2022
A year of exciting growth
Children in Grand Junction, CO enjoy the CaveSim squeezebox at the Eureka! McConnell Science Museum. Photo by Scott Crabtree, The Daily Sentinel.
Educating more people than ever
We’ve had a record year teaching kids and adults about science, engineering, cave exploration, conservation, and the importance of life-long learning.
What we accomplished in 2022:
- Welcomed a new team member, Maddy Joy Meisler. Maddy Joy has been exploring caves since her childhood in Missouri, and we're excited to have her as our new Program Coordinator and Educator.
- 124 days of in-person CaveSim programs in 8 states, including 28 straight days of programs this summer.
- Over 20,000 kids and adults learned from our programs this year.
- Expanded our cave-themed teambuilding program to help students rebound from the social challenges of the pandemic.
- Generous donors helped us meet our goal of full funding for a new trailer. The trailer will hold one of our two new mobile caves. See who supports us and support the project yourself at cavesim.com/support.
- Major progress on the hardware and software development of our new cave explorer tracking system.
- Signed a contract with the National Park Service to build a mobile CaveSim system for Great Basin National Park.
Christopher shows off the new cowboy hat that Maddy Joy got for Dave.
Welcome to the team!
Maddy Joy Meisler
Maddy Joy is a passionate educator and adventurer. Her love of the outdoors and teaching brought her to pursue Organismal Biology and Ecology and Education at Colorado College during undergrad. After experiencing an entire semester of teaching outdoors her senior year, she decided that environmental education was the best way to combine her passion and talents. Maddy Joy earned her Master Environmental Educator certification that she now uses to educate and create excitement about caves!
Changing the lives of
Kids with disabilities
We were excited to bring CaveSim back to Gus Garcia Young Men’s Leadership Academy during our trip to Austin, TX in September. This is our second year in a row working with the students at Gus Garcia, including the students in the Life Skills class. Last year, the students participated in all of our typical activities, including the mobile cave, vertical caving tower, and squeezebox. This year, we added something extra: a chance for the Life Skills students to learn to ascend the tower under their own power using the Frog System (which you can learn more about from our friend Derek Bristol in his YouTube video).
Although the students were apprehensive about rope climbing at first, they had incredible success overcoming this challenge. The kids learned that tenacity can help them overcome obstacles, and that they can do more than they realize.
It's not all work:
Good times with family
We’re passionate about what we build and what we teach, and we work incredibly hard. But we also take time to be with family, and to include family in our work.
Christopher helps us learn about what’s inside the new CaveSim systems.
