Category Archives: Education

Visit 2040 with The Cortes island Academy

The Cortes Island Academy’s third semester is wrapping up and in this year’s end showcase the students are taking the audience on an imaginative visit to the year 2040. It starts at 7:00 this Thursday, January 13, 2025 at Mansons Hall.  

 “A really important part of the Cortes Island Academy is our year end showcase where the students are  given the task of finding a way to share some of the  learning that they’ve gone through in the semester in a form that is digestible for the community at large. So they put on this big event which is supposed to be fun and compelling and also spark the imagination of the citizenry of Cortes and the surrounding islands.  We are really hoping that a lot of people will come out. I’m quite proud of the way the students have really taken things a different way this year,” explained Executive Director Manda Aufochs Gillespie.

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The 2024 Vital Signs Report for Cortes Island

The Cortes Island Community Foundation (CICF) just published the Cortes Island’s Vital Signs report.  

“ When I started with the Community Foundation a few years ago, I  was already in the community, trying to make things happen. In particular, I tried to make things happen in the most grassroots  small nonprofit ways possible, but often in the area where I saw that there was a lot of need. Very quickly, I was in the process of writing grants and trying to figure out how to bring in those resources that I knew were out there somewhere,” explained Manda Aufochs Gillespie, Executive Director of the Cortes Foundation. 

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‘Tis the season for promises ahead of this weekend’s BC election

By Sidney Coles, Capital Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Come election season, politicians seeking reelection or office for the first time make a lot of promises. Some we know they’ll keep. Others? It depends. Politicians make promises because they will impact voters’ beliefs about the policies they will implement if elected and serve as an indicator of their capabilities to govern. Incumbents have the advantage of the rearview mirror. They can ask voters to look at past performance. Even freshmen candidates for an incumbent  party seeking to prove their mettle to constituents can bank on that party’s record, in part or in whole—but that also means being accountable for the promises it has broken. In all cases, promises are a kind of promissory note in exchange for representation.

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Beginning Of The Cortes Island Academy’s Third Year

The Cortes Island Academy’s third year starts on Tuesday September 3, 2024. Executive Director Manda Aufochs Gillespie explained that there are a number of innovative new programs this semester as well as popular facilitators from previous years. The Mother Tree Network, Hakai Intitute, Hollyhock and Power of Hope are all contributing partners. For the first time ever, there are also still some last minute spots available for new students.

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This Summer At Wild Cortes

There’s a lot happening at Wild Cortes this summer. 

“Come to Wild Cortes because it’s the coolest place on the island, literally and figuratively. Literally because we’re in the basement and it’s always cool here,” said co-curator Donna Collins.

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