Luke Brown

Luke Brown is the Program Director for the Telluride Academy. The Telluride Academy started as a backyard outdoor organization 30 years ago in the dusty streets of Telluride, Colorado.  Since it's inception as a Colorado non-profit organization, the Academy has strived to offer outdoor enrichment opportunities to any and all kids despite their financial situation. Each year the Academy works hard to offer nearly $100,000 a year in tuition assistance and scholarships.  These funds foster our long standing and deep rooted commitment to inclusion and diversity. It is the goal of the Academy to introduce children from all reaches of the planet to the benefits that can come from nature and ones relationship to the natural world.  Our programs celebrate the mystery of wild places and we hope to instill a strong sense of responsible environmental stewardship within our students.  The Academy believes in the philosophy of free play and our programs are a kaleidoscope of outdoor activities.  We offer opportunities for kids to challenge themselves through backpacking, kayaking, rock climbing and mountain biking. We create space for kids to grow, ponder, investigate and discover their natural surroundings as well as themselves.

A large component of our programming also involves an international service and exchange program. In the past few years we have taken students to Nicaragua, a Tibetan Refugee Village in Northern India and most recently to Wondo Genet, Ethiopia.  This recent exchange program was in collaboration with Common River (another World Minded Ambassador!) and involved student led service projects that focused on English instruction, engaging artistic and theatrical classes and a digital photography documentation project.  Students lived with local families in an eye opening rural African environment. The overreaching purpose of this particular program was to assist the community of Wondo Genet in building a community school for the village. Our International programs offer an opportunity for young adults to gain a broader and deeper understanding of foreign cultures and ways of life while at the same time sharing their own.