Willow Lawson ’28 and Charlotte Patty ’29 of Civic Collaboration Team Centennial spoke with local residents at the Celebrate Centennial event on June 6, 2026.
Civic Collaboration is one of the cornerstones of the Morehead-Cain Summer Enrichment Program, pairing teams of scholars with communities to solve real challenges and propose practical solutions.
This summer, one team spent eight weeks in Centennial, Colorado, working with city staff to evaluate and expand the city’s sustainability efforts. Hosted by Melanie Ward, the city’s development foresight and infrastructure readiness manager, the team focused on water conservation, community gardens, and waterwise landscaping, all of which are critical issues in a state facing water scarcity.
The scholars interviewed residents, consulted regional experts, and met with city staff across the Front Range. At the Celebrate Centennial event in June, they offered “popsicles for perspectives,” asking residents about their hopes for the city’s next twenty-five years. Those conversations led to a partnership with Resource Central, a Colorado nonprofit promoting water conservation.
Their recommendations included incorporating native, water-resilient trees into the city’s tree program; identifying grants for community gardens; and researching Colorado’s Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) program to finance renewable energy and water efficiency upgrades, according to Willow Lawson ’28.
“I realized the priority with design thinking isn’t to craft this idea that I’m really proud of,” Willow said. “The priority is to propose something that people will use and that will impact people’s lives.”
Read the full story in the Centennial Citizen.
This year, nineteen Civic Collaboration teams were placed throughout the country.
