in tonight's studio 12 for showing you the beautiful art of hand-carved violins from a local craftsman right here in Colorado and a global Colorado company is rethinking sustainability.

Learn how Crocs is changing its carbon footprint, one shoe at a time.

Colorado's universal preschool plan is hitting a major legal snag.

Our CIO panelists discuss how this will impact funding and equal access.

And then meet the middle schoolers competing in one of our state's regional civics BS.

Tonight we had the Alamo set to see the impressive minds at work.

Don't go away.

It all starts right now on studio 12.

From the Five Points Media Center in the heart of Denver, Colorado.

This is studio 12.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Ashley Michaels, filling in for Bazzi and Ryan tonight.

Welcome to studio 12.

Some artists don't just create music.

They craft the instruments that make music possible.

Tonight in our heart of the West series, we meet Will Shearer from Lewisville.

He makes violins by hand right here in Colorado, carving each piece with precision and purpose.

And you'll see his work isn't just about building and restoring instruments.

It's about passing on a rare and time honored skill to the next generation.

I've been here in this location for about three and a half years.

I got into doing this because I love music.

We need more music in the world.

We need more connections with people.

My name is Wiltshire.

I make violins for a living.

It's a it's a dream, right?

You know, to be able to to be able to make something by hand or just, you know, make anything by hand these days where we're so much of what we do is on a keyboard.

I'm Sasha Novak, I don't know, what do you what do you call me?

Student.

I'll take it.

So I come in basically once a week.

And Will is teach me how to restore a cello.

My day job is all computers.

I work for basically a tech company.

And being able to, you know, come here and do some hands on work building something.

Working with materials has been generally, it's the highlight of my week.

When I started this business, I wanted my kids to be able to see that things are just not made by machine.

That's one of the things that when you have kids, you see, you know, and they kind of get their first toys and these things just appear for them.

And you get the toys from the store, you get the thing from the store.

Nobody really, you know, kids don't usually get to see things being made.

And I wanted, my kids to, to know what I did for a living.

We sell new and used instruments as well as do restoration work and maintenance for professional musicians.

Beginners.

Hi there.

Let's take a look at this again.

I'll just make my notes.

This is a place where people come to.

All right.

We have a little, a little seam separation.

Find out about instruments that they may own.

Bring things that need to be restored or fixed or just maintained.

What we're going to do is glue the seam.

And that little tiny crack, we're going to add some glue.

These instruments are their babies too.

This is people.

I originally went to music school, but in my second year realized that I just wasn't good enough to play classically.

I started hanging around with other fiddle players and at violin shops, and realized that there was more fun for me to be playing fiddle music than to be playing classical music.

And then my wife got a postdoc at University of Michigan, and we had to move, and she said, what are you going to do now?

And I said, I think I'm going to be a violin maker.

And I didn't know the path to get to that point from where I was, but I knew that it was something I wanted to do.

I was buying and selling violins and, I know what sounds good.

And because I can play a violin.

It's that combination of knowing what sounds good and the voice that an instrument has, combined with, being able to see the craftsmanship in the instrument.

You know, I thought there's possible, you know, possible business here and a career here.

Not much has changed in the way of violins made in several hundred years.

I don't know, there's something about being able to feel what you're working with and smell the wood.

Smell the varnish.

And it keeps me connected to music, too, which is something that I had previously lost after high school.

I think I was searching for something that was meaningful, in, in my career.

I can remember thinking this over and over.

I want something that's giving, not taking.

When people bring you a violin that they're in love with, they're bringing you this joy and they're bringing you a, a piece of history.

In some cases, it's sentimental.

Violin, you know, in its basic form, is the same as a fiddle.

And there is really no difference between the two.

It all has to do with how you play it and your style of expression.

So you might take down one instrument off the wall and play a, you know, back concerto on it.

And it sounds great, but you might pick a different one and you say, oh, this just doesn't sound right.

It sounds more like a fiddle.

And so I don't do anything to set up violins differently for fiddle players unless they're asking for something specific.

But there really isn't.

No, there really is no difference.

There's a number of ways to make a violin.

Another thing I do is automat automated everything.

All the tools that I use are, chisels, hand tools, gouges, planes, scrapers, very little sandpaper.

We get a block of wood, create a mold, and then bend the outsides of the violin around this mold and that gives us the basic shape.

And this is all coming from a pattern, everything by hand.

But the only way to really make a violin is to do it by hand with old fashioned tools.

So what I do is a I guess it could be considered a classic craft, but what I do is from scratch from the beginning, the only to the only modern tool that I use is a bandsaw.

The business has been in existence for since 2015.

Previous to the Marshall fire, I my shop was in my house.

We our house was destroyed by the fire, so, I had to salvage what I could and, you know, quickly get back to doing what I love and, and reopen the shop.

And that's when I opened up down here on Main Street.

I really enjoy seeing somebody fall in love with a new or old instrument and have that be a part of their identity and who they are, and knowing that they're going to take this instrument and use it for as long as they do and and it will eventually get played by somebody else in the future.

For more information on Will and his beautiful violins, you can go to Scherrer violins.com.

Turning now to our Business of Colorado segment.

They're recognizable around the world.

We're talking about Crocs.

The Colorado based global shoe brand is rethinking what it means to make everyday items more sustainable.

From the materials in their iconic clogs to how these shoes are being reused and recycled.

Crocs is committed to reducing its environmental footprint.

At Climate Week at CU Boulder, Frannie Matthews recently caught up with Crocs Chief Sustainability officer Deanna Bradshaw.

Here's that conversation.

Deanna, thank you for joining us, Deanna Bradshaw.

You are the chief sustainability officer at Crocs.

Yes.

Hi.

Thanks for having me.

Nice to be here.

So if I look back five years ago on what the makeup of the material that Crocs were made from and what they are made from today.

How is that?

What's that journey been like?

And where have we come from and where we go?

Sure.

So maybe a little grounding in Crocs.

So Crocs, Inc.

is the company where about 4 billion in revenue publicly traded company.

We have about 8000 employees worldwide and, around 600 in Colorado specifically.

And we sell our products in 85 countries around the globe.

So pretty big global footprint, roots here in Colorado, which is awesome.

And, the shoe itself has evolved quite a lot over time.

The product we refer to as the icon is the classic clog.

And that's made of a material we call cross light.

And cross light is a fossil derived material.

And it's a molded footwear product.

So a lot of people think about it as a monomer material.

And when you start thinking about Crocs, what you imagine when you hear the Crocs footwear brand, you see this shoe.

The material itself is designed to be durable, designed to be highly comfortable and designed to be worn for a really long time.

And so over the last couple of years, as we've thought more about our carbon footprint around our targets in these spaces, materials make up a significant part of that.

So like many companies, the vast majority of the emissions we create is through our products, the manufacturing of our products and the distribution of our products.

So the materials in the shoe is something to look at.

So, about four years ago now, we started incorporating, renewable material oils into the classic clog.

So instead of fossil materials, every pair of classic clogs is 25% bio material or bio circular material.

So I say that and a lot of people are like, what's bio?

What's circular?

What does it mean?

So when we're talking about bio circular materials, the primary source of this is actually used cooking oil.

That oil was made.

It was used for frying or whatever purpose.

And it becomes a waste stream.

We're able to capture that oil and essentially one for one, replace that cooking oil, into where we would have used fossil oil.

So we have a commitment to be 50% bio materials and our classic clogs by 2030.

And as of 20 to end of 2025, or 25% of the way there.

So from a straight materials perspective, you don't see a difference.

You don't feel a difference in the shoe, which is amazing because what I like to say is same style, same comfort, same Crocs, now 25% better materials.

So it's a really great story of innovation and it's contributing to reducing the carbon footprint of every pair of shoes.

And you briefly mentioned the word, circular.

Talk to us about what circularity means in Manufac factoring and, and how you're looking at this, in, in totality.

So traditional models, look at what we call take make waste.

You buy something, you use it, you throw it away.

Circularity starts to bring in a more robust concept of how do we create products more responsibly?

How do we use them at their highest and best value for as long as possible?

And then when it comes to the end of use or the end of life of a product, what happens to it instead of waste?

And that might be reuse, that might be recycling.

In some cases that might be putting those materials right back into the product.

So the concept of circularity is literally thinking about closed loop solutions for products in materials, but also open loop.

So sometimes you can't put it right back into the product.

But there are other best uses of the material to keep them out of nature and out of landfill.

What is Crocs doing in this space?

So in the design, better materials in is that 25% plant based or bio based material.

Then we want to keep shoes on feet as long as possible.

So we make them durable and then we take responsibility for end of life.

And we do that in partnership with recyclers, with consumers.

And so we launched a program called Old Crocs New Life.

And consumers can actually drop off Crocs in any condition to any of our stores across the U.S.

and Canada.

We launched, in 2025 to stores across 8 or 9 countries in Europe, and this month, we're actually going to be launching our first Takeback program in Singapore and Korea.

In the Asia-Pacific region.

So the idea here is we take back Crocs in any condition.

So your kid outgrew the shoes too fast.

They didn't get worn enough or you wore them and they're just at the end of their life.

And then we take them back and we sort them.

So if they're still wearable, we put them through a program with a great nonprofit partner called soles for soles, who distributes wearable shoes to people in need through their programs.

And if they're not wearable any longer, we recycle them.

And then what do we do with all that recycled material?

So we have, a new product that, we're just launching two new colorways this April as well, called the Keep It Going classic clog.

And so that is not only made of 25% plant based material, it also includes 25% recycled Crocs shred from shoes we've taken back.

So that is a perfect example of closing the loop of taking back Crocs, shredding them, and putting them right back into a new pair of Crocs.

And everyone is one of a kind, because the shred comes through in these really cool little, sort of sparkles and different colors and same idea.

You know?

We know that people love our product for its comfort and for the self-expression and different colors and how they can decorate them with the charms called gibbet.

And so this idea of we can do the same thing with our Crocs, but make them just a bit better for the environment, is really at the core of our circularity program.

Are there are areas to gain efficiencies in where things are manufactured and how things move, and maybe shortening supply chains in some respects for sure.

So when we think about our climate commitment, so we do have a net zero by 2040 target.

And as we're looking at that, where the impact of our emissions come from, where the opportunities are from a cost efficiency perspective and an environmental perspective, efficiency and transportation and distribution is way up there.

Most of our products are made out of the US.

I should probably say the majority of our products are made in other countries.

Vietnam primarily.

And it's really important that we think about, the value chain and the supply chain holistically of how we can engage our suppliers, how we pick and choose logistics partners who also have sustainability goals.

And then when it comes to the recycling program specifically, we don't want to be collecting shoes and creating shred or creating waste and shipping that all around the globe.

So we're creating a really regional focused program where we're processing and recycling right here in the US for shoes collected in the US and Canada, and then we're actually putting them back to keep it going.

Classic clog is made in the US.

Our first sort of go at this, but it helps keep, this idea of these shoes are made better thanks to you.

So really connecting it to consumers.

You gave us old Crocs.

We made them into new Crocs, and now those are available, as well.

So we're, we're hoping and working on scaling that same regional approach in Europe and in Asia as we go.

You know, you've given some examples where it's really increasing efficiency.

A lot of times I think people think sustainability has its trade offs, particularly in the capitalist environment.

Is it creating more cost or is it creating, opportunities for less cost through innovation?

Can you talk a little bit about that?

It is about investing over time and really thinking about the the products, the programs and the impact that we can have in partnership with our partners, our suppliers, NGOs, industry collaborations.

One example of that is we work with a group called the Footwear Collective, where we're actually at the table with competitors all trying to solve problems around circularity infrastructure together.

And so the business case is there.

Do we have to get creative?

Yes.

Do we have to think about that return on investment sometimes on a longer horizon or a different horizon?

Absolutely.

But I think when companies are focused about, are focused on short term in service to the long term, sustainability makes sense.

It is a cost of doing business.

It will make us stronger in the long term.

And as we mentioned before, consumers have expectations that continue to grow.

So when when there's a lot of surveys out there.

So I know probably some consumers of Crocs or consumers of other products are out there.

Do you always say I'm going to buy the more sustainable product?

No, the data doesn't show that you do, especially not if it costs more.

So the opportunity here is to think about how we embed sustainability in our product.

That doesn't make it a trade off or a choice for consumers.

That is just part of how we do the business and how we are uniquely Crocs.

But just a little bit better.

When we look at the survey and you ask people, do you care about sustainability?

The numbers are wild.

85 to 95% of consumers say, I would like to buy more sustainable products.

But when it comes to a choice or a trade off at the shelf, it's not going to translate, especially not in the current economic times, with trade offs, discretionary spending.

What we're choosing to spend our money on.

Our shoes are affordable.

They are accessible.

You can find them in, you know, the folks in their backyard, in the garden.

And you can also find them on the runway.

And keeping them that unique and that accessible really speaks to who are consumers and what they're looking for.

It's also interesting that we're seeing a lot of innovation just in general in the sustainability area.

If you look out, say, five years from now, what are you most excited about and what, expectations do you have for some breakthroughs?

Sustainability is going to continue to evolve.

I definitely use the phrase probably too often.

It is a journey, not a destination.

There's no such thing as a as a 100% the most sustainable, right?

We need to be thinking about sustainability as a journey, as we make business decisions, as we grow, as consumer interest change, as stakeholders and investors, questions evolve and really think about how we can best position ourselves to meet the needs of our stakeholders and make our product better.

The next generation cares more than ever about sustainability.

Those are our future shoppers.

And so really drawing those connections, I think, from a sort of broader level where sustainability is going is it ebbs and flows.

There's a really interesting study out called, Riding the Waves.

And the idea is that sustainability comes in waves.

It doesn't mean the impact comes in waves, but the narrative does.

So we might be hearing more pressure in the media.

We might be hearing more or less news around the importance of sustainability.

I think what is most important is that companies stay true to their values and the vision and the opportunity that being more sustainable brings for both environmental topics and also social topics.

And I think in the next five years we we may hear less, we may start to hear more again, but we may hear less.

But companies are still doing the work.

And I think that is what gets me most excited is sometimes when you're focusing a little bit more head down, you're able to deepen your impact and really drive that change.

Transformation and the credibility in your program so that when we're ready, as an industry, to sort of start talking sustainability more out there.

That will have even more to say and even more impact to be proud of.

Well, Deanna, thank you for joining us today.

And thank you for your impact on the state of Colorado and on our world.

And my pleasure.

Thanks for having me.

Funding for the Business of Colorado on PBS 12 is provided in part by Collegiate Peaks Bank, Ibotta.

And from the generous support of viewers like you.

Thank you.

Croc says it's on track to increase the use of bio based materials in its products and expand recycling programs worldwide as part of a broader goal to reach net zero emissions by the year 2040.

What if growing your own food was easier and more accessible than you ever thought?

Well, there's a new program helping people answer those questions.

Jody Beck is a professor of landscape architecture at CU Denver, but he's volunteering his time to teach a group of students how to start small and grow with confidence.

This new seed starting program is in partnership with Denver Urban Gardens, and has an impact that goes beyond what's on your plate.

PBS Twelve's Erica McLarty went to check it out.

From apartment shelves to background greenhouses in Denver.

Something small is growing into something much bigger.

A new seed starting program is teaching people how to grow their own food and rethink their connection to it.

All right, so what we have here.

So these are all of my, these are peppers.

You can see there's all the different, varieties there.

Leading the effort is Jody Beck, a professor of landscape architecture at CU Denver, who says this goes far beyond gardening.

It's the ability to feed yourself is the basis of political sovereignty and autonomy.

And so giving, you know, helping spread that, helping make that more available because it feels so mysterious and it's really pretty basic.

These are all 16 different kinds of tomatoes I started.

And tortillas, and a ground cherry.

Jody grew up around agriculture, but came back to it with a new purpose.

Now he's teaching others how to grow at scale not just for themselves, but for their communities.

So yeah, I just planted this side.

So this is all lettuce and then radishes.

So you can see here's some radishes sprouting.

This is collards.

These are collards I started last summer that came all the way through the winter.

And I got the idea to start teaching more people not how to start seeds.

A lot of people do that, but how to start at this scale and what it would take to do neighborhood distribution or community distribution or small scale sales.

Through a partnership with Denver Urban Gardens, Jody mentors a small group of students helping them grow hundreds, even thousands of seedlings.

The goal to create a network of growers across the city.

I'm hoping that you know that an additional five or so people every year want to do it, and that everybody, you know, slowly scales up their operation until there's a real network of of people doing a lot of different varieties of starts and seedlings.

But the lesson isn't just about plants.

It's about understanding food itself.

There's been a lot of research that's shown that if people grow some plants, they understand what tomatoes taste like, what they should taste like, and they get more selective and they look for local produce and actually boost the local economy for farmers.

And that understanding is already taking root in the.

For Danielle, entering the mentorship started with a simple idea.

It would be nice to be able to provide these started plants for my gardeners, as well as have some of my own, without necessarily needing to go buy a $6 started plant.

It's kind of taken over, one of my bookshelves.

And so, you can start small.

So over here, we've got loads of started seeds, as you can tell.

So, what I do is I organize them and I use tape to identify what it is that I'm growing.

So you got two variants of kale?

Definitely some basil, different spices, a rubella, eggplant, bell peppers down here.

We've got some flowers.

We've got some, herbs.

And then down here we've got to break down that.

We've got snapdragon, rosemary, spinach, Brussels sprouts, lemon balm, carnations.

And despite what people might think, she says, it's not as complicated as it looks.

I would not classified as challenging, but I will say that there's a little bit more thought process than you might think that there is.

Once you've set it up, once you've.

I just use command strips for the lights where once the seeds are in the dirt, I put it on.

I missed it with water once a day, but, I check to make sure there's water in the tray, and that's kind of it.

Danielle has been happy to have Jodi as a mentor along the way.

I also grew a mushroom, in one of my, cells, and I took a photo of it, and I'm like, this is just mean that it's healthy, but there's a good decay in my soil.

And Jodi was very quick to say, well, you should pick it, because it's mushrooms.

Have spores.

And you don't want that to spread across the rest of your cells.

So we did.

But it's it's really been a lot of, I would say, like, how often should you water or, you know, something's growing and that wasn't what you expected to grow or, maybe the different soil compositions.

I got a lot of that insight from Jodi as well.

Jodi and Danielle say that with just soil light and a little consistency, anyone can do it even without a yard.

The reason that we're using these here is because you want to make sure that your plants are closer to your light source.

The intent is that you get less leggy plants, because if your plant is focused on reaching the light and getting enough light source, it's not going to be focusing on actually growing the plants in a healthy way.

It's it's it's busy stretching and sort of growing out.

I live in an apartment.

I have planters on my patio.

And so what comes out of this?

Some of it may go into the ground of friends and family, but a handful of it is going to stick here on my patio growing or herbs that I might decide to grow, and keep inside of the apartment.

So it's it's not truly, but depending on what you grow, you can keep it pretty manageable in size.

It's very therapeutic to just not be sitting in front of a screen, which is most of my job.

But I think the, another big thing to consider is that it's expensive to not only go to the grocery store and find the right produce picking between different variants of this sort, what's available, what growing the garden does is it allows me to not only, again, kind of get away from my screens and kind of focus on something that I can bring back into the house, but it's also a place where we're like, oh, we know exactly what went into growing this produce, right?

We know where these we know that there weren't pesticides used on these tomatoes, or we know that the squash that we grew last season is going to last, you know, so it gives you the opportunity not only to actually grow the things that you're, you know, feeding your body, but it also saves you a lot of money in doing so.

Right?

Kale sauteed in scrambled eggs is my favorite breakfast.

I was a little irritated recently when I went to, the grocery store and like, a bundle of kale, was like $3.

And I was like, I can grow that.

So.

So I went a little crazy on growing Miguel.

And so I think that people understanding what it means to grow food and what kinds of foods are available and is important, anything that gets people outside and off their phones, I think is important these days.

What starts as a seed becomes something more a skill, a connection, a community, and maybe a new way to grow together.

For PBS 12, I'm Erica McLarty.

Isn't it amazing to see how something so simple can have such a wide impact?

For more information on programs that Denver Urban Gardens offers, make sure to check out their website at doug.org.

Colorado's universal preschool program is not getting cleared any time soon from a fight over which preschools will receive state funding and under what rules.

The team over at Colorado Inside Out weighed in on the issues of public funding, religious liberty and equal access.

Let's check in with Kyle Dyer.

Hey, Ashley, it's so great to see you in studio 12.

As you know, Colorado is making national news again.

Going before the Supreme Court again.

And so our insiders are chiming in.

Here's a listen to our conversation on our most recent Colorado Inside Out.

Another Colorado lawsuit is headed to the US Supreme Court this October, testing the balance again between religious freedom and state law.

The case centers on whether the state can deny Catholic preschools funding from the universal preschool program because of a school's faith based admissions policy.

For example, their policy for admitting LGBTQ plus families.

Luigi Colorado says schools have to follow nondiscrimination laws to receive this public money.

That's right.

And these Catholic schools have said we cannot apply for a apply to participate in the program because the nondiscrimination rules and laws in the state directly contravene our core beliefs.

Has something to do with our teaching Catholic teaching on marriage.

Gender identity, and so on and so forth.

And so now they're suing the state.

They're saying, actually two things.

One, it violates our our, First Amendment rights.

It, but not not not only that, it's not really neutrally applied because the program has some secular preferences, but no religious ones.

That's what they're saying.

And, you know, if you look at what happened in Colorado the last, what, five years, three years, we've been sort of this, laboratory, if you will, of sort of progressive experimentation and specifically as it relates to LGBTQ issues, that implicate, religious rights, you know, First Amendment rights.

And we've lost, I think, three cases now.

Big ones, if not big national conversations, on on precisely these topics.

This is the fourth one.

And let's see what the court does.

Okay.

I think one of the biggest points on this, this case in this filing is actually what they're not going to address.

So there is a 36 year old decision.

It's employment division for Smith in which the Supreme Court held that laws burdening the free exercise of religion typically do not violate the First Amendment.

So long as they're neutral and generally applicable.

Some of the conservative justices on the court.

So Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch has suggested they think that old ruling should be overruled.

But in a briefing, they have said that with the Saint Mary Catholic Parish case, they will not take up the case law on the old court.

So they're not going to address that.

And that's not to say this isn't a big deal, that it's not another yet another case in which we are going in front of the Supreme Court and have not had necessarily a great track record on issues like this, but it does address this kind of longer tension of when public programs expand access and enforce equality.

And then there are institutions who want to be a part of that program, but in turn, they have to act against their beliefs.

That is a deep, complex issue that we have been debating in the U.S.

for a long time.

And when you add in the greater good of the universal preschool, what has gone on in Colorado, being able to get kids into learning, not learning about gender, and maybe not reading about Bible studies and Mary Magdalene that, well, you don't need to get into all that.

But what it means to be able to get more universal preschool for kids and how it sets them up to succeed later.

It's just a shame that anything could actually block some of that or cut some of the access off.

So I think Adam's maybe right.

That will Colorado will skate by on this one, but it could still be really tricky and throw a shade on a really important program.

Well, both Luigi and Adam mentioned our string of cases.

Colorado has lost all three of those cases.

I have on all three of them, weighed in in Luigi's papers and on this show and elsewhere, in favor of those rulings.

I do think I believe in religious freedom.

I believe in religious liberty.

I also believe in what I call the right to be wrong.

People can disagree in a pluralistic society, and I don't happen to agree agree with the website designer or Jack Phillips, the cake shop owner or what have you.

But that doesn't mean I don't respect their right to hold their opinion.

This one strikes me as somewhat different.

This is the tougher one in my own head because, you know, Lord knows there's no shortage of cake shops out there.

No shortage of bakeries, no shortage of web designers or whatever.

This is in a somewhat different category.

Reasons, Patty pointed out it is quote unquote universal.

I find this to be a closer and tougher issue.

I'm going to be very curious how the court handles it.

Okay.

Every show we have four topics.

That was just one of them.

You can watch our full episode though on Colorado Inside Out by checking out our YouTube channel, the PBS passport app, or on the PBS 12 website.

Also, if you're in the podcast, we're on Spotify and Apple as well.

if you've ever wondered who the next generation of civic leaders in our state might be.

Maybe all you have to do is take a peek inside a civics bee.

Regional competitions are happening across our state, and this week we head down to Alamosa, where middle school students from southern Colorado competed to answer questions about government history and civic responsibility.

Take a look.

Today's competition will include three rounds.

When students get a chance to actively get involved in their community by participating in civic activities.

They learn how to have dialog.

They learn how to listen.

They learn how to have conversations.

I'm hoping, these, young students learned that elected officials are approachable and that they can get involved in the process.

A lot of them had some very good, suggestions about things that can improve their communities.

I love that this event is for middle school students because it's showing them how to get involved early, how to participate in civic engagement, and just be active participants in their community.

I think the skills that are learned throughout this competition can help students for years to come, because it's helping students feel comfortable on stage and to be able to answer questions and to talk about the issues and the values that they are passionate about.

I'm really hoping that our participants learn to get involved at local government, especially in so because it is important to know that you do make a difference at every level.

Working for a credit union, community involvement and advocacy is a pillar for us.

And so to be able to be a part of this, it's just really important and find that platform for the students.

I think it gives them a better look on some of the community issues that, you know, maybe the Valley is experiencing.

And so I think it brings that awareness of and really empowers them and really excited about how we have our kids and everyone here just so impressive.

And it's really great to get them.

It triggers and ignites the ideas in the students of what's possible in their community.

I would highly encourage it next year, not only to get those ideas going of how they can help their communities, but also to have the opportunity to speak in front of a group of judges is really beneficial as well.

Thank you to Alamosa Chamber for putting this together and bringing this to the Valley.

Competitions like, Civic Spirit, play an important role in inspiring students to engage in government and community action.

The skills and knowledge that they've learned through engaging in their civic spirit will help them be more productive.

You know, employees, family members and community members because the the ideas of like, equality, respect, humility, those things are the things we want for every student.

The advice I'd give to those students who are considering participating in, civic speak is absolutely do it.

You're learn a lot.

It's fun, it's exciting.

And my other advice would be, really?

Throw yourself into it.

Take it serious, study, think carefully, and really prepare yourselves to compete.

Well, I would give the students the advice when they're thinking about competing to study and be prepared.

As you can tell, we had a lot of talented students here today, and, they were prepared.

Looks like they did their homework.

I think challenging yourself and getting yourself out of your comfort zone is, how you make progress and how you make changes.

And so, you know, just go for it.

It might feel uncomfortable and it might feel, you know, like a challenge, but, that's how you're going to make these make it happen.

So just get out there and do it.

The first place winner is.

And please join me and give it a round of applause too.

Is you all right?

Definitely proud of Zeke and Avery.

For placing first, first and second today.

They took their own time to complete their essays.

They were given the the prompt and everything in class, and they took advantage of the opportunity and just, took the initiative on their own time to get it done.

I care about civics because it's how you should you should think of your government is based off of, and it's just a big part in your community and you should know how to do civics, right?

My name is Ezekiel Polly, and I am today civics, regional culture.

And I didn't really know if I was going to win or not.

I really thought there was no chance I'm going to win that I did.

I'm incredibly excited and proud of Ezekiel for staying the course and working on the essay on his own time.

He put in all this effort for studying flashcards and really thought it through, and I. I really feel proud of him for doing that.

I think the biggest thing my child has taken away from this experience is understanding how important it is to be involved in our community.

When we bind together as a community, we can really accomplish a lot to help everybody and lift each other up.

I'm just so proud of them.

I think that they did an amazing job, and we were so happy to see the support from our community.

We had sponsors that came forward to help us cover the costs, and that really shows that everyone at all levels in the Valley understand how important this really is.

I'm just super excited.

I'm excited, and I thank you and PBS for being here covering this.

I think we need to share this with more communities around the whole United States, especially during these times that we're experiencing right now.

This is so crucial and is needed.

So I'm excited.

For.

Support for the civic space brought to you in part by the Daniels Fund in commemoration of America's 250th and Colorado's 150th anniversary.

Alamosa is just one of the communities competing in the civic spirit.

We're going to be featuring more of the competitions from all across the state right here on studio 12.

Then the top three from each region will be will go on to compete at the state Civic be.

That happens July 24th.

The overall winner from Colorado will then get the chance to compete at the national level in Washington, D.C.. We are proud to partner with the Daniels Fund in commemoration of America's 250th and Colorado's 150th anniversaries.

PBS 12 was honored to attend the 2026 CBC.ca Business Arts Awards, and it was a powerful night celebrating the significance of art here in Colorado.

We'd like to send a big congratulations to our friend Bala for winning the CBC.ca Cultural Leadership Award.

We're very proud to have featured her unique artistry right here on studio 12 as part of our heart of the West series.

Here's a look back at Bala's dynamic story.

For me, light and shade and bright colors, beautiful colors are what inspired me.

So this is the colored corn that you do get here in the US.

These are part of a stream of landscapes that I, have been doing.

I started a series of landscape painting based on the Colorado Plateau.

My career was in abstract, so behind me is one of my traditional Pardon Radium Dancer paintings.

It's, named after a goddess.

And in this, it's, the idea is that women are constantly on the move.

You know, so.

But we move with grace because there's just so many things to handle.

Right?

So that's what I'm trying to bring in this painting.

Hi, I am Paula.

Yeah.

Gretchen.

We are here for the opening night of Roots and Roots.

It's a South Asian visual artist group show.

This is the first time a group of us are getting together for an art show like this in Colorado Springs, you know?

So, stations, we've been here for so long.

It's just that that artist who are particularly visual artist and not performance artist, have just been so disconnected.

It's nice to have a community to get together and come together and be able to tell the broader community who we are and what we do.

She had approached me during the Caro Creative Industry Summit, saying, I never see my community represented in spaces and this is a problem.

And I'm like, I agree with you.

This is a huge problem on myself.

Essentially, after the conversation, around what she was hoping to do in collaboration with the South Asian artist community that she was not seeing represented.

She's I asked her, what does she need?

And she said she needs access to space and access to resources.

And I said, with, the space, I think I have you covered.

I really couldn't figure out where my community was.

And I lived in the suburbs.

I had two children.

And so for this to happen and to have the kind of artists that have come out, it seems from the woodwork, out of the woodwork, it's unbelievable to me to see this energy, to see people starting out, see people who have been doing things in isolation for a long time.

This show is all about visibility, representation and community.

To me, representation is not just having four walls and somebody put art on the wall, right?

It's when people actually engage with one another.

And art is a great means for that engagement, because I kept thinking, there must be a few other artists, because when I came here, there was nobody.

And I often thought to myself, I'm in a wilderness.

Because in 40 years ago, Colorado and Denver was a very different place.

This is the first time we've come together as a community of South Asian artists.

They're all wonderful people as well, so it's a lovely community that that's expanded suddenly from just knowing 2 or 3 of them to, you know, more than 20.

It's about the artist journey, their identity and their experience, what they bring to Colorado and what they have been creating here.

You know, I was just so inspired to paint this because, the Thanksgiving festival here kind of mirrors the Thanksgiving festival that we had back in India.

We make offerings to, the gods for a great harvest, and for all the good things that we receive.

And I really found this, mirrors that culture and that tradition.

Personally, one of my collectors called my artwork access to an art that it brings me to people, and it brings people to me.

And this exhibit is like that, except it's bringing an entire community of South Asian artists to the broader Denver metro.

And it's the same thing we are hoping to get so many people to come in, look at the artwork and engage with it.

Hopefully it sparks some curiosity and conversations and maybe lasting connections.

And to find out more about this Colorado artist, you can go to Art by Bolcom or find her on Instagram at Art by Bala.

The Colorado Broadcasters Association recently gave out its annual awards of excellence to television and radio stations all across our state.

We were proud to attend.

And our very own photojournalist, Rico Romero won the top award for best video essay without a narrative.

This was for his story at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Rico followed a former Denver family whose balloon bears the flag of the Mile High City and whose story goes back generations.

Here's another look at Rico's award winning piece.

We were at Albuquerque International doing theater rooms yesterday somewhere where they put the balloons up the fly.

Yards get real tired on this part.

Siesta is a time when pilots from around the nation, up and around the United States, all come together in one place.

Albuquerque and they fly.

We're basically, triad area around, Raleigh, Durham and North Carolina.

Everybody comes together and they fly in the beautiful skies of Albuquerque.

I like it, and most of the time they blow up the special shape.

You can have shapes, you have ride balloons, you have standard balloons.

You have anywhere from small balloons to super big 16 passenger balloons.

Past has a nine day annual event that happens the first two full weekends in October, and the week in between those is a certain pride to fly.

Have festivals and be the show for the people that they paid to get into.

The sights, this smells.

I don't know if you know this ballooning has a specific smell to it.

The leather, the propane, everything.

And just to get around the sights, the sounds of the smells.

And I just, got obsessed with it again.

It's been occurring since 1972.

Haven't been to the fiesta in a few years.

But, you know, I love it.

I like to tell people it's like walking among giants, because that's what you feel like when these balloons started flaming and you're also amongst them.

It reminds me.

It makes me think of walking with giants.

It brings together people from all across the globe to see this magical event, watching people who have not experienced this before, see that for the first time.

You can't describe it to anybody, to people.

So when you see that on somebody's face, you know, it's just, you know, it never gets old.

All right.

Here, I got you an M1 from the cherry on top, guys.

Vader and Frankenstein.

That balloon is what used to be Denver.

Kent's the city and county of Denver's flag.

So 5280.

Fire.

That's a balloon.

I learned how to fly in with Marnie's mom.

Or my mother in law.

My mother and father in law.

They were, Well, they are natives of Colorado.

Natives of Denver.

So when they were able to hand that balloon over to Marnie and myself, it's it's just been that balloon that we've always wanted a big part of who we are as a family.

John and I learned how to fly on that balloon, and it's still our favorite.

I think it's year 18.

I've been flying here.

Been here, been coming here for about 27 years now.

You have your blood family, and then you have your balloon family.

We are a, big community.

You know, I know pilots from all over the country, a few from around the world.

I have a lot of friends.

They're like, oh, like, it's so awesome.

You're a pilot's daughter.

I'm like, I'm not just the pilot's daughter.

Like, I'm crew.

I'm there waking up with them early in the morning doing weather check.

There are a number of families where it's generational.

There are quite a few generational balloon families probably on this field this week.

I have been coming to siesta my entire life.

Actually since In Utero, which is kind of crazy.

The first time I came, I was about nine months old.

My parents had just both got their pilot's license.

My grandma flew, and I've come every year since, minus a few here and there because of reasons.

But I've been coming for the past 21 years, and it's awesome.

And I look forward to being a future pilot.

It's great to have our kids here, Marnie.

She grew up doing this, so my dad put me in a little carrier, took me up.

I do not know.

Life without ballooning.

I'll be third generation once I get my pilot's license.

We really didn't push the kids to fly, you know?

We asked him.

Hey, do you guys want to fly?

And it wasn't until recently where they're like, yeah, dad, we want to start learning how to fly.

My grandma was a full time gasoline pilot and normal pilot on top of being a radiologist and doctor.

We call her noona, but she's Carol to everybody else.

The story goes that at the time they had one car.

And so my mom sold the car to buy a share.

And to their very first, she is someone who's in the Hall of Fame.

You see your picture around, you remember who she is.

Like she has the picture of one fiesta.

It's hard not having her, like, here to, like, see the beauty of it.

But like, I have my mom and I have my dad, and like, I'm there for the heartbreak and the tears.

Like, I've been here, like, this entire time, and it's like, I don't know, it's just.

It's fun to have fun doing something that's hard and missing people.

And it's you just have to make the best out of a hard, situation that has now turned into memories and power and so much more than just ballooning.

It's made it my connection to balloon and grow stronger.

It was, as Margaret mentioned, it was very, very difficult for a couple of years in there.

It's wonderful to talk to people now and understand the impact my mom made on them, and just a moment or a time in their lives.

And, so that's really it's been really rewarding and wonderful and healing for me to hear other people's stories about her.

For me, it's all about carrying on the legacy and it's what she would want us to do.

My mom and dad fly.

My mom doesn't fly as much because there was not here anymore.

But, because she is the definition of my grandpa.

And my dad carries the legacy and he carries a pen with just her, like, and just seeing, like, my mom, like, looks just like my grandma.

And it's just being able to see her and, like, living out her mom's legacy and, like, being an awesome mom and being an awesome wife, and, like, she works so hard.

And just seeing her come out here and, like, put a brave face and smile like it's inspiring.

I'm super proud of my family and like, I love my dad and I'm proud of what he does and like.

But it's like my mom's.

It's my mom's thing.

Like my dad's a pilot.

Because of my mom.

It's really hard.

Like missing people who you haven't had the relationship and being able to grow up with, like, so like Carol is the image and the backbone to like what we are as a family and like, yeah, she's not here.

But like, we carry her with us every day.

And my mom is such an awesome person and such a beautiful person, and so is my dad.

And to see my dad fly and my mom being like, okay, like I'm going to get back into it and do this like it's super awesome.

And just being here and like being back in Albuquerque, like embracing her culture and, embracing Balloon Fiesta has been super awesome to see the past couple of years because it was really hard for a long time, and now it's just seeing like the power and the movement, behind what my grandma did.

And now my parents are carrying on and what I hope to carry on after them.

Like I hope to be a great, awesome balloon pilot like my parents are.

But you just never know.

Like you don't ever know.

Thank you to the Schmitz and Davis families for sharing their story.

And a huge congratulations to Rico on winning that award of excellence and for overcoming his fear of heights.

Going up in a balloon.

Thank you so much for joining us for this edition of studio 12.

Don't forget, you can also check us out on YouTube and social media.

I'm Ashley Michaels and we'll see you right back here next week.