submitted a quality motivation letter.

Please take advantage of our online site, which has many CU Boulder supplemental essay examples that will help you have a great idea of how it should be written. If you are having any doubts about your writing skills, you can check out one of the many online writing services where you can buy a sample at a cheap price, or you could pay for one to be written from scratch.

Pointers for Writing CU Boulder Application Essay

The following tips will help your cover letter stand out:

1. Follow all Guidelines

Ensure the formatting, word count, font and size, and length that have been provided in the instructions are followed. If the institution has not provided the instructions, use the standardized guidelines such as Times New Roman or Arial size 12 font.

2. Use Simple Terms

Avoid using unnecessary jargon and use accessible language. Ensure the sentences are short and active that cannot be misinterpreted.

3. Write with Personality

Use your own voice as naturally as possible as you would speak to a friend. Uniquely express yourself because your interests, feelings, and perspectives are yours, and only you can write them as they should be. This essay is meant to make you stand out among thousands of applications, making it as enjoyable as possible.

4. Focus on your strengths

Focus more on your strengths rather than your weaknesses; this helps the admissions board to understand your value to the institution:

• Faculties at The University
• College of Arts and Sciences
• Leeds School of Business
• School of Education
• College of Media, Communication, and Information

The student-faculty ratio at the University of Colorado Boulder is 18:1, and the school has 50.3% of its classes with fewer than 20 students.

The most popular majors at the universities are:

• Business Management
• Mathematics and Statistics
• Visual and Performing Arts
• Marketing and Related Support Services
• Engineering

University Of Colorado Boulder History

The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in downtown Denver. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado was even a state, CU Boulder consists of nine colleges and schools and offers over 150 academic programs. CU Boulder ranks 99th in National Universities, 58th in Best Colleges for Veterans, 169th in Best Value Schools, 343rd in Top Performers on Social Mobility, 42nd in Top Public Schools, 31st in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs, and 10th in Aerospace/Aeronautical program.

For students seeking admission at CU Boulder, they should know the admissions are more selective, with an acceptance rate of 84%. The University of Colorado Boulder considers a students’ GPA a significant academic factor. The average freshman retention rate is 87%, which indicates student satisfaction.

Apart from the academic requirements, the university also requires you to submit a CU Boulder application essay in your application. We have provided several CU supplemental essay examples on our website to help you get started on yours.

The education you receive at CU Boulder is an excellent foundation that is going to stay with you even after graduation. The university cultivates a culture of comradery, support, spirit, and togetherness.

The university has a considerable number of alumni as Nobel laureates, film industry pacesetters, astronauts, athletes, journalists, lawyers, authors, Pulitzer Prize awards winners, and politicians as alumni. This goes to show how well-rounded and diverse students are.

Seeing how diverse and strongly rooted the values of CU Boulder are, it is very important to ensure the CU Boulder writing supplemental is perfect and will get the attention of admission officials in a way that will guarantee you admission into the college. Conducting your research on the institution, programs offered, extracurricular activities, and faculty will show how interested you really are. For professor information, you can visit the CU website and get all the information you need from their accreditations, projects they have been involved in, articles written, and research done as well.

Wishing you all the best as you write your CU Boulder application essay. Remember to check our site for all your need CU Boulder supplemental essay examples.

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How to Write the Colorado College Essays 2023-2024

Colorado College has one supplemental essay, which gives you the choice between three different prompts. The first asks you to describe a time your perspective was changed, the second concerns your potential to work towards a more racially just world, and the third is about your fit with CC’s Block Plan.

Regardless of which prompt you choose, you want to make sure your response highlights your personal strengths, and overall potential as a CC student. In this post, we’ll break down each one, so you can be sure you’re putting your best foot forward.

Read these Colorado College essay examples to inspire your writing.

Colorado College Supplemental Essay Prompts

On Colorado College’s Block Plan, students immerse themselves in one class at a time, fostering deep engagement and courageous conversations with peers and professors. We embrace diverse perspectives, encouraging students to think differently. 

Please choose from one of these prompts. To learn more about why we are asking this question and how you can best craft a thoughtful response, review our website for context and insight. (300 words) 

• Option 1: Tell us about a time where you learned from an experience that challenged your perspective. 
• Option 2: Provide one or two specific examples from your life that demonstrate your potential to advance CC’s commitment to antiracism. 
• Option 3: Describe how your personal experiences with a particular community make you a student who would benefit from Colorado College’s Block Plan.

Tell us about a time where you learned from an experience that challenged your perspective. (300 words)

Brainstorming Your Topic

Your college community will likely be much more diverse than your high school one, so you want to show CC admissions officers that you’re prepared to navigate a variety of perspectives, even ones that oppose your own. Although the phrasing of this prompt is somewhat general, Colorado College does have specific things they’re looking for. Namely:

• What in particular about this experience challenged your perspective, and
• What your reaction was–how did you feel, and did you change your perspective at all as a result of this experience?

Perhaps your mind immediately goes to a heated conversation you had with one of your male friends who feels that the #MeToo movement is just about seeking attention. That kind of intense debate about a highly divisive topic can absolutely work here, but if nothing along these lines comes to your mind, that’s also okay. A more lowkey moment can also work, so long as it was still a learning experience for you.

For example, maybe your parents are opposed to visible tattoos in the workplace, while you have a few teachers with tattoos and don’t see what the big deal is. Or perhaps you think ChatGPT poses fundamental risks to our safety and security, but one of your friends who’s an aspiring software engineer sees only the potential benefits.

We all have these kinds of “tame” disagreements all the time, but that doesn’t make them less significant. If anything, highlighting a more ordinary conversation you had may show CC admissions officers that you not only are able to have your perspective challenged in big, flashy ways, but go about your daily life always looking for ways to become more informed, which is a trait any college will find attractive.

Finally, if you’re feeling bold, you can go for an unconventional, outside-the-box approach here. You could write about a passionate discussion you had with a friend about which Taylor Swift album is her magnum opus. Or you could write about how you grew up being indoctrinated into believing Peyton Manning is the greatest quarterback of all time, but eventually evidence to the contrary became overwhelming and you had no choice but to admit it is in fact Tom Brady.

Although you’re definitely putting yourself out on a limb with this kind of topic, mixing up your tone and showing a more “human” side of yourself, that will never show up on your resume, can in fact be a great way of making your application feel more complete. However, unconventional approaches also carry more risk if not executed well, so if you’re not confident you’ll be able to pull it off, stick to a more standard approach, as you can still write a phenomenal essay without doing anything unusual.

Tips for Writing Your Essay

Your response should include two things. First, a description of the particular perspective you’re focusing on, and the encounter(s) that challenged it. Second, and even more importantly, an explanation of what you learned from this experience.

In describing the encounter, you want to make sure your readers understand in some detail what the source of the disagreement was. In other words, what is the real cause of the argument? For the tattoo example, perhaps what you were really debating with your parents was standards of professionalism that you see as antiquated. Or maybe it was the clash between self-expression and being part of something bigger than yourself. Whatever the case, getting to this deeper level of the conversation will show CC admissions officers you’re able to think critically about a topic, and not just stay at surface level.

Once you’ve explained what the disagreement was, you want to explain how it played out, and ultimately what you learned. The most important things here are honesty and a clear connection to the story you have just told. If your big takeaway just reads as a platitude, along the lines of “I still think tattoos in the workplace are okay, but I now understand the importance of understanding other perspectives,” you’re going to lose your readers, because admissions officers at any college have read literally tens of thousands of essays saying that exact same thing.

Rather, take this general lesson and contextualize it within your particular story. For example, you could say: “To me, ink on someone’s skin is just another accessory, but my parents made me realize that there are accessories I find inappropriate for the workplace, like overly large or flashy jewelry. So, while I still think tattoos are okay, I now understand that there’s always more nuance to an opposing perspective than I initially think.”

The general idea is the same with these two examples, but the second one is much more personal, and thus CC admissions officers better understand how this oft-repeated refrain, about the importance of listening, has tangibly impacted this student’s perspective.

Finally, honesty is also crucial here. If you try to force in a takeaway that you think CC admissions officers “will want to hear,” your essay will feel awkward and disjointed. Obviously, be tactful–you don’t want to say your parents are idiots and still living in the Stone Age, even if that is how you felt after the tattoo conversation. But if you genuinely felt their opinion was just wrong, it’s okay to say that, so long as you do it respectfully and show that you still learned something from the discussion. For example:

“As the conversation went on, I was surprised to realize that my parents’ points weren’t doing anything to sway me. I understood what they were saying, but for perhaps the first time in my life, I felt completely confident in taking a stance that directly opposed their own. While we still agree far more often than not, this discussion showed me that, as I get older, it’s okay to develop and stick to my own opinions, without the influence of my parents or anyone else.” 

Although the student’s mind wasn’t changed at all, they still demonstrate a nuanced understanding of how opinions are formed, and of how your perspective on the world changes as you move through adolescence into early adulthood, which speaks well of their potential to thrive with the independence higher education gives you.

Mistakes to Avoid

Make sure you don’t end up focusing too much on the debate itself, at the expense of explaining what you learned from it. The details of one side versus the other really only matter to the extent that they allow your readers to understand what separates the two. Remember, CC admissions officers mainly want to see how you react to disagreement, which means diving into a side tangent about how your dad once had a coworker with a large, poorly done dragon tattoo isn’t all that relevant. Stay on topic, and in any college essay, regardless of what you’re writing about, the real topic is always ultimately you .

Provide one or two specific examples from your life that demonstrate your potential to advance CC’s commitment to antiracism. (300 words)

The first thing we want to note here is that the way colleges factor race into their admissions decisions will be different this year, following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action in June. Schools can no longer consider a student’s racial identity alone, but they are allowed to consider it as part of a student’s overall background and life experiences, specifically in the context of the essay. 

If your racial identity is important to you, this prompt is a great opportunity to explain a bit more about how it’s shaped you, as otherwise CC will be legally unable to think about it as they make a decision about your application.

Even if you are not a person of color, you can still respond to this prompt, of course. You just want to make sure that you take care to use a thoughtful tone, and don’t frame your contributions to the antiracism movement in a way that could come across as naive or worse, self-absorbed. The movement needs everyone, of course, but you want to be sure to show that you recognize your role is different from that of people of color.

Regardless of your racial identity, once you decide this prompt is the one for you, note that this is not the common “Diversity” supplement, although there is some correlation. So, your focus should be less on your identity, and more on the tangible actions you have taken to combat racism. Of course, there may well be overlap between the two, but make sure the actions are there, as that’s the core of what this prompt is getting at.

“Action” doesn’t necessarily mean participating in protests or writing to your local congressperson to encourage her to support antiracist bills. Those things absolutely work, but just because you haven’t done something on that scale doesn’t mean you haven’t helped work towards an antiracist future. Lots of small steps, when added all together, matter just as much as one big one.

Maybe you live in a homogenous, mostly White town, but you have made an effort to read books and watch documentaries on the lived experiences of people of color, as well as the history of racism in the United States, to develop at least a broad understanding of race relations. Or perhaps you are African American, and during a creative writing summer camp, your final project was a collection of poems focused on your struggle to find empowerment in your identity, and you were touched by how thoughtfully your peers engaged with your work.

As long as your actions show that you are genuinely committed to the antiracism movement, you can write a strong response centered around them. The scale doesn’t matter–what does is your authentic investment in a more just future.

Once you have a few examples of antiracist actions you’ve taken, you’re ready to start writing. In your response, the key is to highlight “your potential to advance CC’s commitment to antiracism.” What this means is that you don’t just want to describe what you’ve done in the past. You also want to explain what you’ve learned from these experiences–whether that’s a particular skill, perspective, or way of thinking–and how those lessons will help you make Colorado College’s campus more inclusive and equitable.

For example, maybe the student with the poetry collection talks about how this experience showed him the power of art as a conversation starter, and how at CC he hopes to join the B-Side Arts Collective, a student organization that seeks “to make all forms of art more accessible to historically marginalized students at CC.” In joining this group, he hopes to both continue sharing his own stories and learn from students who are marginalized for reasons other than race. 

You don’t absolutely have to include some specific club or other resource at CC to write a strong response, but 9 times out of 10, your essay will be stronger if you make this explicit link between your past experiences and your potential future at CC. After all, the job of an admissions officer is to imagine how you’d fit into their school’s culture and community, and what makes that job easier than you doing it for them, and explaining exactly how you hope to get involved in antiracism efforts at CC?

You also want to make sure your takeaways from your past experiences are thoughtful and personal. If you say that participating in a Black Lives Matter protest made you want to run for president so that you can just sign bills that eliminate institutional racism, you may come across as overly idealistic, or naive about the complexity of the issue. 

A better approach would be explaining that, while protesting was empowering, it also made you realize that any demonstration, no matter how large, won’t change anything if the people in power aren’t paying attention. So, at CC, you hope to take political science courses like “PS210: The Law & Social Justice” and “PS213: Leadership and Governance” to acquire a better understanding of how individual action can be most effective.

There isn’t really anything glaring you need to be on the lookout for, as this prompt has quite a narrow focus and thus should keep you on track. Just make sure that the essay is ultimately about you. Racism is something you probably have strong, potentially painful feelings about, but you don’t want your essay to turn into an op-ed about the evils of racism. 

Write that piece another time. But because this is a college essay, the point is to teach admissions officers about who you are. So, you want to be sure that you’re not just focusing on racism, but also showing which skills or personality traits you’ve developed as a result of your commitment to fighting this evil, so that CC admissions officers see how prepared you are to make their campus a more equitable place.

Describe how your personal experiences with a particular community make you a student who would benefit from Colorado College’s Block Plan. (300 words)

This is essentially a “Why Us?” prompt, asked through the framing of the Block Plan specifically. There’s also an extra layer of nuance with CC’s request that you use a particular community you are a part of as a jumping off point. Because this prompt is essentially two in one, we recommend that you allow yourself ample time to brainstorm, so you aren’t trying to make connections in a rush without thinking through them fully.

First, ask yourself honestly why you are interested in the Block Plan. Why, rather than applying to any of the thousands of colleges with a more conventional academic schedule, are you drawn to this highly unusual system? There is no one right answer here, but you want to make sure you’re being specific–just “it sounds fun/cool” won’t teach CC admissions officers anything about your potential fit within their campus community. 

Here are some examples of how you might answer this question:

• You enjoy exploring a topic from every angle, and hate the feeling that you have only a partial understanding of something
• You like making interdisciplinary connections, but feel you need to first have a solid foundation in each topic on its own, which can be hard to acquire if you’re already fast-forwarding to potential links between them
• For a slightly different angle, you get bored easily, no matter how interested you are in a topic initially, so you think the opportunity to switch focus completely every few weeks would be the perfect way to keep you fully engaged in your studies

Next, you want to think about how your interest in Colorado College relates to the features that define some community you’re a part of. For example, maybe you’ve been part of a neighborhood book club with your mom since you were a kid, and each month you read two books about the same topic, to ensure you consider that topic from at least a couple of different perspectives. This community has clearly helped you develop the value listed in the first bullet point above.

If you’re feeling stuck, take a step back, and think generally about experiences you’ve had that have helped you develop the features of your personality that make you attracted to the Block Plan. “Community” is a broad word, so even if something like a book club doesn’t immediately come to mind, that’s okay. 

For example, maybe the student described in the third bullet point starts thinking about how they’re a part of seven different fantasy football leagues, because when they only had one team, they didn’t feel challenged enough, and so they would end up making unnecessary changes just out of boredom. A fantasy football league is absolutely a kind of community! Don’t worry that it doesn’t seem “impressive” enough. Admissions officers know you’re more than a transcript and an activities list and a bunch of essays, and acknowledging your more “human” side can actually go a long way towards rounding out your application.

Because this prompt has two prongs, one focused on the Block Plan and one focused on a community you’re a part of, you want to make sure you do your brainstorming thoroughly before you sit down to start writing. If you only have a vague sense of why you’re drawn to the Block Plan, or pick a community randomly that doesn’t really connect to your interest in the Block Plan, this essay will prove incredibly difficult to write.

On the other hand, if you have already thought comprehensively about both the Block Plan and one of your communities, as well as the connection you see between the two, actually writing the essay should be fairly straightforward, as it’ll just be a matter of figuring out the right phrasings and overall structure to communicate your points.

The main thing to keep in mind is: show, don’t tell. What this means is you want to give your reader enough detail that they can paint their own picture of who you are and how the Block Plan would help you thrive, rather than you just stating things factually for them. 

For example, you don’t want to just say “I get bored easily, as evidenced by the fact that I have seven fantasy football leagues, and I think the frequent changes with the Block Plan will help me stay engaged in my college coursework.” That’s quite dry, and not all that engaging to read.

Instead, describe how your mind always comes alive at the end of August as you consider the innumerable possibilities for how your teams could come together across your seven leagues, and how much you enjoy reacting to the curveballs of injuries, trades, and unexpectedly high or low performers. Then, connect that energy to your excitement about getting to switch your intellectual focus completely every few weeks, as all of a sudden you’ll have an entirely new “league” to get to know in just a short amount of time. 

This approach is not only more detailed, and thus more informative, it’s also simply more fun. Remember, admissions officers read applications all day long, so they’ll appreciate you going out of your way to inject some extra life into yours.

As noted above, this prompt has two layers, which means a strong response will need to address two different strands and then intertwine them to create an essay that feels like a single, cohesive unit. This is hard to do, especially with limited space, so if you’re not sure you’ll be able to make it work, or you try to start brainstorming but hit a wall, don’t beat yourself up. The beauty of option prompts is you have, well, options , and there’s no shame in pivoting to one of the other options here, as they are more direct and one-track.

Where to Get Your Colorado College Essay Edited 

Do you want feedback on your Colorado College essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

University of Colorado Colorado Springs

• Cost & scholarships
• Essay prompt

Want to see your chances of admission at University of Colorado Colorado Springs?

We take every aspect of your personal profile into consideration when calculating your admissions chances.

University of Colorado Colorado Springs’s 2023-24 Essay Prompts

Common app personal essay.

The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don‘t feel obligated to do so.

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you‘ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

What will first-time readers think of your college essay?

• Indigenous Peoples' Day

On This Day

Scholarship, digital exhibitions, books from the catalog, ask a librarian.

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Celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day

Reciprocity, relevance, recovery, and reclamation,  october 14, 2024.

This guide visits resources related to Indigenous knowledge in Hawaii, especially the coral reef, reclamation narratives by Indigenous artists, the notion of Indigenous reciprocity, cultural relevance, multiracial identity, and scholarly literature for North American regions.

From the Mountains to the Sea (Article from the magazine The Nature Conservancy).

In 2005, an initiative to remove algae off the reef and deploy sea urchins to prevent algae from growing back resulted in substantial coral recovery (The Nature Conservancy).

Reciprocity Project (film series on the American Public Television)

In 2023, the film series Reciprocity Project launched on American Public Television to highlight Indigenous storytelling on various issues, including the climate, reciprocity,  land, language, among others.

The Waikīkī Ahupuaʻa (YouTube Video)

In October 2023, a YouTube video was released examining the ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī, a land division [in Hawaii] created to properly manage resources across the land, such as water and plants (Indigenous Peoples Day 'Iolani School).

The Movement for Indigenous People's Day (NPR Audio recording)

In 1990, South Dakota celebrated Native American Day for the first time, following growing initiatives to replace Columbus Day with a holiday that celebrated Indigenous people (NPR).

Native Hawaiian Sacred Sites Have Been Damaged in the Lahaina Wildfires (Article from a nonprofit independant news organization).

In 2023, Rosalyn R. LaPier ,   an Indigenous scholar  specializing in the environment and religion of Indigenous peoples, referred to the effects of the Lahaina wildfires on Native Hawaiian sacred sites—image taken from Wikimedia Commons.

A New National Park to Reclaim Indigenous Land (TEDx Talk)

In 2024, Yuchi activist and attorney of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Tracie Revis, referred to the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative and the efforts to bring "the tribal voice back to these lands" (Revis).

Rock Bottom Riser (Film)

In 2021, the documentary Rock Bottom Roser was released to highlight ancestral interpretations of the bond between humankind, nature, and the cosmos. This film is set in Hawaii and explores the different kinds of matter found in geology, ethnography, and astronomy (Words from the database Kanopy).

• ?You Gotta Be Responsible': How Kokua Hawaii Fostered Kuleana for the Land and People of Hawai'i
• Coral reef condition. A status report for the Hawaiian archipelago
• Development of an Atlantis Model for Hawai'i to Support Ecosystem-Based Management
• Hoea Ea: Land Education and Food Sovereignty in Hawaii
• Indigenous Student Perceptions on Cultural Relevance, Career Development, and Relationships in a Culturally Relevant Undergraduate STEM Program
• The major coral reefs of Maui Nui, Hawai'i : distribution, physical characteristics, oceanographic controls, and environmental threats
• Nearshore water quality and coral health indicators along the west coast of the Island of Hawai'i, 2010-2014
• Stock assessment of the coral reef fishes of Hawaii, 2016
• Total economic value for protecting and restoring Hawaiian coral reef ecosystems

Enjoy these digital exhibitions covering topics such as reciprocity, multiracial identity, and intergenerational knowledge, among others.

Chief Terry Saul

Paintings by Chickasaw and Choctaw artist Chief Terry Saul highlight "Indian themes in contemporary style," as the artist notes (See his work "Choctaw Corn Grinder, " circa 1964). A digital exhibition hosted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Museum Program.

Cultivating Reciprocity :

In Conversation with the 2021-2022 KU Common Book - A digital exhibition by the Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas.

Reciprocity

This painting digital exhibition, hosted by the University of Delaware, examines reciprocity among humans, animals, and the spirit world, following the notion of collective responsibility (From the Website).

Ancestors Know Who We Are

Black-Indigenous women artists address race, gender, multiracial identity, and intergenerational knowledge in a digital exhibition by the National Museum of the American Indian and hosted by the Smithsonian Institution.

A Song for the Horse Nation

Horses in Native American Cultures  in a digital exhibition by the National Museum of the American Indian and hosted by the Smithsonian Institution.

• Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative of the Americas - Article about Reciprocity
• Tapestry Institute - Web Page about Relationship and Recicprocity
• Indigenous Scholarship - Journals
• ʻŌiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal

The publishers highlighted on this page strengthen the dissemination of Native cultures and their literary and scholarly creative works in North America, including Mexico, the United Stated and Canada. These "editoriales" and publishers also attest to the importance of small and non-mainstream book providers.

• Birchbark Books
• Gabriel Dumont Institute Press
• Inhabit Books
• Kamehameha Publishing
• Kegedonce Press
• Native Books Hawai'i
• Pemmican Publications
• Theytus Books
• Turtle's Back Publishing
• Editorial Indígena Taller Leñateros
• University of Colorado Boulder Libraries
• Research Guides
• .Site: Research By Course and Topic
• Last Updated: Jul 25, 2024 12:38 PM
• URL: https://libguides.colorado.edu/indigenous-peoples-day
• © Regents of the University of Colorado

David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing: Peter Gray: The Toxic Consequences of Attending a High-Achieving School

• Student Achievement

This post is a recent essay by Peter  Gray  published on his Substack,  Play Makes Us Human .  Here’s a  link  to the original.  He is a research professor of psychology at Boston College, who has written a number of books about the importance of free play for children. 

Like me, Gray is concerned that we over over-schooling kids, by trying in every way possible to constrain their behavior and hyper-manage their daily lives.  How much truly free time do kids have these days?  They often don’t even walk to school by themselves anymore.  In my morning outings in Palo Alto, I kept seeing parents walking or biking with their kids to the local elementary school — that is when they weren’t dropping them off in a car and then picking them up again in the afternoon.  It’s not exactly a high-crime zone.

Kids don’t seem to have time to just goof around with their friends, play pickup games, or hang out somewhere other than with a cell phone or computer.  It’s a lonely and overregulated life, with your choices made by the adults in your life (parents, teachers, coaches, etc.) rather than on your own or with your peers.  You’re missing out on a lot of autonomous learning this way.

Instead we jam kids into the machinery of schooling, where they often encounter a setting where stresses are high and satisfactions are low.  In this essay, Gray talks about the dysfunctional effects of “high-achieving schools.”  On the surface, they’re a great thing.  What parent doesn’t want to have a child who does well in school and ends up in a well-paying career.  But the intrinsic damage these high-powered schools are doing to kids may dramatically outweigh the extrinsic benefits that schooling can provide.  This is an issue that Deborah Malizia and I have written about:  see  here  and  here .

What do you think?

#43. THE TOXIC CONSEQUENCES OF ATTENDING A HIGH ACHIEVING SCHOOL

Achievement pressure promotes mental anguish at the so-called “best schools.”.

JUN 10, 2024

Dear friends,

Many parents strive mightily to get their children into high achieving high schools. A  high achieving school  (or HAS) is defined as one where students score high on standardized tests and a high percentage go on to selective colleges. Such striving occurs through various means. Some move to a wealthy suburban community and pay a premium on housing because the schools there are highly rated. Some pay high tuition to send their child to a high achieving private school. Some hire tutors to help their kids get test scores that will permit admission to an academically selective public school. All these cost money, so, to a considerable extent, the striving is concentrated among parents with higher-than-median wealth.

What these parents don’t know is that they may be setting their kids up for failure. Not academic failure but life failure. If parents knew the facts and behaved reasonably, they would deliberately  avoid  an HAS for their kids. They would move  out  of that high-achievement school district. They would use the money otherwise spent on tutoring or tuitions for more enjoyable family pursuits. Here I present some of those facts, as documented by many research studies, especially studies conducted over the past two decades by Suniya Luthar and her colleagues. [Sadly, Professor Luthar passed away in March 2023, at a too-young age.]

STUDENTS AT HIGH ACHIEVING SCHOOLS EXHIBIT MUCH HIGHER RATES OF ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE THAN THOSE AT LOWER ACHIEVING SCHOOLS.

In the 1990s, Luthar was studying the effects of poverty on the mental health of teenagers. In research with inner-city youth from families well below the poverty level, she found high levels of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. Then one of her graduate students challenged her by suggesting that these problems might not be limited to children in poverty, so she began conducting similar research with teens in wealthy suburban areas. Remarkably, she found that levels of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse (including alcohol and hard drugs) were even higher among these presumably “privileged” young people than they were among the teens from poverty (Luthar & Latendresse, 2005).

In subsequent research, Luthar and her colleagues found that the most significant variable in predicting such problems is not family wealth  per se , but attendance at a high achieving school (HAS). They found that the suffering among youth at HASs is not limited to those from wealthy families (Ebbert  et al ., 2019). Students from families of more modest means at such schools also suffer. What matters is the degree to which the young people feel their self-worth depends on high academic achievement and success at the extracurricular activities that are promoted and valued by the school.

In one study, encompassing nine high achieving schools, some private and some public, they found rates of clinically significant levels of anxiety and depression were  six to seven times  the national average for people in that age range (Luthar, Kumar & Zillmer, 2020). They also found that the cause of these problems, for students at HASs, was very different from that for students in poverty. While students in poverty struggle for physical safety and survival, HAS students suffer from intense, unrelenting pressure to achieve (Luthar, Kumar & Zillmer, 2020).

THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF ATTENDING A HIGH-ACHIEVING SCHOOL ARE LONG-LASTING.

Longitudinal research has revealed that the harmful effects of attending a high achieving high school continue well beyond graduation. One study showed that rates of clinically significant alcohol and drug dependence, among graduates of HASs, were two to three times as high as the national average throughout college and for at least several years beyond (Luthar, Small, & Ciciolla, 2018).

One very long-term study, by another research team, begun in the 1960s, revealed that graduates of highly selective high schools were performing more poorly, at follow-ups 11 years  and 50 years  later, than were graduates of non-selective schools matched for socioeconomic background of their family of origin (Gölner  et al , 2018). Those who had gone to non-selective high schools were not only psychologically healthier but were making more money and were more likely to be in high-status jobs than were those who had gone to selective schools.

THE TOXIC ACHIEVEMENT PRESSURE FOR HAS STUDENTS COMES FROM PARENTS, TEACHERS, PEERS, AND ULTIMATELY FROM WITHIN THE STUDENT.

Surveys and interviews of students at HASs indicate that the fundamental source of their misery is unrelenting pressure to perform well. They are  expected  to perform very well, so anything less than what elsewhere would be considered excellent is considered here as failure. The adults and the peers in their life all tend to believe that excellent performance in the multiple realms of endeavor promoted by the school is essential to gain admission to a prestigious college, which in turn is essential for securing a well-paying, high-status job, and anything less would constitute life failure. I myself have heard from students who believe that a “B” on a report card would ruin their lives (for examples, see  here ). As I have shown elsewhere ( here  and  here ) the idea that attending a prestigious college gives one a boost in careers or any other aspect of life has been proven false in careful longitudinal research. When one controls for background factors, such as parents’ income and indices of ability, it makes no difference what college a person attends. But that research has been ignored and the belief persists.

In multivariate research, Luthar and her colleagues have examined the relative roles of parents, teachers, and peers in creating the toxic pressure that students experience (Ebbert  et al. , 2019; Luthar, Kumar, & Zillmer, 2020).

Concerning parents, the researchers have found that young people whose parents stress extrinsic values are more prone to suffering than those whose parents stress intrinsic values. Extrinsic values have to do with publicly observable rewards that are presumed to be marks of achievement, such as A’s, trophies, honors, money, and high-status careers. Intrinsic values have to do with such things as enjoyment and meaning in life, decency, helpfulness to others, and true friendships. The research also shows that young people who feel that their parents’ love or respect for them depends on their achievements are especially prone to suffering.

Concerning teachers, the researchers have found that those who feel pressured to elicit excellent test scores from their students, and who fail to value their students for who they are irrespective of academic performance, cause more harm than do teachers who see beyond the scores and care for their students as human beings.

Concerning peers, an atmosphere of competition, accompanied by scorn for those who perform worse and envy of those who perform better, can inhibit the development of true friendships and thereby inhibit the emotional support from peers that teens especially need. Such an atmosphere also promotes subtle and not-so-subtle bullying and a high level of cheating.

With time in such an environment, students at HASs tend to internalize the pressure. They become their own harshest critics. “If I’m not perfect, I’m worthless.” This is when they begin to cut themselves or to fantasize suicide or even attempt it. We as a society have gone berserk in our emphasis on the value of high academic performance, and nowhere is that more apparent than at high achieving high schools.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

In previous letters I have presented evidence that academic training in preschools and kindergarten produces long-term harmful effects ( Letter #40 ) and that increased school pressure accompanying Common Core has played a major role in the dramatic rise of anxiety, depression, and suicide in the years since Common Core took effect (Letters  D5  and  D8 ). Now, here we have one more line of evidence that our obsession with what we foolishly call “academic achievement” (what really is being achieved?) is a major cause of the mental health crisis among kids.

Everyone wants to blame social media; nobody wants to blame schools. But it’s time to be honest and point the finger where it needs to be pointed if we are going to solve this problem. It’s not  just  high-pressure schooling; it’s also our over-control and continuous surveillance of kids outside of school that must change. We won’t get anywhere in creating a healthy environment for our kids until we take our heads out of the sand and see what by now should be obvious to everyone. Kids need  much  more freedom to play, explore, get to know themselves, find and follow their own interests, develop courage, and experience the real word into which they are growing. This is what we have taken away from them and this is why they are suffering.

This blog post has been shared by permission from the author. Readers wishing to comment on the content are encouraged to do so via the link to the original post. Find the original post here:

The views expressed by the blogger are not necessarily those of NEPC.

David Labaree

Help with CU-Boulder Essay?

<p>I’m having some trouble interpreting the essay prompt for the University of Colorado at Boulder. Here’s the prompt:</p>

<p>“The University of Colorado at Boulder’s Flagship 2030 strategic plan promotes exceptional teaching, research, scholarship, creative works, and service distinguishing us as a premier university. We strive to foster a diverse and inclusive community for all that engages each member in opportunities for academic excellence, leadership, and a deeper understanding of the world in which we live. Given the statement above, how do you think you could enrich our diverse and inclusive community and what are your hopes for your college experience?”</p>

<p>What exactly is it asking? I’m thinking about writing about my experiences as a minority, specifically a recent trip to my “home land”, and how I would like to continue to be involved in my culture throughout college. Does this answer the prompt well? And what does any of this have to do with their “Flagship 2030” program? I’m pretty lost haha. And also how would i “enrich” their community?</p>

<p>Like most prompts, its core question is: What makes you a valuable asset to our community? This could mean diversity in a more obvious racial/socioeconomic sense, or just an explanation of what makes you different from the other applicants. What are you good at? What are you interested in studying? etc. It’s a general prompt that could be taken in almost any direction.</p>

<p>But, as with most publics, your admission will be based largely on test scores, grades, and course rigor, not essays.</p>

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Please join us for our 3-day annual Fall Intensive ! The Intensive will run from Wednesday, August 23rd-Friday, August 25th, 2023  from 8:30 a.m. MT-5:00 p.m. MT .

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Morning sessions are in-person in the CASE building and afternoon sessions are remote on Zoom. Sessions start at 8:30 a.m. MT and run for 1 hour each with 15-30 minute breaks between sessions. The Intensive will break for lunch from 12:00 p.m.-1:30 p.m. each day before resuming with afternoon sessions, which will run until 5:00 p.m. MT. 

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• Session 2: Approaching Classroom Conflict with Compassion and De-escalation Techniques
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Colorado College 2023-24 Supplemental Essay Guide

Early Action/Decision: Nov 1

Regular Decision Deadline: Jan 15

Colorado College 2023-24 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 1 essay of 300 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why , Community, Diversity

On Colorado College’s Block Plan, students immerse themselves in one class at a time, fostering deep engagement and courageous conversations with peers and professors. We embrace diverse perspectives, encouraging students to think differently.

Please choose from one of these prompts (and respond in 300 words or fewer). to learn more about why we are asking this question and how you can best craft a thoughtful response, review our website for context and insight., 1) tell us about a time where you learned from an experience that challenged your perspective..

Admissions wants to know about a time when your beliefs were challenged and you grew as a result of the experience. Maybe you were made aware of a bias you didn’t know you had or, perhaps, you experienced something powerful that altered your worldview. This first option may be the most challenging of the three prompts because it requires a great deal of self-awareness and introspection. A successful essay will showcase your humility, intelligence, and adaptability. Maybe you volunteered at a shelter with your church youth group and realized there are many more shades to the unhoused epidemic than you had previously thought. Perhaps your best friend’s mom went through cancer treatments last year and you stepped in to tutor them to get their grades back up, upending your previous dichotomy of “good” and “bad” students. How did your perspective change? What did you learn about yourself, your peers, or the world? Don’t limit yourself to stories about conflict and don’t worry about being right or wrong. The most interesting essays will focus on small, personal moments that have shaped the way you see the world.

2) Provide one or two specific examples from your life that demonstrate your potential to advance CC’s commitment to antiracism.

This prompt is perfect for the activists among you; if you have already taken part in demonstrations, protests, canvassing, or other large-scale activism, great! For those of you who haven’t, but still feel called to this prompt, think about the word “potential.” What aspects of your personality, values, or experience would prime you to be actively antiracist at CC? Perhaps you act in allyship every time you challenge microaggressions when they arise in your predominantly white community. Maybe you come from a multiracial family and have been struck by your effortless code-switching, prompting you to think more deeply about race in America and how you can effect positive change. Whether you write about activism, challenging someone’s outdated opinions, or personal introspection, make sure you do some research on CC’s commitment to antiracism and tailor your response to demonstrate how you will further their agenda on campus. 

3) Describe how your personal experiences with a particular community make you a student who would benefit from Colorado College’s Block Plan.

This essay is a combination of a Why and a Community Essay. CC’s unique Block Plan allows students to focus on one course at a time rather than taking many simultaneous classes per semester. This prompt is asking you to explore exactly how this curriculum—among CC’s many other assets—will benefit you specifically. Make sure you research the Block Plan on the school’s website to see how you would best take advantage of its possibilities. Then think about how your personal experiences, with a community you belong to specifically, will make you particularly poised to benefit from the Block Plan. Maybe you did a summer internship at a physics lab with fellow STEM students, which ignited your passion for quantum mechanics, and you can’t wait to dive into this with all your focus. Perhaps your Tae Kwon Do community taught you a love of martial arts, culture, and Korean language, and CC’s Block Plan will empower you to design your own interdisciplinary course of study across these fields. The community you choose to write about can be anything—your family, a sports team, a school club, a friend group, a nationality—the choice is yours! Just make sure you tell a specific, personal story that illustrates how your experiences with this group relate to your future studies at CC.

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Volume 30, Number 8—August 2024

Rustrela Virus in Wild Mountain Lion ( Puma concolor ) with Staggering Disease, Colorado, USA

Cite This Article

We identified a rustrela virus variant in a wild mountain lion ( Puma concolor ) in Colorado, USA. The animal had clinical signs and histologic lesions compatible with staggering disease. Considering its wide host range in Europe, rustrela virus should be considered as a cause for neurologic diseases among mammal species in North America.

Video . An approximately 1-year-old female mountain lion ( Puma concolor ) with impaired mobility. The mountain lion struggles to rise and staggers forward with difficulty because of hind limb ataxia and...

On May 12, 2023, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (Denver, CO, USA) received a report of an ≈1-year-old free-ranging female mountain lion ( Puma concolor ) with signs of severe hind leg ataxia and paresis. The lion had been observed in a residential area of Douglas County, Colorado, USA ( Appendix Figure 1). The animal was reluctant to rise and had markedly decreased capacity to move or bear weight on the hind end ( Video ). The animal appeared depressed but was still responsive to stimuli. Wildlife officers tranquilized the animal and then euthanized it by gunshot to the chest to prevent destruction of neurologic tissues. We conducted a postmortem investigation including necropsy, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, molecular diagnostics, and metatranscriptome sequencing to investigate potential causes of the disease.

Figure 1 . Histology of brain and spinal cord used to detect rustrela virus (RusV) in wild mountain lion ( Puma concolor ) with staggering disease, Colorado, USA. RusV RNA was detected by...

Prenecropsy radiology revealed no skeletal abnormalities to explain the clinical signs observed. Necropsy results indicated poor body condition and mild bruising at the torso and limbs. The stomach contained only pine needles. Histopathology demonstrated severe nonsuppurative meningoencephalomyelitis ( Appendix ). The leptomeninges were multifocally and markedly expanded by lymphocytes and histiocytes in both brain and spinal cord ( Figure 1 ). Virchow-Robin perivascular spaces were expanded by dense cuffs of lymphocytic to lymphohistiocytic infiltrates up to 20 cell layers thick in nearly all regions of the brain ( Figure 1 , panels A–C) and spinal cord. Inflammation was largely restricted to the leptomeninges and gray matter, and only minimal in the white matter ( Figure 1 , panels A, B). Affected sections also demonstrated scattered neuronal necrosis, gliosis, and loose glial nodules ( Figure 1 , panels B, E, G), partially leading to an irregular architecture ( Figure 1 , panel G). The cerebellar cortex showed no indication of inflammation or degenerative process ( Figure 1 , panel I)

Initial diagnostic tests did not detect feline panleukopenia virus, canine distemper virus, West Nile virus, Toxoplasma gondii , influenza A virus, rabies virus, or feline infectious peritonitis virus in the central nervous system ( Appendix Table 1). We used pooled brain and spinal cord tissue to extract total RNA ( Appendix ), then conducted metatranscriptome sequencing to obtain sequence fragments (reads). We used those fragments to de novo assemble a single contiguous sequence (contig) with homology to known sequences of rustrela virus (RusV). The contig represented the whole viral genome and matched RusV reference strains. We submitted the annotated RusV genome sequence to the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration ( https://www.insdc.org ; accession no. PP025855).

We adapted real-time reverse transcription PCR primers and probe for RusV ( 1 ) by using degenerate bases for consensus homology to the Colorado mountain lion–derived sequence and European RusV sequences ( Appendix Table 2). Those adapted methods showed RusV RNA in a pooled sample of brain and spinal cord from the mountain lion, with a cycle threshold value of 20.3.

RusV ( Rubivirus strelense ), a member of the family Matonaviridae , was recently identified as the cause of staggering disease ( 1 ), a usually fatal neurologic syndrome in cats. Since the 1970s, staggering disease has been documented in domestic cats in Europe, predominantly in Sweden and Austria ( 2 – 6 ). Affected cats show a consistent combination of histologic lesions and clinical signs, including hind limb ataxia or paresis, and nonsuppurative meningoencephalitis restricted to the gray matter but not affecting white matter or the cerebellar cortex ( 1 , 4 , 5 ). A similar syndrome was reported in cats from Alabama, USA, in 1979 but the etiology remained obscure ( 7 ). In Germany, RusV has been detected in a broad range of zoo animals with neurologic disorders, including lions ( Panthera leo ) ( 8 – 11 ).

Because initial diagnostic tests were negative in this case, and history, histopathology, and metatranscriptome sequencing suggested staggering disease, we sent tissue samples and sequence data from the mountain lion to the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany) for additional analyses. To demonstrate an association between the lesions and the virus, we used previously developed in situ hybridization methods for RusV ( 1 , 6 ) ( Appendix ), which demonstrated RusV RNA in all regions of the brain and nearly all levels of the spinal cord, irrespective of an inflammatory reaction. Only lumbosacral nerve roots (cauda equina) tested negative. RusV-specific RNA localized in neuronal cell bodies ( Figure 1 , panels D, F, H, J), disseminated within the neuropil of the gray matter ( Figure 1 , panel D, inlay) and, to a lesser extent, in the white matter. We found particularly abundant or large, dot-like signals in the granule cell layer of the hippocampus ( Figure 1 , panel H), and in Purkinje cells of the cerebellum ( Figure 1 , panel J), similar to findings from staggering disease cases in cats from Europe ( 4 ).

Figure 2 . Sequence similarity and phylogenetic position of RusV in wild mountain lion ( Puma concolor ) with staggering disease, Colorado, USA. A) Mean pairwise sequence identity between the novel Colorado RusV...

The overall architecture of the viral genome of the novel RusV from Colorado matched those of known RusV ( Appendix Figure 2). The mean pairwise nucleotide identity between the novel RusV sequence and sequences from Germany was 69.9% and between sequences from Austria and Sweden was 68.9%; the sequences from Europe shared 76.7% identity among each other ( Figure 2 , panel A). The mean pairwise amino acid identities of the nonstructural and structural polyproteins ranged from 75.6% to 78.1% between the novel RusV sequence and the sequences from Europe ( Figure 2 , panel A). The genetic diversity was not equally distributed over the genome; part of the protease and the intergenic region showed especially high levels of sequence variations ( Appendix Figure 2).

We performed phylogenetic analysis to compare the RusV sequence from Colorado with appropriate reference strains using an amino acid alignment of the structural polyprotein ( Appendix ). Those findings suggested classification of the novel RusV as a member of the family Matonaviridae , genus Rubivirus , placing it basal to the known RusV sequences detected in Germany, Sweden, and Austria ( Figure 2 , panel B). The basal position of the novel RusV in relation to all other known RusV is also supported by phylogeny based on the whole-genome nucleotide sequence ( Appendix Figure 3).

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate the presence of a RusV variant in North America that is divergent from those previously described from Europe. The clinical signs, histologic lesions, and infected target cells observed for the wild mountain lion in Colorado, USA, meet the case definition for staggering disease. A causative role for RusV is likely, further supporting previous work identifying RusV as the causative agent of staggering disease in domestic cats from Austria, Sweden, and Germany ( 1 , 6 ), and in lions from zoologic collections in Germany ( 10 ).

This report is limited to a single case of staggering disease in Colorado. To determine whether RusV is enzootic in this region, we recommend further investigations, including retrospective RusV testing of tissues from feline encephalitis cases of unknown causes in North America. Surveillance for RusV in small rodents might identify a local reservoir host because rodents of the genus Apodemus have been identified as likely RusV reservoir hosts in Europe through real-time reverse transcription PCR and sequencing of mice brain tissues ( 1 , 8 , 9 , 12 , 13 ). Although Apodemus mice are not indigenous to North America, several genera of small rodents are found throughout Colorado ( 14 , 15 ) and could serve as candidates for further screenings. In addition, future studies should consider that the zoonotic potential of RusV has not been determined.

Of note, a remarkably broad range of other mammalian RusV hosts has been identified in Germany, including equids, mustelids, rodents, and marsupials ( 8 , 9 , 11 , 12 ), raising concerns about a zoonotic potential of RusV ( 8 , 9 ). Given the wide host range of the virus in Europe, RusV should be considered as a possible cause for neurologic diseases in all mammal species in North America.

Dr. Fox is a veterinary anatomic pathologist at the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories. Her research interests include identification of emerging disease syndromes in Colorado wildlife and development of diagnostic strategies to inform wildlife management.

Acknowledgment

We thank Melanie Kaknes and Matt Martinez for submitting this case, Erica Rhinehart for providing video footage, Dan Tripp for advice on small mammal populations in Colorado, and Robin Brandt for pathology technical assistance.

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• Armstrong  DM , Fitzgerald  JP , Meaney  CA . Mammals of Colorado. 2nd ed. Boulder (CO): University Press of Colorado; 2011 .
• Armstrong  DM . Rocky Mountain Mammals. 3rd ed. Boulder (CO): University Press of Colorado; 2008 .
• Figure 1 . Histology of brain and spinal cord used to detect rustrela virus (RusV) in wild mountain lion (Puma concolor) with staggering disease, Colorado, USA. RusV RNA was detected by RNAscope...
• Figure 2 . Sequence similarity and phylogenetic position of RusV in wild mountain lion (Puma concolor) with staggering disease, Colorado, USA. A) Mean pairwise sequence identity between the novel Colorado RusV and...
• Video . An approximately 1-year-old female mountain lion (Puma concolor) with impaired mobility. The mountain lion struggles to rise and staggers forward with difficulty because of hind limb ataxia and paresis....

DOI: 10.3201/eid3008.240411

Original Publication Date: July 15, 2024

Table of Contents – Volume 30, Number 8—August 2024

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Karen A. Fox, Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories, 2450 Gillette Dr, 1644 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA

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Colorado News | Ready for launch: Colorado-based astronauts to…

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Colorado news | ready for launch: colorado-based astronauts to take on first commercial spacewalk, sarah gillis of boulder and scott “kidd” poteet of monument will rocket into space this summer.

Two Colorado astronauts — 30-year-old Sarah Gillis of Boulder and 50-year-old Scott Poteet of Monument — are ready to blast into space with SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, launching in mid-July.

At approximately 700 kilometers above the Earth, the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk with SpaceX-designed suits and equipment.

The mission also aims to break the altitude record for Earth orbit at 1,400 kilometers. Currently, the International Space Station is about 400 kilometers above the Earth.

“We will provide updates soon, but we are getting really close,” mission commander and Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman said in a statement on social media in June. “It is bittersweet, we spent 2-plus years training together and that is about to end.”

From music to space travel

For Sarah Gillis — a Colorado native who grew up in the mountains outside of Boulder and who will be serving as a mission specialist for Polaris Dawn — it wasn’t until high school that space even pinged on her radar.

Gillis said her mother was a professional violinist and raised her to be a musician as well. She hadn’t considered that there might be something else in store for her until her junior year of high school.

In March of 2012, Gillis snuck into her brother’s college class at the University of Colorado Boulder to meet former astronaut and mechanical engineering professor Joe Tanner, who was giving a guest lecture.

“I didn’t even really know what engineering was until then,” she said. “I ended up staying and talking to Joe Tanner afterward … and that was really this life-changing catalyst for my career.”

Gillis said Tanner mentored her through the rest of her high school career and into college.

When she doubted her future as an aerospace engineer during her sophomore year at CU Boulder, he helped motivate her to get an internship at SpaceX to “get a glimpse into what is possible.”

Gillis now lives in Long Beach, California, where she works as a lead space operations engineer for SpaceX, designing and overseeing SpaceX’s astronaut training program.

But music never left her life.

“Fundamentally, music and engineering are related in many ways,” Gillis said. “When you learn a complex passage or new piece of music, there’s a methodological process of breaking the problem down into smaller chunks. That’s what engineering is and that’s what training astronauts is.”

When Isaacman launched Inspiration4 in 2021 — the first all-civilian mission to space — Gillis was brought in as a lead trainer to get the four-person crew ready for flight.

“During that time, I got very close to Jared,” she said. “Then, when he got the desire to fly again and created this new project with SpaceX, he turned back to me.”

The Polaris Dawn mission is a research exploration, meant to bring back training and information that will make space more accessible in the future, Gillis said.

“It’s fun to be on the other side of the training for once,” she said, laughing. “Each of the crew members has an immense amount of knowledge and experience they’re bringing to the team. Training is about bringing those skills together to be the most effective crew we can.”

Over the last 2 1/2 years, the Polaris Dawn team has spent hour after hour learning in NASA simulators, creating and testing new hardware necessary to perform the spacewalk and getting as close to the real-life experience as they can to prepare.

Gillis said the crew had an opportunity to do free-fall skydiving training with the Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs.

“As we were looking to develop our skills, we needed that high-stakes, real-world environment where we can execute our procedures, manage our equipment and do it all in a fast-paced timeline,” she said. “It was nice to be home.”

As a Colorado native, Gillis grew up hiking and spending a lot of time in the mountains, something she said she would love to believe gave her an advantage when training for space travel.

“I’ve spent so much time thinking about what it will be like to go to space, putting myself in the shoes of the astronauts … but it’s all stationary,” she said. “I’m excited to physically experience that moment when you suddenly hit weightlessness and you’re floating.”

Combat pilot turns to space exploration

For Scott “Kidd” Poteet, the journey to space took a bit longer.

Poteet graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1996 with a degree in outdoor education before spending 20 years in the Air Force. During those two decades, Poteet flew combat missions around the world, led the 64th Aggressor Squadron and became a part of the prestigious Thunderbirds team.

While on the Thunderbirds, Poteet met Isaacman and — after retiring from the Air Force — started working with the CEO as a mission director on Inspiration4.

“I never dreamed I would have this opportunity,” Poteet said. “I struggled as a student in high school and got recruited to run cross country and track at the University of New Hampshire. I didn’t have a technical background and continued to struggle as a student, so I got a degree in outdoor education.”

The emphasis was always on what he could physically do, Poteet said. Since 2000, he has competed in 15 Ironman triathlons, including four Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.

“It wasn’t until Jared and Inspiration4 proved anyone could go to space that I even considered it,” he said. “It was amazing to watch. But at the conclusion of that mission, I thought the journey was over.”

When Isaacman approached Poteet about the opportunity to fly into space on Polaris Dawn, he said there was no way he could have passed on the opportunity.

It wasn’t an easy process — Poteet said he often felt like the “weak link” in the team due to his lack of space experience.

“Jared is a proven astronaut and Sarah taught him how to be one,” he said. “I had to play catchup, learning all of the systems and procedures that they already knew.”

On the physical side, Poteet said he found a lot of consistency between space flight and what he had already experienced flying fighter jets and climbing mountains.

When you’re climbing a mountain, it takes days to get up, Poteet said. You’re mentally and physically tired, you’re cold and sleep-deprived and there’s no easy way down — you’ve got to deal with the circumstances you’re dealt.

“It’s about trying to get comfortable in uncomfortable scenarios,” he said. “You learn about yourself and your strengths and weaknesses with your crew. You build confidence over time with yourself and your team.”

There are only a couple of boxes left to check before the team can enter quarantine and prepare for takeoff, according to Poteet. As of July 19, the team had still not entered quarantine.

Once the astronauts enter quarantine, the two-week countdown to takeoff will start.

“It’s been a wild ride over the last couple of years,” Poteet said. “I think that when we’re in training, you’ve got the blinders on and you’re so focused on the task at hand. We don’t often have time to interact with those outside, so just sharing some of my experiences with my family has been very rewarding.”

Poteet’s wife and three children — 18-year-old and 16-year-old girls and a 14-year-old boy — will be standing by for take-off and anxiously awaiting Poteet’s return to Earth.

“They’re a little hesitant based on the level of risk, but they know we’re in good hands,” he said. “Still, they’ll be relieved when I’m back on Earth.”

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Weather-related power outages are on the rise. Here’s why, what to expect in the future

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When Hurricane Beryl swept across Texas in early July, it left more than 3 million homes and businesses without power for days or longer. Local hospitals reported a spike in heat-related illnesses amid the widespread power outages, and at least seven people died from extreme heat.

The crisis in Texas is the latest example of extreme weather knocking out America’s power. While Hurricanes can damage power lines and poles, utility companies may also preemptively shut off power to reduce damage. For example, in April, a Colorado utility cut power to tens of thousands of people on a high-wind day to prevent power lines from sparking wildfires.

One estimate shows that about 80% of major power outages reported in the U.S. between 2000 and 2023 were caused by weather. As climate change makes extreme weather events like hurricanes, wildfires, extreme heat, and severe floods more frequent and intense, such blackouts will likely become more prevalent, said Kyri Baker , an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering.

“The power grid is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure,” said Baker. “Keeping that system safe, secure, and reliable is not only convenient but also life-saving.”

CU Boulder Today sat down with Baker, a fellow with the  Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute , to discuss the importance of the power grid, how climate change threatens aging infrastructure and what upgrades are needed to support a future powered by renewable energy.

How do extreme weather events affect the power grid?

Extreme and unpredictable weather is a huge issue for the power grid, especially in areas like Texas that didn't traditionally have a lot of winter storms, or areas that didn’t used to have heatwaves. In 2021, Texas had a massive cold snap that froze a lot of natural gas infrastructure. So they were unable to pump gas to deliver heat to homes or run power plants.

This compounding effect where people couldn't heat their homes or use electricity caused billion-dollar impacts. This month, when Hurricane Beryl crashed the state’s power grid, millions of people were left without power to cool their homes, resulting in tragic, heat-related deaths.

Why should the grid be included in discussions about reducing emissions? 

The power system is the second-largest source of emissions in the U.S. We are using more power, especially with the increasing number of artificial intelligence data centers and electric vehicles. While these technologies can be beneficial for the environment, they also present a chicken-and-egg problem. Therefore, it is crucial to decarbonize our grid.

Can the current grid handle the transition to wind and solar? 

Wind and solar are challenging because they are not controllable in the same way as coal, gas, or nuclear plants. The main issue is intermittency—sunlight and wind are not always available.

The grid requires a constant balance between supply and demand. Unlike roads, where excess traffic can simply slow down, power lines cannot store electricity. This means supply and demand must be balanced almost instantaneously. With renewable energy sources that fluctuate, maintaining this balance becomes even more difficult. If there's too much generation or too much demand for even just a second, the power grid can fail, leading to blackouts.

How do we prepare the grid for the future?

Currently, blackouts are not caused by renewable energy. Most are due to weather-related issues, such as failing components or power lines touching trees and causing fires. So the infrastructure itself is becoming a big bottleneck to providing reliable energy, regardless of the power source feeding into the grid.

Our grid is aging, with some components in the U.S. being over 50 years old. It's going to take decades to upgrade the whole grid to fully decarbonize and have a reliable system. Some of this upgrading includes putting power lines underground to make them less susceptible to high winds and wildfire risks. Upgrading people's home energy systems is also part of the process. 

Will preemptive power shutoffs become more common? 

Colorado had their first so-called public safety power shutoff in April. This has been going on in California for years, so they have a more robust and streamlined plan for which areas they turn off, and how they do vegetation management. Colorado will need to move in that direction because we are also a dry, hot, windy area with a power infrastructure that comes very close to trees and buildings. 

First, Colorado will need a formal protocol. Secondly, we need to educate the public because people don't always understand why their power was cut off, but their neighbor’s power was not. Deciding which area to turn off is a very challenging problem because you want to be safe but also make sure that the people whose health could be impacted during an outage are safe. 

Ideally, there will be a good balance between inconveniencing people and making sure we're not causing another Marshall fire disaster.

What can consumers do? 

One of the biggest things consumers can do is to educate themselves on issues related to the power grid. Respecting that the utility companies have a challenging problem to solve is the first step. And then pursuing clean energy technologies, like electrifying your car or biking more, is one major step you can take to lower your carbon footprint. Switching from gas appliances in your house to electric ones can also help lower your carbon footprint.

These devices are easier to run on things like rooftop solar. If the power in your area went out and you had rooftop solar, being able to disconnect from the grid and power your stove or water heater would be extremely helpful.

CU Boulder Today regularly publishes Q&As with our faculty members weighing in on news topics through the lens of their scholarly expertise and research/creative work. The responses here reflect the knowledge and interpretations of the expert and should not be considered the university position on the issue. All publication content is subject to edits for clarity, brevity and  university style guidelines .

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