For more than two decades, the idea of “making a difference” has been as familiar to Coronado High School students as studying for a test, and this year’s class is leading an evolution of the Cougars Care program: spreading the knowledge.

“It’s changed quite a lot over 21 years — we’ve been a nonprofit in development — but our mission has always been to make sure no tangible need prevents a student from fully participating in their education,” said Brent Urban, who created Cougars Care in 2004 because he saw a need.

Urban has several roles at Coronado High in Colorado Springs School District 11, including Spanish teacher, department chair of world languages, embedded teacher coaching team coordinator and Cougars Care director.

Four years ago, the charitable works of Cougars Care — providing food, clothing, hygiene products, class fees, field trip fees, school supplies, track shoes and other material and monetary assistance weekly for the school’s students and their families –– added a career-and-technical education leadership class, which Urban also runs.

What makes Cougars Care unique is that everything from coordinating food orders with partners such as Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, for its Corner Market pantry to unloading, organizing, and distributing products, is student-led. Students even sit on the board.

“This is an outside-the-box kind of thing for a school to do,” Urban said. “They get credit, they get life skills, they get job skills, and they can earn certification.”

Sophomore Leighton Trafton said she’s learned a lot, such as taking responsibility when it’s warranted, pushing through hard days, communicating clearly, and problem solving when something goes awry.

“If you do make a mistake, being able to learn from it is a good lesson,” she said.

Her favorite part is writing thank-you notes to volunteers and donors. “It’s a special thing. They appreciate it.”

Other communities have studied the school-based model, Urban said, and this semester replication has begun in two area schools.

Under a two-year pilot called the Nourishing School Pantry program of Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, Mitchell High, also in D-11, and a rural school in Fremont County Public School District RE-2 are making progress.

Mitchell students are in the final stages of debuting their new Marauders pantry, with a “soft opening” and ribbon cutting in mid-December, said Valerie Jordan, project manager. Students have been painting the repurposed classroom, building cabinets and gathering supplies, she said.

Twenty students and an executive council of nine students are making decisions, assigning tasks, and reporting to Care and Share, Jordan said. Students have set hours of operation, are selecting and placing food orders, doing inventory, setting up the pantry and ensuring its cleanliness.

Grants and food products from Care and Share are helping the schools get started.

“As the pantry grows and we collect data, hopefully, we will see a correlation in increased attendance and academic growth as a result of having access to school,” Jordan said. 

Care and Share will also provide nutrition classes for parents and information on other community assistance.

Also, “We are planning to design a class where students will received academic credit, patterned after the Cougars Care class,” Jordan said.

When Urban founded Cougars Care, only one school in northern Colorado was doing something similar.

“I called them up and said ‘tell me everything you’ve learned and all the mistakes you made and learned from,’” he said. “That’s what we’re doing here with these schools.”

Cougars Care is not a separate nonprofit but falls under Coronado High and D-11’s philanthropic foundation.

The program runs on an annual budget of about $20,000, Urban said, all raised from contributions.

“D-11 lets us use the business office, accounting, tax auditors. Expenses would go up a lot if we had to pay my salary, insurance, the space, utilities, equipment.”

Between 30 and 50 students pick up necessities from the Corner Market every Thursday, long with another 20 families from the school and the neighborhood, he said. Last year, the pantry distributed about 35,000 pounds of food.

“Schools today realistically and holistically serve their families and the community,” Urban said. “They’re trusted institutions.”

The program spent $7,000 to purchase a refrigeration system — something pilot schools are being awarded funding for.

Coronado’s obsolete computer lab has been transformed into the Corner Market, where after school on Thursdays, students and families can select free clothing, pick through hygiene items, grab new notebooks and pencils, and take home snacks, breads and canned goods to refrigerated dairy, meats, fruits and vegetables.

The course provides a cool way to learn, classmates said Tuesday, as they prepped for this weekend’s massive Thanksgiving food giveaway to about 130 families from the school and around the central west-side neighborhood.

“You just feel good about yourself when you leave the class,” said student Addison Weis.  “Like this is really helping somebody, when they come in and grab a carton of eggs and milk.”

Senior Nate Wojcik, who aspires to become a nutritionist and fitness trainer, thought Cougar Cares was a volunteer thing but, when he heard it was a course, he wanted to enroll.

“What I like the most is helping out the community,” he said. “Not just people from the school but others, especially younger kids, to set them up for success in areas they may not be able to.”