CommonVoice: Fall/Winter 2009

S t e r l i n g C o l l e g e

SuStainable S

terling C

ampaig

n

CommonVoice


CommonVoiceThe Sterling College Community Newsletter Fall/Winter 2009

A look at what’s inside...

Incoming Students - 3 Melissa Fisher - 12 Sterling Campaign - 17Natural History - 8President’s Report - 4 Around Campus - 28

2 CommonVoice


The CommonVoice is published by Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont.

Editors:Will Wootton

Kate Camara

Design & Layout:Ethan H. Darling

Proofreaders: Micki Martin

Barbara Morrow

Writers: Will Wootton

Kate Camara

Photographers:Mike Seamans,’02, Jay Merril,’02,

David Gilligan

Contributing Artists & Writers: David Gilligan, Barbara Morrow,

Lynne Birdsall

Front Cover Students gather for All College Work Day

assignments.

Photo by Michael Seamans ‘02

Back Cover Sterling chickens greet the day.

Photo by Michael Seamans ‘02.

Letters, comments, and submission of articles, poetry, fiction, and photographs are welcome and should be e-mailed to [email protected]

Mission StatementThe Sterling College community combines structured academic study with experien-tial challenges and plain hard work to build responsible problem solvers who become stewards of the environment as they pur-sue productive lives.

When editing the CommonVoice sometimes it feels as though we are grasping from all angles to put together a cohesive whole. A picture of the last few months at Sterling. This time

around in almost every article I wrote, the word “community” popped up so frequently that I had to stop and reflect.

In trying to define what makes Sterling different I have often wrestled with language and descriptions. What is it? We have draft horses one might say. Other schools have draft horses. We’re a work college. Well we know there are six others. We focus on the environment and saving the planet. Every environmental liberal arts college makes this same claim. We’re small…now we’re getting to it. A hundred or so students and a handful of remarkable faculty. One hundred. I had classes in my undergraduate degree program that were three times this. Made it easy to hide in the back – or not go at all. Ahh now we’re really getting to it. Not a place to go and hide. A place to go and be seen – to participate in your education in broad daylight or in the dead of night. A place where we can sit in a circle and look at each other and air our announcements, issues, and appreciations. A place where if you are struggling a hand will reach out and guide you to knowledge. A place where instead of reading about local farms you get into a 15 passenger van and go visit one. A place where when the paint peels you scrape and repaint the fence with your fellow classmates. A place where when the bowls run out someone in the food line goes into the kitchen to get more. A place where if you look sick someone genuinely asks you if you are okay. A place where a professor’s two-year old son has 100 parents and pets are walked by whoever is free.

Not a place to go and hide. A place to go and be seen – to participate in your education in broad daylight or in the dead of night. It’s a start. — Kate Camara

CommonVoice ChallengeSend me your “What Makes Sterling Different,” ideas and we’ll put them together in the next issue and see what we come up with. Email your thoughts to [email protected] or drop them by my office in Mager Hall.

Sterling Community :

A Place to Go and Be Seen

wwww.sterlingcollege.edu • 800.648.3591 3


Sterling is a small school and a tight community. So when 40 new students arrive into the mix it is a cause for excitement, open arms,

and readjustments. They bring with them new energies, perceptions, talents, and a desire to find their niche and settle into this extended family. In that spirit the Sterling Community welcomed the incoming class of 2009-2010. But who are they? And where did they come from? Admissions Director Lynne Birdsall and her admissions team shared a broad profile gleaned from their incoming applications and essays at the first All College Meeting.

Out of the 40 students 59% are male and 41% are female. Sixty-six per-cent are between the ages of 17-19 years old, 26% are between the ages of 20-22 and 8% are 23 years old and older.

Sixteen percent come from Vermont; 47% are from the other New England States; the remaining 37% come from Alaska, California, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.

Sixty-three percent are attending college for the first time and 37% have transferred from other colleges and universities. They have previously attended: Boston College, University of Alaska Anchorage, Marlboro College, University of Vermont, Antioch College, and many more.

The talents and passions of our new students are abundant. They are photographers, musicians, skateboarders, runners, cyclists, first re-sponders, rock climbers, hikers, campers, writers, readers, poets, edi-tors, horseback riders, stable hands, kayakers, white water river raf-ters, snowshoers, wood and metal workers, blacksmiths, landscapers,

gardeners, farmers, potters, painters, martial artists, fencers, Yogis, and philosophers.

They enjoy working with tools, practicing Spanish, making jewelry, building tree houses and pontoon boats, and cooking. They have partic-ipated in school musicals, a chamber orchestra and concert chorus, and have been on the tech crew for drama groups. They have conducted wildlife surveys and studied mycorrhizal fungi.

They belong to environmental advocacy groups of all ilks and are ac-tively seeking out ways to preserve this planet. They have volunteered their services, in hospitals, elementary schools, wind energy projects and wetlands. They have fought fires, worked with environmental projects in Costa Rica, taught sustainable ecotourism practices to the Emera population in Panama, and worked on a sustainable farming project in France.

They are outdoor enthusiasts and lovers of travel. They have travelled around this country and beyond visiting England, France, Ireland, the British Virgin Islands, Italy, Puerto Rico, Australia, Scotland, Finland, Spain, Monaco, Japan, Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Mexico, Canada, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Brazil, Vietnam and countries in Africa.

In short although new to Sterling our new students bring to us the wealth of their experiences, expertise, and combined knowledge. We look forward to learning from them, about them, and all that is in be-tween.

inComing ClaSS of 2009-2010:

Small College and Close Community

4 CommonVoice


Take them in any order you want. From the largest to the smallest. The least costly to the unbelievably expensive. The almost completed to the glimmer in some dreamer’s eye. From who is in charge, to, Who is in charge? From the paid for to no-idea-where-the-money-is-coming-from.

It’s bricks and mortar, or in Sterling’s case more usually pine and nails. In one instance, sticks, mud, pine and nails.

There are always ideas for construction and renovation projects floating around Sterling, offered up by practically anyone, from board members to students. Some are painfully obvious—Paradise, for instance—which sits like a shaky old barn in the center of campus, not quite an eye sore, still used, but hurting. Others are institutional priorities, like a new student residency, that are pivotal to Sterling’s future. Some, if ignored, will go away. Others have a pedigree stretching back years or even decades and will never go away until rendered in reality.

In no particular order, then, here’s a summary, a status report, on the entire panoply of projects recently completed, in planning, under consider-ation, dearly wanted, or much needed.

preSident’S report: From the Ground Up, or Down

The Bread OvenInspired by former Garden Manager Heidi Wilson, the oven was built by students and faculty with help from Peter Schumann, founder of Bread & Puppet. It was built this summer led by student Rob Sullivan.

Site: Just off the west side of the kitchen.

Use: Bake bread, beans, pizza.

When: Completed.

Who is in charge: Student bakers Andy Messenger and Olivia Zukas, bakers Keren Ferrari and kitchen manager Justin Halvorsen.

Cost: $2,000

Compost CorralsThis is by far the president’s favorite construction project: He did not know it was happening, it cost practically nothing, it was built by stu-dents on Harvest Day in about two hours, it has both practical and edu-cational use. Perfect.

Site: Behind North House next to the path to potting shed.

Use: Generate compost for garden and campus grounds.

When: Completed.

Who is in charge: Student work crew.

Cost: Nothing.



The New Student ResidencyThe design phase started in the spring with a Special Topics class taught by designer Milford Cushman, of Stowe, (pictured above), Ned Houston, and Adrian Owens. Test holes for septic have been dug, and the Cushman architects are carrying the planning forward. Our on-campus committee, headed by Ned Houston and including students and trustees will be working through the fall as the plans for the en-vironmentally friendly residency are finalized. No, we will not be seek-ing LEED certification. After discussion we decided LEED certification is too expensive, unproven, and too often contrary to common sense. Instead, we think building small, tight, and smart is the way to go.

Site: The spring Special Topics class explored site options and in the end chose to place the building just to the south of Hamilton and Jef-ferson, creating a new common area between the three buildings.

Use: To expand on-campus capacity; to provide for special program housing, especially over the summer semester; to allow for shutting down and renovating existing dormitories.

When: If all goes well, we’ll dig and pour the foundation in late March or April, build over the summer, and open in the fall.

Who is in charge: Sterling’s vice-president Ned Houston, plant man-ager Steve Smith, Milford Cushman, the plant committee of the board of trustees.

Cost: $700,000. Sterling received $350,000 toward the project from the State of Vermont. We’ll use at least $100,000 of our US Department of Energy grant, and we had previously been awarded $65,000 from the Canaday Family Trust for architectural and design work. Thus, we’re about $200,000 short… and working on it.

Kane Hall Office RenovationsThe third floor of Kane Hall was abandoned because of fire safety issues and has spent the past decade as a repository for items any faculty or staff member deemed too valuable to throw away, but which had no place else to go. Like an attic, cellar, or parent’s house, stuff accumu-lated. Meanwhile, as the College grew the eight cluttered, dusty, and sometimes wildly off plumb rooms were desperately needed to house faculty offices and as teaching spaces. To re-occupy, what was needed was a second fire-rated stairwell, and an all around renovation not only for fire protection but to make the spaces livable.

The estimates of $70,000 and $90,000, however, set us back on our heels until someone thought to employ a team from the Caledonia County Correctional Work Camp in St. Johnsbury. From the Work Camp about ten teams of skilled, short-term inmates take on minor or major construction projects for non-profit institutions. Ripping into a fully occupied 150 year old wood-framed structure is always an exercise in discovery, let’s say, and Kane proved no less an adventure, in part because the original stairway had to be completely rebuilt even as the new egress—down through Ned Houston’s old office—was being completed. By the time the final pan of dust is swept, all the offices and other rooms on both floors will have been renovated and painted.

Use: There are now eight new faculty offices, as well as a still disorga-nized but dedicated College Archive Room, a building-wide meeting or seminar space, three other small storage spaces.

When: Expected completion date, October 15.

Who is in charge: Steve Smith and Ned Houston.

Cost: $30,000

6 CommonVoice


New Farm Equipment ShedEvery time draft horse manager Rick Thomas leaves campus for a mo-ment, a new piece of old equipment appears. Some, few actually, are beautiful things, like the black four-seater winter sleigh donated by Bob and Sue Griffiths. And the wholly utilitarian logging arch , and the worn but sturdy and intact Babcock buggy that materialized in front of North House in early September. But most are not, like the seed drill, riding cultivator, potato plow, the spreader, even the old 8-foot wagon. But all, including the College’s battered Kobota, must reside in the equipment shed at the top of the farm pasture – or be hidden, parked, or planted elsewhere because the shed is too small, too old, too exposed, too over-used. When we expand the shed, Rick advises we include a roof to one side to cover the saw mill, and between that and the shed a solar-powered kiln for drying fresh boards and beams.

Site: Current Location.

Use: To better manage and protect farm equipment.

When: A year away, at least.

Who is in charge: Rick Thomas.

Cost: $7,000 to $10,000 with student and community labor.

A New, Better High Challenge CourseThe slow demise of the tall elm tree that for years anchored one corner of the College’s high challenge, or high adventure, course provoked the installation of a new 30-foot pole and the array of connecting ca-bles to create a new course about 20 feet above the ground.

Site: On the same spot as the old course, in the cedar swamp next to the climbing wall.

Use: The Outdoor Education and Leadership faculty teach two levels of adventure course facilitation, concentrating on the technical, safety, and group leadership aspects of facilitation. To practice their exper-tise, students help faculty (or vice versa) in leading groups through the course. Primary users are local public schools, business groups on team building retreats, and at least once a year the more adventurous mem-bers of our own faculty and staff.

When: The pole was planted in the fall and the cables rigged in the late spring by High Five, of Brattleboro, VT. Anne Morse made the first ascent in September.

Who is in charge: John Zaber, Anne Morse.

Cost: $9,000



The Root Cellar/Ice HouseThe origins may be obscure, but the catalyst was our former garden manager Heidi Wilson, who proposed a simple, partially underground wood and concrete root cellar to replace the wholly inadequate and too small food storage locker in the basement of Madison. We would construct it ourselves. It would be easy. And cost almost nothing. Heidi appealed to the highly creative and detail-oriented planners and architects at Whole Farm Planning in Burlington, who delivered a complete design, including an analysis of energy savings and storage capacity.

Site: Behind North House and Simpson III, on the slope next to the path to Hamilton and Jefferson.

Use: To increase our food storage capacity (see Hoop House project, above), expand curriculum in food systems and traditional preservation method-ologies, and to save expenditures on electricity use.

When: Dependent on funding.

Who is in charge: No one yet, or everyone who is interested.

Cost: Somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000. But because the facility uses no more electricity than that to power a few low wattage light bulbs and actually saves power because we could eliminate a number of expensive stand alone refrigeration units, our DOE grant would pay for half the cost. In addition, unlike the residency project, the Ice House could employ community labor as well as the use of our sawed beams and lumber.

Double-hulled 8’ x 30’ Hoop HouseTo teach environmental agriculture in northern Vermont you better be operating in the summer, you also better understand and employ—and teach—around new ideas and practices of extending growing seasons with passive solar technology. Although at Sterling building a teaching hoop house has been much discussed, it took our new garden manager (what is it about garden managers?) Corie Pierce to push this project from desire to reality. Corie has been teaching year-round crop production in as many as six giant hoop houses at Michigan State University in Lansing, a location where the temperature swings are as dramatic as they are in Vermont. Sterling’s small hoop house, above, has been in service for about six years.

Site: In the swale above the McCarthy Barns, next to the stone well. There is room enough for two houses; the first will be built to the south of the well and the second, whenever that happens, to the north.

Use: As a year-round academic facility in organic crop production and in order to increase our fresh and storable food capabilities.

When: After preparing the ground, the plan is to set the hoops this fall and in early spring spread the cover, and build the end walls.

Who is in charge: Corie Pierce, Rick Thomas.

Cost: $8,500, including using student and community labor.

8 CommonVoice


In their Autumn 2001 issue, Orion magazine listed a scant nine insti-tutions of higher education with programs in natural history. That

same year I had completed my graduate work in Natural History and Ecology and was teaching field courses for Prescott College in Arizona when I began my own search for college-level programs with roots in natural history, convinced that there had to be more than had made the pages of Orion.

Eventually my search led me to a remote corner of the Northeastern U.S., where Sterling College had matured to a four-year Liberal Arts program and merged with the Center for Northern Studies in Wolcott.

Between Sterling College and the Center, I found course offerings

such as Vertebrate Natural History, Field Ornithology, Polar Flora and Fauna, A Sense of Place, Nature Writing and others. I also found profes-sors such as Dr. Steven B. Young, who, although his academic pedigree reads “botany and evolutionary biology,” considers himself foremost a naturalist; K. Jeffrey Bickart, naturalist and avian paleontologist who was notorious for coming to class wielding high-end spotting scopes, dressed in braintanned buckskin pants and hand-knit sweaters; Dave Linck, known to peel beaver carcasses off the highway for classroom dissections; and resident naturalist Dick Smyth, born with his boots on, who over the last forty years in the area has watched half the trees grow from sprouts and knows them all on an individual basis.

expanding aCademiCS: A Definition of Natural HistoryNot too many years ago natural history at Sterling managed only to “peek out” of the College’s curriculum, mostly as a means to an end. But that was enough, writes faculty member and naturalist David Gilligan in a Journal of Natural History essay, to be “convinced that the seed of natural history had already germinated at Sterling and needed only to be nurtured to fruition.” The discovery of Sterling settled the first part of David’s search; he’d found where he wanted to land. The next was to see whether from the combined resources of the Sterling faculty a deeper, more academically cohesive concentration in natural history could be shaped. Although David would be first to say there is still plenty of room for development, last year there were 19 Sterling third and fourth year students engaged in concentrations or self-designed majors in natural history. Exactly how that came about is the subject of David’s essay, much condensed in the selections here. You can read the entire piece at http://www.jnhe.org.



Our first order of business was to divine a definition for natural history. No simple task.

At the end of most of the natural history courses I ask my students if they knew what natural history was before they took the class. Almost without exception they admit that they had no idea. Then I ask them if they knew what a naturalist was. They all say yes, a naturalist is someone who knows about nature, and as often as not teaches about it. If they know what a naturalist is, why don’t they know what natural history is? It’s the word “history” that throws them off. In creating the modern English term “natural history,” much was lost in translation. The term comes to us from the Latin historia naturalis, meaning “inquiry into nature,” which has a different feel altogether than “natural history.” Historia naturalis could also be translated as “looking into nature” or “knowledge of nature.” I ask my students if this sounds like what we’ve done. They all nod and smile, patting the compre-hensive field journals they are about to turn in.

As an inquiry into nature, natural history is as much a practice, or method, as a body of knowledge. In fact, these days when the body of knowledge that is natural history has been partitioned and re-named as increasingly sophisticated disciplines and subdisciplines of the study of the natural world, it is the method of natural history that makes it distinct. Simply put, while other scientific studies of the natural world rely predomi-nantly (or solely) on the practice of the scientific method as pioneered by physicists in the 15th and 16th centuries, natural history relies on the million-year-old process of observation and interpretation.

Observation is direct and personal, and interpretation occurs through documentation, which involves description, comparison, classification, and in some cases reflection and contemplation. Although it may often share bodies of knowledge with other sciences and humanities, it is the practice of this method of inquiry that makes natural history distinct.

Upon this foundational practice may be built a variety of edifices, including ecology, evolutionary biology, botany, conservation biology, natural history education and interpretation, historical and philosophi-cal perspectives on nature, and arts such as photography, illustration, prose, and poetry.

Eventually my colleagues at Sterling College and I came to define natural history as “a field-based science employing descriptive and

comparative methods for understand-ing and interpreting the biotic and abiotic components of the natural world, the relationships among them, and their evolution through time.” We went further: (including…) “Natural history also stems from a rich tradition of interbraiding the natural sciences and nature-based humanities such as visual and literary arts, and many naturalists use their training to become liaisons between the scientific community and nonscientists.”

Today’s naturalists are translators of scientific and aesthetic vernacular, nec-essary liaisons between specialists and laypeople, committed practitioners of observation and interpretation of a natu-ral world that is changing perhaps more quickly than we can know. The modern naturalist is a generalist in the sense that he or she necessarily keeps track of a va-riety of fields, often rubbing shoulders with the best scientists, social critics, and artists of the times, but a specialist in the methods of direct observation and interpretive synthesis. These naturalists will be biological technicians, geologists, park rangers, educators, conservation-ists, activists, journalists, poets, artists,

all of which hold in common that they bear witness to the natural world through direct personal experience of it. If diamonds are valuable and considered precious because they are rare, a good naturalist is far more priceless and much more useful.

From the perspective of higher education, Sterling’s program and a handful of others offer a refreshing interdisciplinary antidote to increasingly specialized programs and may well be an ideal model of a liberal arts education in an age of environmental calamity. But the most compelling reasons for being a naturalist may be less academic and politically correct. For me, the practice of natural history is a rich and worthy end unto itself, an experiential celebration of the beauty of nature.

10 CommonVoice


Heralded in from the rain by Piper Robert McEwing, the Class of 2009 strode into the 10th Baccalaureate Sterling Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 9th as 19 individuals with one more thing in common—bare feet. Over 200 parents and guests attended the event made all

the more lively by commencement speaker and self-described, ‘Christian libertarian environmental capitalist,’ Joel Salatin. Nationally renowned organic farmer, author and lecturer, Joel Salatin spends his days on his family’s Polyface Farm in Virginia—one of the world’s finest examples of an environmentally friendly farm. As an author, Mr. Salatin has written prolifically on the subject of holistic animal husbandry and farming including his recent book, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front. Author Michael Pollan, wrote about Mr. Salatin’s farm in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, highlighting his grass-based farming practices.

Sterling President Will Wootton awarded Mr. Salatin an honorary doctorate of humane letters after which formality took a Sterling seat as Mr. Salatin took the stage.

Mr. Salatin, who quipped that the animals on his farm have a great life and one bad day, shared with the graduates “ten things from my lifetime of farming that I think I would have liked someone to tell me at a commencement.”

1. Humility— “All you have to do is make that pig do something it doesn’t want to do and you’ll find out you’re not always in control.”

2. Balance — “All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy, all play and no work make Johnny a homeless pauper.”

3. Forgiveness — “Probably the most powerful energy source in the world.”

4. Building relationships — “We must train a guard dog so he likes to kill foxes more than he likes to eat drumsticks.”

5. Patience — “We have to plant the carrot and nurture the carrot until we have a carrot.”

6. Disturbance —“If you’re going to plant a garden you can’t just throw seeds on the lawn and say ‘I’ve got a garden.’”

7. Appreciation — “You can tell a lot about a person’s character by who you honor and appreciate.”

8. Maintaining the Order of Nature— “Herbivores don’t eat herbivores.”

9. Sacredness — “Every single action and every thought can be sacred or unsacred. Every single thing you do should be done thoughtfully.”

10. Opportunity —“You have earned the opportunity to go into a vocation that needs not only your intellect, but your character. You have been entrusted with indigenous wisdom and heritage knowledge. You will find opportunities up the wazoo.”

CommenCement 2009: Step Mindfully. Breathe Deep. Smile...



Student speakers and graduates Matthew Chaput and Adam McCullough spoke next summing up their four years at Sterling and thoughtfully musing about paths ahead—one through an analogy of laughter and the other in verse.

Matt began his speech saying that he felt the pressure that he “say something funny,” at commencement. After working to define appropriate humor in a graduating ceremony he ended his speech on a more poignant note reflecting on a sidewalk poem written in chalk by a fellow student.

“There are seven words you can’t say at graduation, or at least I’m fairly positive that I shouldn’t say at graduation. But Brandon unknowingly gave me seven words I could say at graduation, and they’re not humorous, instead I find them thought provoking, and solid words to live by as we prepare to leave the Sterling College Community. So as I conclude this speech I would like to leave you with the seven words you can say at graduation…Step Mindfully. Breathe Deep. Smile; you’re alive.”

The graduates who received the degree of bachelor of arts on Saturday were Jeremy Brosnahan, Matthew Thomas Chaput, Max R. Constant, R. Keith Doerfler, Lucy Capewell Donaghy, Kyle Gruter-Curham, Matthew R. Hawley, Brandon Hill, Anika Klem, Jonathan

Kline, Matthew D. Lisk, Benjamin Mackie, Ben Matthews, Adam McCullough, Joshua Richard Parker, Robert Pougnier, Allison Robinson and Angela Revallo. Ruth A. Miller received an associate of arts degree. An honorary bachelor of arts degree was granted to faculty member Richard Smyth, who became, thereby, an honorary member of the class of 2009.

The following are excerpts from Adam McCullough’s speech:

~

…All of you in the crowd today know the strip.

So don’t worry (like we did) about whether you’re welcome in Quebec City.

Foreign-ness is not predictable. Not by borders not by language, not the color of people’s skin.

So I’m here to welcome you to this foreign country called Sterling College.

Look at you! You got off the strip. Congratulations.

Still English, still U.S.A. Still Vermont. But no one’s selling anything.

If that’s not an outlandish concept what is?

You are welcome here! Try to enjoy the lack of noise, the lack of thought pollution telling you you’re not good enough the way you are.

This is not the strip so take a deep breath!

The closest we have to an adult movie theater is sneaking up behind an open field and waiting for the woodcock to perform.

The closest we have to a parking ticket is a gentle reminder at community meeting from Jeremy Brosnahan.

The closest we have to a police force is kindness.

~

…Here at Sterling is the one place I’ve found that I really fit in. I love it here. Needing to leave is the biggest kick in the pants of my life. I rarely finish books because I hate endings so much. I’d rather linger with the immortal characters in the glittering settings than see how it all turned out

…So you follow your bliss, enjoy simple pleasures and remember that you’re not alone.

12 CommonVoice


alumni interview:

Melissa Fisher ‘00 On The High LineDiving into and mastering the unknown is not new to alumna

Melissa Fisher. For her senior project she worked at an urban food garden in Austin, Texas. After graduating with her B.A. in Sustainable Agriculture, she traveled to Tanzania, Africa with the Peace Corps where she was poised to work on community gardens. But that took a back seat to more pressing needs in the rural village and she adjusted her mission to work on projects ranging from water access and fuel efficient stoves, to school nutrition, to dealing with female circumci-sion. Some years later after whirling around countries and careers, Melissa landed in New York City where, after completing a two year program in professional horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden, she was hired as the Horticultural Society of New York’s director of GreenBranches managing the creation and programming of public gar-dens in underserved neighborhoods around the city. Today Melissa is the Deputy Director of Horticulture and Park Operations at the high profile High Line project in New York City.

The High Line is a public green space atop a 1.5 mile-long historic el-evated rail structure on the West Side of Manhattan. Built in the 1930s

for industrial rail traffic and abandoned in the 1980s, the structure was repurposed for public use and the park officially opened in June of 2009. It features an integrated landscape combining meandering con-crete pathways and public lounging areas.

“When the High Line opens, thirty feet above the street, native grasses and wildflowers will form a ribbon of green, and visitors will discover a place that embodies all that is great about New York City,” said Robert Hammond, Co-Founder of Friends of the High Line—the non-profit or-ganization formed ten years ago to cover the advocacy, fundraising, and now, management of the park.

When Melissa was hired Friends of the High Line (FHL) was a small non-profit of 11 employees – an advocacy group in need of a horticul-ture manager. Now it is an organization of 40, working to maintain a nationally-recognized project involving teams of architects and land-scape designers, NYC zoning officials, and celebrities the likes of envi-ronmental activist Edward Norton.

“I’ve learned so much working on the High Line,” Melissa said. “It has all been

Photo of Melissa Fisher atop the High Line in NYC by Barry Munger.



so multi-faceted –the construction of the park, the plantings, the opening, and how the park now functions as a public space.”

Melissa’s work at the High Line project is vast and varied. Working closely with FHL’s Vice President of Horticulture & Park Operations, on one hand she is responsible for facilitating the planting gardens in the park. There are over 50,000 trees, shrubs, perennials, and bulbs in the first completed section of the High Line. But there was also a need for an operations manager – or as Melissa calls it, “the problem solver.”

“I worked on the horticultural end of it – but then I realized that I really enjoyed thinking about the operation and systems – a series of interesting problems needing research, implementation and strategy.”

For both the plant side of things and the operation work Melissa said she has called upon the knowledge she gained at Sterling.

“Sterling gave me such a sampling of different areas of study. One thing Sterling instilled in me is the concept that you just have to go do it. That’s the only way to learn. And not to be afraid of something because you don’t know anything about it. At the High Line there are so many pieces of the puzzle and so much learning as I go. Sterling taught me not to be afraid to go out and learn – it’s all about seeking out who has the answers and talking to them, researching solutions and implementing them, and being willing to try an approach that might not work. I take a lot of notes!”

Prior to the June 2009 opening, Melissa worked with architects and landscape designers on the installation of all the High Line plantings. Soon after, she began researching and acquiring the needed equip-ment to run the park and hiring staff.

“As we worked towards opening, we had to constantly consider and recon-sider how the park, which is only 20 feet wide in certain places and thirty feet off the ground, would function with people moving through it – as well as what impact it would have on local real estate and businesses.”

“It can be challenging conducting day to day operations knowing you are watched by a lot of people,” Melissa said. “I have never worked so hard – 7 days a week – 14 hours a day during those opening months– it’s great to feel so dedicated to something.”

Melissa transferred to Sterling from Dartmouth for her senior year in Sustainable Agriculture. At Dartmouth she was looking to create her own environmental major after becoming interested in organic farming. But she discovered she would have to switch to a science to study plants. Then she found Sterling and the opportunity to study plants in the context of a liberal arts degree.

In the Sterling classrooms this developed into a strong interest in plants, plant science and how plants grow. At Sterling Melissa said she was exposed to and enjoyed a wide variety of courses involving the study of plants, tree identity wildflowers, identifying and clas-sification, and local plant communities.

She said she also transferred from Dartmouth looking for a smaller college with a sense of community. “One of the things I saw at Sterling was how far individuals and projects can go with the support of a strong community – how powerful that can be. This sense of community is some-thing I have looked for or hoped to cultivate in the workplace since I gradu-ated.”

Melissa said the Sterling faculty exemplified this community spirit.

“The concept of community runs through everything Sterling is doing – in the classroom, at meals, and in residences. And the faculty is phenomenal—so accommodating and welcoming. I loved that faculty came to meals and that most students had been to their homes and knew their families. That is one of the key things that makes Sterling so special. Not just the small size, but that Sterling has really worked to make community a priority in its day-to-day mission.”

Photo courtesy of Friends of the High Line.

14 CommonVoice


Penny Schmitt, Elected to the Board in February

Penny Schmitt, known to generations of Sterling students and faculty as the owner and innkeeper of the Inn on the Common with her hus-band Michael, was appointed to the Sterling board at its February ’09 meeting. After graduating from Bryn Mawr and a career in New York City in advertising and community work, she and Michael purchased the Inn in 1973. Over the ensuing 30 years the Inn on the Common became what is today known as a “destination inn” meaning people would travel a long way just to get there. They sold the Inn in 2003 and moved next door; Michael died suddenly in 2004.

Penny held a number of positions in such marketing companies as J. Walter Thompson and Geer, Dubois, heading up accounts for American Petrofina and Teacher’s Scotch. Her community work extended to Community Planning Board 8, representing the upper east side of Manhattan. Eventually she specialized in institutional advancement within the district. She also headed up the Rat Control Project for the City of New York, working with the health and police departments. “I learned a lot,” she noted, “And not just about rats.”

At Sterling, Penny serves on the development and plant commit-tees. She has been active in the design and planning phases of the Sustainable Sterling Campaign, and in representing the College in its local community.

James C. Walton, Elected as a Sterling Trustee

At its October 10th meeting the Sterling College board of trustees elect-ed James. C. Walton, of Craftsbury, to the board for a three year term. With a degree in American Studies, Jim graduated from St. Michael’s College in Colchester in 1963 and went to work for the Dow Corning Corporation in Midland, MI, where he held positions in marketing, sales, applications engineering and technical services.

That didn’t last very long, and he left in 1965 to start his own firm, Chase-Walton Elastomers, Inc., in Hudson, MA. The company served the automobile and aircraft industry, including the Space Shuttle and Hubble telescope projects, with 40 percent of sales exported, primar-ily to European countries. The company grew from the original seven employees to 140 by 2005.

In 1987, while still managing Chase-Walton, Jim created and served as president of the SF Medical Corporation, an FDA registered company providing research, development, and finished products for the hospi-tal, medical device, biotech and pharmaceutical industry.

Then, in 1995 and serving as chairman of his two companies, Jim and his wife, Jackie, moved to London to start a UK holding company, JSJ International.

A year later, he purchased a Croydon, UK company, G&K Engineering, that provided metal goods and tooling to the aerospace industry in Europe and the US. In 2005, Jim sold everything.

newS from the board of truSteeS

Concern and watchfulness over the College’s operating budget and debt burden, its endowment management, and the management of the board itself, are the guideposts of Sterling’s board of trustees, and particularly the executive and finance committees. But there are dozens of

opportunities over the course of a year for the trustees to engage in other important avenues of governance. Probably the two most intense areas over the last year have been preparing for the Sustainable Sterling Campaign and understanding and engaging in the deliberations and plans for Sterling’s emerging “continuous semester” system. The two are irrevocably linked: the Campaign is designed to provide the necessary financial support while the College undertakes the design and multi-year implementation of the unique year-round college model.

The Campaign and the new semester model will continue high on the board’s list of activities this year, and will be joined by increased oversight of the physical plant as the College builds a new student residency and engages in a number of other additions to the plant, all of which affect both the curriculum and student life.

In the meantime, of course, the make up of the board itself continues to change with new members joining and others departing, either because their terms expire or their lives take new directions with new obligations or priorities.



He and Jackie then moved full time to Craftsbury, where Jackie’s roots run deep. Born Jackie Farror Menard her parents owned and operated the current Paradise Hall when it was a store and post office. As a child, Jackie played in the now newly renovated Kane Hall, where her grandmother, Julia Pike was born and where the Pike family operated a hotel, the Orleans House.

Apple Faulkner ‘84, Trustee and Board Officer, Steps Down

After seven years as a board member and most recently a two-year term as vice chair and secretary Abigail Faulkner ’84 – “Apple” to everyone who knows her – decided in September not to seek another term at the October meeting. “The time has come for me to step off the Sterling board,” she said in a note to Board Chair Bob Shelton. “I’ve hemmed and hawed for over a year, but have decided that the time is right…now that other efforts in my life are at a rolling boil on my ‘front burner.’”

Apple joined the board in February ’02. In 2005 she served as board secretary, and in October ’07 became vice chair and secretary. Most recently, she sat on the development and student life committees, as well as being a member of the executive committee. “Sterling will always remain near and dear to me. I am excited to see enrollment climb, and hope that word of this tiny but important institution is spread far and wide. While there is much to be done, I think the College is in excellent hands.”

President Will Wootton noted: “Apple was the first trustee I met after the search committee finished their work. We sat in her kitchen for two hours talking about the College, its history and struggle, the remarkable things she and other alumni had accomplished as students. For me as a new president Apple represented not only a steady presence of alumni on the board, but invaluable advice on who was who, and what was what. We are all going to miss her as a board member, but in every other capacity I know she’ll be there for Sterling.”

Andy Harvard, Academic, Executive & Student Life, Steps Down

After three full terms of service, nine years as a Sterling trustee, the College’s by-laws caught up with Andy Harvard and his role as the College’s longest serving board member. After three terms, board members are required to step off for at least one year.

A close friend and climbing partner of former president Jed Williamson, he served on a wide variety of committees, most recently the Academic Committee and the Student Life Committee, both reflecting his position as a Dean of Student Life and Director of Outdoor Programs at Dartmouth College.

For a number of years, Andy chaired the Nominations Committee, the group responsible first for seeking out new potential board members, and second as the oversight committee for all things related to the College’s by-laws. Fully half of today’s board, including its current Chair, Bob Shelton, and treasurer Pete Chehayl, were recruited by Andy and Jed.

Interestingly, Andy’s professional life as an attorney, as the president of a Paris-based multina-tional engaged in agriculture and energy, in his academic life as a dean of students and outdoor education, and his career as an alpinist reflect almost exactly the entire Sterling curriculum. “Andy was a key player in the complex merger of Sterling and the Center for Northern Studies,” said President Will Wootton. “And for me, his perspectives on how mergers work, and sometimes don’t work, were of great help over the past three years as the two organiza-tions continued to meld their programs and philosophies. Andy’s attention to the needs and desires of students and his quiet diplomacy in the knottier elements of board governance was a valuable combination for Sterling. All that will be missed.”

Robert Shelton, J.D. Chair of the Board

Dave Stoner Vice Chair Nomination (Chair), Executive and Academic

Pete Chehayl Treasurer, Finance (Chair), Admissions & Plant

Gail HenrySecretary, Development & Nominations

Reid Bryant ‘00Admissions & Nominations

Kate Clark, J.D. ‘88Admissions & Nominations

John Elder, Ph.D.Academic & Plant

Linda Friehling, M.D. Admissions (Chair), Executive & Student Life

Dick Gaffney, Ph.D. Academic (Chair), Executive & Plant

Amy Golodetz ‘84Student Life (Chair) & Academic

Ann Guyer Development (Chair), Executive & Nominations

Wendy Koenig Development & Plant

Greg Leech ‘86Admissions & Plant

David McLean, J.D. ‘86Plant (Chair), Finance, & Development

Ed Nef, A.B. Development & Plant

Penny Schmitt Development & Plant

Ross Virginia, Ph.D. Academic & Student Life

Jim Walton Finance & Plant

Will Wootton President, Ex Officio

Board of Trustees & Committee Assignments

16 CommonVoice


It’s illustrative to think back to October 2008 when the College’s board of trustees and development staff were finalizing plans for a major four-year fund-raising drive – the Sustainable Sterling Campaign – as the national economy was collapsing around us…all of us. Not the climate for an

auspicious beginning, we thought. Good potential for an outright flub. A quick survey found other colleges and organizations scaling back their efforts, or postponing campaigns outright and shrinking their expectations. Others chose to forge ahead.

For Sterling, there was no going backwards, too late for that. So we jumped in and after a year that can only be described using rollercoaster metaphors, emerged at the end of the fiscal year not only intact but also having exceeded our expectations. The Sustainable Sterling Campaign is now set to begin its second year, having raised over $750,000 in Year I, and having a solid Year II base of about $95,000 toward the ambitious $500,000 goal.

There were some extraordinary gifts: at the conclusion of the Pioneer’s reunion former chair of the board and Sterling School graduate David Behrend ‘60 contributed $50,000 to help set the Campaign on the right track. The Sterling board of trustees collectively pledged over $75,000 per year over the course of the drive. And the number of gifts above $10,000 rose dramatically from friends of the College from Michigan, to southern Vermont, to right next door.

Although the number of contributors actually shrank slightly (from 391 the year before to 371 last year) due probably from the impact of the recession, the total amount of unrestricted gifts jumped from $198,000 to $359,000.

For Sterling, living year after year on the edge as it does, nothing is more valuable than unrestricted contributions that can be devoted to student scholarships, faculty compensation, and, essentially, the cost of simply doing business. But coming very close was the remarkable series of events that ultimately led to Sterling being given a $350,000 appropriation from the state of Vermont to be devoted to expanding our residential capacity. Without that the College would not be digging test holes out by Hamilton and Jefferson dormitories, nor meeting in committee with the Cushman Design Group, nor planning on construction to start in the spring. The legislative votes that carried those funds to Sterling also propelled our campaign into high gear and made real one of the College’s most important goals, the capacity to expand.

When you begin a campaign, it’s the first year that sets the tone and pace. If things don’t go well, if the signs for success do not materialize, then a campaign has to be scaled back or totally rethought. Even facing the most threatening economy in generations, Sterling’s alumni and friends rose to the occasion to an incredible degree. Now we can keep going with the confidence that the Campaign will continue to pick up speed with new donors large and small, as well as the on-going support from our closest supporters.

fiSCal year 2008-2009: The Year in Fund Raising



SuStainable Sterling Campaign


THESUSTAiNABLE STERLiNG

CAMPAiGN

a four-year, $2.3 million ComprehenSive Campaign

2009-2012

Building Academic Strength and Fiscal SustainabilityThrough a Series of Institutional Initiatives and Fund-Raising Goals

18 CommonVoice




In summer 2008 the Sterling College board of trustees and others began an exploratory, and somewhat quiet, first year of the four-

year Sustainable Sterling Campaign. The idea was to test the Col-lege’s institutional goals and the fund-raising needed to attain them.

We began the year by simply telling the Sterling College story based on the people and place that define one of the nation’s most unusual undergraduate colleges. Sterling’s story is an economic one, a curric-ular one, and one that places work, learning, and service at the center of its being. It’s a tale of an almost classic progressive education, put-ting the “practice” back into the notion of “theory and practice.” For better or worse, the Sterling story identifies our College as a dynamic alternative to mainstream American higher education.

Today Sterling students and faculty are engaged in academic areas that are of vital importance locally, nationally, and internationally: Nationally, our year-round Sustainable Agriculture program is one of a small handful of cross-disciplinary majors attempting to under-stand and teach broadly the emerging practice of sustainable, envi-ronmental farming to a new generation of agriculturalists as attuned to policy, economics, and entrepreneurism as they are to the hard work of farming.

Conservation Ecology, as a major area of study and an institutional practice, sets the philosophical baseline at Sterling, influencing our entire community. Understanding the relationship of living things to the environment—as often as not the relationship of humans to the environment—underpins our entire curriculum.

It is our Outdoor Education and Leadership majors who will be re-sponsible for teaching our children (and their parents) how to value and respect the natural world and experience it first-hand. They are the mountain climbers, river paddlers, back-packers, guides and teachers without whom for many people nature and wilderness would be unapproachable and misunderstood, and thus further en-dangered.

The deep intellectual activism and creative engagement that attends the study of the Natural History of the Northern World, an area of increasing excitement and involvement at Sterling, fosters the links among nature, travel, natural philosophy and the arts.

There is more to Sterling, of course, but a snap shot depicts a young institution still eager to improve and expand, to build strength in-stead of size, to refine its mission, to prove its value and place in higher education and in the lives of its students and the surrounding Northeast Kingdom community.

*********

Our strengths in people, place, and programs, however, do not protect us from the forces of the national economy, our own in-

stitutional characteristics, or the competitiveness of American higher education. Despite remarkable persistence and success, Sterling re-mains economically vulnerable. For the College to thrive, for it to ob-tain its deserved future, that has to change.

Incrementally over the past five years as the College has expanded its curriculum, filled its residencies and maintained a student body of about 100, the costs of financial aid for 90 percent of our students has soared. The costs of energy and operations in general have increased dramatically. Our underpaid faculty cannot forever work for wages 30 or more percent behind their peers. There is an adverse economic impact, too, in being perhaps the best kept secret in undergraduate education. In short, Sterling’s financial profile has narrowed and be-come an impediment to progress and sustainability, even as we have advanced in so many areas.

There is opportunity now. That’s what the first year of the Sustain-able Sterling Campaign proved. Now it is time to engage the broader Sterling community of friends and neighbors new, and old, and our alumni and parents.

“there iS opportunity now...” ~A Letter from President Will Wootton

dear friendS:





the Campaign

The second year of the Sustainable Sterling Campaign officially started on October 1, 2009 with a kick-off event in conjunction with the Board of Trustee’s fall meeting. We celebrated the results of the first year —the “quiet phase”—wherein the majority of the board members made

three year pledges, a number of new friends made major gifts to get the drive going, and the College obtained a remarkable $350,000 appro-priation from the State of Vermont towards expanding residential and programming capacity. In addition, the number of alumni, parents, and friends contributing continued to increase, modestly but impressively, considering the dire fiscal outlook we all faced as the national economy (temporarily) imploded. Thus, our Year i totaled an impressive $728,310.

year iUnrestricted Annual Fund (Goal $300,000) ............ $358,975

Other Restricted Gifts ................................................. $19,335

New Student Residency (Goal $300,000) ................. $350,000

2008-2009 Total Received ........................................ $728,310

year iiiUnrestricted Support ................................................ $400,000

Infrastructure Initiatives ........................................... $50,000

Curricular Initiatives ................................................. $50,000

2010-2011 Total Goal ................................................. $500,000

year iiUnrestricted Support ................................................ $350,000

New Student Residency ............................................ $100,000

Curricular Initiatives .................................................. $50,000

2009-2010 Total Goal ................................................. $500,000

year ivUnrestricted Support ............................................... $450,000

Infrastructure Initiatives ....................................... $100,000

Curricular Initiatives ................................................. $50,000

2011-2012 Total Goal ................................................. $600,000

Summary of Campaign fund-raiSing goalSThe Sustainable Sterling Campaign is a comprehensive campaign, meaning that all annual contributions from alumni, parents, and friends, as well as grants and major gifts targeted for specific purposes count in the annual and Campaign totals.

Campaign grand total ................. $2.3 million

20 CommonVoice




The STraTegy

In order to thrive, in order to reach a sustainable level of economic security, Sterling needs to grow in more ways than one.

Economic viability at 100 students is not possible. But at about 125, with careful fiscal controls and budget discipline, the balance sheet begins to tip in our favor. However, were that number of students to arrive on campus tomorrow we could not house them, nor could we provide sufficient classroom, lab, art space, or the electronic commu-nications essential to the curriculum.

First is to provide the physical spaces and infrastructure needed to engage at least 125 students in a curriculum focused on student success and engagement within the ethos and practice of a Work-Learning-Service college. There are numerous projects within the initiative; the most ambitious is the construction of a new 20-24 bed student residency. This project began with a Special Topics class in the spring and is now in the architectural design phase.

inCreaSe the full-time Student body

Over the past few years the College has addressed numerous cur-ricular issues, creating, for instance, a leaner set of core requirements and a more comprehensive advising program, an expanded pro-gram of self-designed majors, a new concentration in Natural His-tory, and new graduation requirements. Weaving through these and other changes were concerns that Sterling could do better in prepar-ing students for the rigors of the more advanced work of the junior and senior years by focusing more attention on writing and commu-nication skills in the first and second years, and by broadening the liberal arts, especially in the arts.

Progress has been made across the initiative, but slowly because of limited space—our art studio is one small room “borrowed” from the biology laboratory—and the College’s limited electronic infra-structure, particularly as it pertains to modern curricula in writing and communications.

The Campaign will focus on two areas: first on seeking grant and other support to build that new infrastructure, including dedicated classrooms with a variety of communication capabilities, and second on building or renovating spaces to house new programs in the arts.

Strengthen the liberal artS





A second initiative aimed at increasing the number of Sterling stu-dents, also well underway, is even more exciting and entrepreneur-ial. Having conducted financial and curricular studies over the past 16 months, and having engaged all facets of the Sterling Community on campus, within one year Sterling will become the first genuine year-round “continuous semester” residential college in the nation. Working with their academic advisors Sterling students will be able to plan their course of study to run any two or all three semesters over a 12-month period. Full financial aid will be available, just like any other semester. Our academic schedule is already being modi-fied to encompass three 13-week semesters with about a one month break in between. Using this unique and practical methodology, the two traditional semesters do not have to reach the current 100 stu-dents, as long as we are successfully attracting between 40 and 50 students for the summer semester.

Summer 2010 will be the turning point because the College’s long-time summer renter, Circus Smirkus, will not be returning and for the first time in a decade the College will have its campus wholly for its own programs.

We have been moving in this direction for two years: The summer agriculture semester had 14 full-time students this past summer and credit-bearing trips (California, Alaska, Scandinavia) added another 12. In addition, a dozen or more student internships brought the total number of Sterling students engaged in semester-length aca-demic work to more than 25. We will continue to modify the aca-demic calendar to accommodate the new semester. Equally impor-tant, the faculty’s capability to advise students in the longer-term development of their academic goals and schedules is increasing as our plans take shape.

eStabliSh a year-round College

Sterling’s small size, its remote location, its focused areas of concen-tration, and most of all its unique curriculum combining traditional and experiential academics, are all elements of the institution that generations of alumni, friends, academic colleagues, and others admire and consider most valuable. In the highly competitive na-ture of American higher education, however, these same qualities are almost obscure. Instead of being signposts of a model of post-secondary education, at worst they can appear quaint to prospec-tive students and their families, and to funding organizations and philanthropists.

That changes only when Sterling speaks out and demonstrates the value and integrity of its program, philosophy, people, and his-tory. During the Sustainable Sterling Campaign the College will continue to invest in telling the Sterling story in as many ways as it can, through its publications and through new media initiatives. We need also to affiliate and partner with the increasing numbers of like-minded organizations, movements, and people who under-stand that progressive education has a practical and intellectual val-ue even greater than the place in which it happens, the individuals who experience it, and those who teach within its over-riding ethos of work, learning, and service.

There is no model for Sterling College. No schematic for us to follow. No recent history of similar endeavors from which to learn. Sterling is a work in progress and the Sustainable Sterling Campaign is the next step, the next essential move, of that progress.

inCreaSe Sterling’S reputation

22 CommonVoice




“The Sterling College community combines structured academic study with experiential challenges and plain hard work to build responsible problem solvers who become stewards of the environment as they pursue productive lives.”

The InITIaTIveS 1. Increase the full-time student body from the current 100 students to 125.

2. Construct a new 20-24 bed student residency.

3. Complete the development and implementation of the “Continuous Semester” system, establishing Sterling as a genuine year-round college.

4. Strengthen the Liberal Arts, especially in the first and second years, through new curricula in writing and communications and the traditional and visual arts.

5. Expand Sterling’s academic capabilities by creating new classroom, presentation, and public lecture space, and a new visual and traditional arts studio.

6. Increase Sterling’s regional and national recognition and reputation through traditional and new media marketing and communications.

7. Conduct a broad-based, multi-year fund-raising campaign to provide the sustaining resources and time to achieve the strengthening initiatives.

Schematic site plan for Sterling College’s Eco Dorm. The Cushman Design Group, Inc., Stowe, Vermont.



Apparently, the right amount of hard work, gusto and intelligent strategy can turn a one dollar state appropriation into a signifi-

cant environmental force. Because that’s just what Thomas Hark did, and he is the 2009 recipient of the Environmental Leadership Award.

The award is given to a leader who “has demonstrated over time an ex-traordinary commitment to activism on the part of environmental sus-tainability and who, in doing so, reflects Sterling’s commitment to ser-vice and the ‘Working Hands – Working Minds’ ethos of the College.” Mr. Hark received the recognition during the October 10th Presidential Circle Dinner, held annually to honor the College’s closest supporters and friends.

Thomas Hark is president of the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, which he started in 1986. The VYCC is a non-profit youth, leadership,

service, conservation, and education organization that develops in young people the values of personal responsibility, hard work, educa-tion, and respect for the environment. This mission is accomplished by using conservation projects as a vehicle for learning in an intense environment.

Since the organization’s inception, Mr. Hark and a capable team have developed a vibrant statewide nonprofit public/private partnership, focusing on youth education, respect, and leadership, through team-work. Throughout, Mr. Hark has created strong collaborations with communities, other nonprofits and partners throughout the state. The result is a strong and creative force for young people and the environ-ment. Mr. Hark’s work and his organization resonate strongly with the College’s values and ethos.

the truSteeS’ 3rd annual environmental leaderShip award:

Thomas L. HarkI could not be prouder or more excited about this honor. Sterling is, and has been, on the cutting edge of education for years. Their work inspires individuals to truly take responsibility for their own education and to change the world while they are at it. Their students are amazing, their faculty inspiring, and trustees truly make an impact. —THOMAS HARK, founder of the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps

24 CommonVoice


Donors by Club Membership ~ Giving List

a year in giving:

Our Growing List of Contributors

What does it mean when 371 individuals and couples, each a friend, alumnus, advocate, volunteer or admirer of Sterling,

give a small portion of their hard earned money to support the College?

It means appreciations are in order. It means that last year there were at least that many people who believed Sterling was worth the invest-ment, even in the face of a highly uncertain economy. For those of us on campus, it is proof we are not alone in the endeavor that defines Sterling as a work in progress.

Those listed here contributed $358,975 in unrestricted support last year. That is an average of $96.75 from each, but in fact last year’s gifts ran from less than $5 to $50,000, all equally welcome and each representing something personal beyond money.

In the most practical sense, it means slightly more than 9.5 percent of last year’s operating budget was paid for by you. That translates

into almost half of all Sterling’s institutional scholarships that help 90 percent of our students attend. Or it means it was you who paid more than half of all faculty salaries. You built the new outdoor bread oven. You bought every new library book purchased last year. You sup-ported the cost of sending Sterling students into the field and around the world on academic trips.

You made a year of potentially crippling operational cuts into one where, again, Sterling could engage fully in its curriculum, take advantage of opportunity, and successfully complete the first year of the Sustainable Sterling Campaign.

Thank you all, from all of us.

will wootton, President

Trustees Reid BryantPete ChehaylKatherine ClarkJohn ElderAbigail FaulknerLinda FriehlingRichard GaffneyAmy GolodetzAnn GuyerAndy HarvardGail HenryWendy KoenigGreg LeechDavid McLeanEd NefPenny SchmittRobert SheltonDave StonerRoss VirginiaWill Wootton

President’s Circle David & Dona BehrendCarleton & Sue BryantReid & Kim BryantPete & Liz ChehaylRoger & Marion ChristophDr. George DrewFrances FarwellAbigail Faulkner & Hobie GuionKim & Nancy FaulknerTed & Linda FriehlingRichard & Susan GaffneyArnold & Virginia GolodetzRobert & Suzanne GriffithsAnn GuyerGail HenryMitch HuntDaniel & Tina KoppEmily KunreutherGreg Leech & Amy GolodetzJames Mills, Jr.Ed & Liz Nef

Robert Rheault & Susan St. JohnPenny SchmittMark & Sukey SchroederRobert SheltonRussell & Janet SpringEllen Starr & Geoffrey FitzgeraldDave & Jenny StonerBarth & Elizabeth Vander ElsJed & Perry WilliamsonWill & Lulu WoottonCanadian Consulate GeneralCharlevoix County Community

Foundation - In honor of Greg LeechGeorgiana Ducas Charitable TrustJephson Educational TrustNew Hampshire Charitable

Foundation - Advised by Doug VilesThe Alma Gibbs Donchian

FoundationThe Cargill FoundationVermont Highland Cattle CompanyAnonymous

Sterling Club Stirling AdamsHarald & Rebecca AksdalRichard & Charlotte AlexanderWilliam & Patricia AlleyRobert & Elizabeth AlmeterEd & Mona AmesG. Clifford & Mary Ellen AndersonJudith ArmellJohn BagleyDaniel BaileyDelmer BarrowsDaniel Behrend - In honor of

David Behrend & 50th ReunionScott BermudesMr. & Mrs. Theodore Bickart

- In memory of Jeff BickartStark BiddleJim BlairJeff BookDonald & Kathleen BrighamArnold Brown



Dave BrownMarvin & Linda BrownMaralyn Bullion

- In honor of Jared FitzpatrickTena BunnellVirginia Cazort & Herbert Brown

- In memory of Greg RissePavel CenklDeborah ClarkKatherine ClarkKim ClarkNicholas & Deborah CliffordPaul CliffordJessica CoutureRichard Coyle & Sherilyn PetersonDavid Cyr & Amy Peterson Cyr

- In memory of Clare PetersonLee & Katherine DavidsonRobert Dewees

& Cheryl Publicover DeweesEmily DiazJohn & Anne DonaghyTimothy & Sonja DunbarBruce & Nancy DutcherJohn & Rita ElderAnne FaulknerSherrill FerrariRobert & Elizabeth FetterWilliam & Lynne FitzhughWarner & Patricia FletcherMark FlynnLaura FordJeffrey Fournier & Miciah Bay GaultJoseph Gaglioti & Jane HazenRaymond GeorgeKenneth & Janet GibbonsRosemary GladstarCorliss Goger & James BaldygaRobert & Susan GoodwinPeter GouldClive GrayPhilip Gray

- In memory of Sherry GrayVirginia HagenBjarne HaldLyman & Beverly HamiltonAndy HarvardRita Hennessey & Sean PalmerJan HerderBruce & Doris HeringJohn & Patricia HerterDrs. George & Lanie HillRobert & Holly HoustonTheodore & Margot HubbardKenneth & Janis HubelDarrell & Elisabeth HyderGordon & Marian InskeepBrandon JellisonKenneth & Susan JohnsonPeter & Sandra KaynorRobert KeirAnne KellyPaige KitsonJackson KytleMarie La Pre GrabonNeil LehrmanSamuel & Bonnie LeskoAdam LewandowskiDonald MackieBruce & Eleanor Macleod

Mr. & Mrs. David MacKenzie - In honor of Marion MacKenzie Christoph

Athan Mandragouras - In memory of George Gardner

Howard ManoshCarolyn Markson

- In honor of Kate HobartFrank & Mary Ann MastroPeter McKayMarcus & Valerie McKinneyGeorge & Lauren McKnightAlan McLean

- In memory of Sandra McLeanClifton McPherson

& Elizabeth FreedmanJeffrey & Robin MeekDana MillerJohn MillerAndrew Mollohan & Laurel GreeneMike & Barbara MorrowJoel & Carla MortensonNatalie Moses & Douglas KlauckeMartha Moyer & Michael LenartJohn & Lucy MurphyTracy NabstedtMark & Kristie NelsonKimberly Nichols HeiselmanJames PealeWilliam & Kathleen PerreaultThomas & Karen PerryKen Pick & Virginia SchollAnnagret Pollard

- In memory of Georgiana DucasCarl & Hilary PoulsenJean PublicoverMarianne PyottFranz ReichsmanBrier RobertsLeon RobinetteAlbert & Nancy RomanoChristopher Romano

- In honor of Sterling GraduatesRichard RoseJoseph & Susan RothsteinMr. & Mrs. Lewis RussellJo D SaffeirBettina Sawhill EspeEdward & Joan SayreDr. & Mrs. Herbert SchaumburgJohn & Lois SchieffelinRobert & Jean SchoenDeborah SegalMary SemonThomas & Edith ShamrellLeon & Beverly ShankLeonard ShawHerbert & Bonnie ShuerWilliam & Nancy SluysRoger SmithMary Jo Smyth

- In honor of Richard T. SmythTheresa Snow

- In memory of Jeff BickartMr. & Mrs. Joseph StaffordDavid L. StevensonPeter & Elizabeth SutchJay SwainbankJoseph SzeligaAndrew & Elizabeth Szymczak

Nicholas & Roberta TesslerBarbara TholinLowell Thomas, Jr.Dr. & Mrs. Richard VandenheuvelPeter VandertuinKatherine Vernay & Arden ZippRoss & Sandra VirginiaChristine VogelSonja WalkerWilliam WatersCharles Watts & Helen HaynesSarah WebbJoann WebsterLlyd WellsMichael & Janet Westling

- In honor of J.D. WestlingNate & Jessica WilsonWilliam Wilson & Karen BertrandJohn Zaber & Farley BrownAuthentic Log HomesCabot Creamery Cooperative, Inc.Concept IIDavis & Hodgdon AssociatesExxon Mobil FoundationMerchants BankNew York Life FoundationNorfolk Southern FoundationThe Guide Foundation

- Advised by Ralph Bosworth Dewey & Liz Barrett-Brown

The Oregon Community FoundationAnonymous

Expedition Club Jeannette AndersonJenneke BartonHelen Beattie & Brendan BuckleySusan BernardyDean Bloch & Valerie WilkinsDarby & Liisa BradleyAndrea BrightenbachWilliam & Wendy BroskyErrett & Vanessa BrownPaul BrownMark BrunnerJohanna Burdet

- In memory of Jeff BickartDavid BurnhamMarion Byrne

- In memory of Marion ManningRose Marie CarruthChris & Jessie CarterWellington & Barbara CarvalhoTanya ChildsStanley & Kathleen CichanowskiCharles & Fay ColeStephanie CollinsJane ConklinAndrew & Janet ConroyJames & Enola CoutureJaime CupitMillicent CurranCarol DicksonKaren DidricksenJohn Dodge & Ann DooleyMatthew DolskiElizabeth EdgertonTom & Katherine EickenbergDaniel Einstein

Christina EricksonMr. & Mrs. J. Edward Eliades

- In memory of Cheryl EliadesLarry EvansTrevor EvansRachel FarrarMichael & Linda FawcettKevin & Mariel FeiderNoah & Julie FleischmannBrian & Susan FlynnAnn Gaillard & Lou PulverColleen Gardner

- In memory of George GardnerJohn GelwicksWilliam GilsonJames GoetzNat & Caren GoodhueChristina GoodwinElizabeth GoodwinGeorge & Charlotte HallRobert & Margaretha HamerschlagErik HansenDavid & Barbara Harding

- In memory of Tina RayJohn & Diana HargraveRonald & Catherine HaselnusRobert & Craigen HealyAdonia HenryJohn & Dorothy HerzogAshley HeyeRobert ”Woody” HiddingHelena HillBrewster & Alyssa HolmesLaura Howard LeducKathleen JacksonChristopher & Nekr JenkinsLuke & Christina Joanis

- In memory of Jeff BickartAriana JohnsonRichard & Amy JonesThomas & Mary Keck

- In memory of Collin KeckDaniel & Rachel KennedySandra KingJames Koegel & May BoykinCarleen KunkelJamie Labbe & Jennifer CohunJohn & Jane LabbeSusan Laity

- In honor of William LaityWilliam & Monica LarameePhilip LeechMerrill Leffler & Ann SlaytonArthur & Sandra LemiuxJeffrey LevineRichard & Nancy LevineGeorge & Jane LinckRenee LorenceAlyssa Lovell

- In memory of Anthony Phillip LovellJames & Beverly LoweKarin Lubeck

- In memory of Stanley E. Lubeck, Sr.Marilyn Lubeck

- In memory of Stanley E. Lubeck, Sr.Karl & Maggie MahlePaul & Tina MandevilleNan Marshall & James Kangas

- In memory of Barbara MarshallRandy & Michele Martin

26 CommonVoice


Ian & Tayler McEwenDavid McLean

& Justine Viets-McLeanFrank & Joan McGuiganKim McIntyreRoss & Diane MorganTony & Dorothy MorseTerence & Judith MosherC. Twiggs Myers

- In memory of Doug FieldMartha NapolitanNicholas & Abigail NatalukJane Newton

- In honor of Becky Newton & Dan Dubie

Diana Noyes - In honor of Will Wootton

Theodore O’LearyDr. & Mrs. James PaolinoJohn & Elizabeth PaonessaAnne Pass

Etta PeabodyEric Picard & Sally TappanSarah Price & Stephen FlorimbyRuth Reed & Sally Hughey

- In memory of Margaret FieldRobert & Donna Remy-PowersEdward & Jane RippeRonald & Marilyn RosenAndrew & Juliet RosserMarco & Katherine RuizJeffrey & Suzanne Sampson

- In memory of Jerry GarciaPeter Schoen & Leslie PelchAmy SchwartzEdward & Diann Shope

- In honor of Scott ShopeMarion SikoraPhilip SlagellBruce & Mary SloatPaul Smith & Emily SeifertCharles Steinbrecher

John & Jody StoddardNancy Ann Stone & Jonathan LevyHorace & Shirley StrongJames & Emily SullivanLinda TennerJohn & Henrietta ThomasBen & Bev ThurberElizabeth Titus PutnamGeorge & Sarah TroutmanCornelius & Barbara UlmanBruce & Betty UrieDavid & Annette VickeryLizette Jung Von GalJohn WagnerRex WaldenAnne Wallace & David Gusakov

- In honor of Nate Wallace-Gusakov & Amelia Gardner

Philip WarrenFrank & Jean WhiteMary White

Timmee WhitmorePatricia Wild

- In memory of Jeff BickartDonald & Sandra Kay WilliamsMary WitherbeeA. Joseph WyseSusan YanchuckSteve YoungJennifer YoungmanHigh Mowing SeedsAnonymous To inform, to inspire, and to indi-cate the breadth and depth of the Sterling’s philanthropic community we’ve added giving clubs to the asso-ciative lists of annual donors.

• Expedition Club ~ $1 - $99• Sterling Club ~ $100 - $999• President’s Circle ~ $1,000 or >

Donors by Category ~ Giving List Alumni Johanna Burdet ‘08

- In memory of Jeff BickartEmily Diaz ‘07Ariana Johnson ‘07Tayler (Knopf) ‘07 & Ian ‘06 McEwenAndy Mollohan ‘06

& Laurel Greene ‘00Luke & Christina Joanis ‘05

- In memory of Jeff BickartAbigail (Stretch) ‘05

& Nicholas ‘99 NatalukJessie (Smart) ‘04 & Chris ‘97 CarterAshley Heye ‘04Kim McIntyre ‘04Brewster & Alyssa Holmes ‘03Christina Goodwin ‘02Paige Kitson ‘02Jamie Labbe ‘02 & Jennifer Cohun ‘02Adam Lewandowski ‘02Matthew Dolski ‘01Theresa Snow ‘01

- In memory of Jeff BickartJaime Cupit ‘00Miciah Bay Gault

& Jeffrey Fournier ‘00Brandon Jellison ‘00Athan Mandragouras ‘00

- In memory of George GardnerJessica (Vernay) ‘00 & Nate Wilson ‘97Paul Smith & Emily Seifert ‘99Millicent Curran ‘98Marion Sikora ‘97John & Jody Stoddard ‘97Marco & Katherine Ruiz ‘96Christopher & Nekr Jenkins ‘95Renee Lorence ‘95Christine Vogel ‘95Jessica Couture ‘94Paul Brown ‘93Laura Howard Leduc ‘92Philip Slagell ‘92

Daniel & Rachel Kennedy ‘90Alyssa Lovell ‘90

- In memory of Anthony Phillip LovellTimmee Whitmore ‘90Andrew & Juliet Rosser ‘88Marianne Pyott ‘87Martha Napolitan ‘86Leslie Pelch & Peter Schoen ‘86Helena Hill ‘85David L. Stevenson ‘85Elizabeth & Peter Sutch ‘85John Zaber ‘85 & Farley Brown ‘85Wendy & William Brosky ‘84Vanessa & Errett Brown ‘83Sally Tappan & Eric Picard ‘83Stephen Florimby & Sarah Price ‘83Amy Schwartz ‘83Deborah Segal ‘83Edith & Thomas Shamrell ‘83Emily & James Sullivan ‘83Elizabeth Goodwin ‘82Sandra & Peter Kaynor ‘82Jeffrey Levine ‘82James Kangas & Nan Marshall ‘82

- In memory of Barbara MarshallJo D Saffeir ‘82Barbara Tholin ‘82Helen Haynes & Charles Watts ‘82Valerie Wilkins & Dean Bloch ‘81Roger & Marion Christoph ‘81John Gelwicks ‘81James Goetz ‘81Sean Palmer & Rita Hennessey ‘81Robert & Holly Houston ‘81Karin Lubeck ‘81

- In memory of Stanley E. Lubeck, Sr.Elizabeth Freedman

& Clifton McPherson ‘81Dana Miller ‘81Kimberly Nichols Heiselman ‘81Christopher Romano ‘81

- In honor of Sterling GraduatesScott Bermudes ‘80

Suzanne & Jeffrey Sampson ‘81- In memory of Jerry Garcia

Mark Nelson & Kristie Nelson Kapp ‘80

Raymond George ‘78Thomas & Mary Keck ‘78

- In memory of Collin KeckPaul & Tina Mandeville ‘78Susan Yanchuck ‘78Robert “Woody” Hidding ‘77Jeff Book ‘76Mark Brunner ‘76Daniel Einstein ‘76Karl & Maggie Mahle ‘76Lou Pulver & Ann Gaillard ‘75William & Nancy Sluys ‘75Jennifer Youngman ‘75May Boykin & James Koegel ‘71Nancy & Bruce Dutcher ‘69John Wagner ‘69Ann Dooley & John Dodge ‘68Tracy Nabstedt ‘68Dr. George Drew ‘67Karen Bertrand & William Wilson ‘67Rex Walden ‘66James Mills, Jr. ‘64Sonja & Timothy Dunbar ‘62Patricia & John Herter ‘62Theodore O’Leary ‘61Stirling Adams ‘60

Parents & Family Robert & Elizabeth AlmeterG. Clifford & Mary Ellen AndersonJudith ArmellJohn BagleySusan BernardyMaralyn Bullion

- In honor of Jared FitzpatrickTena BunnellWellington & Barbara CarvalhoVirginia Cazort & Herbert Brown

- In memory of Greg Risse

Tanya ChildsKim ClarkPaul CliffordCharles & Fay ColeJane ConklinJames & Enola CoutureDavid Cyr & Amy Peterson Cyr

- In memory of Clare PetersonLee & Katherine DavidsonKaren DidricksenJohn & Anne DonaghyTom & Katherine EickenbergMr. & Mrs. J. Edward Eliades

- In memory of Cheryl EliadesMichael & Linda FawcettKevin & Mariel FeiderSherrill FerrariRobert & Elizabeth FetterLaura FordJoseph Gaglioti & Jane HazenCorliss Goger & James BaldygaArnold & Virginia GolodetzRobert & Susan GoodwinJohn & Diana HargraveRonald & Catherine HaselnusRobert & Craigen HealyBruce & Doris HeringTheodore & Margot HubbardKenneth & Janis HubelDarrell & Elisabeth HyderMarian & Gordon InskeepKathleen JacksonKenneth & Susan JohnsonRichard & Amy JonesRobert KeirAnne KellySandra KingDaniel & Tina KoppCarleen KunkelJohn & Jane LabbeSusan Laity

- In honor of William LaityPhilip Leech



Arthur & Sandra LemiuxSamuel & Bonnie LeskoRichard & Nancy LevineJames & Beverly LoweMarilyn Lubeck

- In memory of Stanley E. Lubeck, Sr.Mr. & Mrs. David MacKenzie

- In honor of Marion MacKenzie Christoph

Donald MackieCarolyn Markson

- In honor of Kate HobartFrank & Mary Ann MastroMarcus & Valerie McKinneyGeorge & Lauren McKnightAlan McLean

- In memory of Sandra McLeanJeffrey & Robin MeekNatalie Moses & Douglas KlauckeMartha Moyer & Michael LenartJane Newton

- In honor of Becky Newton & Dan Dubie

Dr. & Mrs. James PaolinoJohn & Elizabeth PaonessaAnne PassWilliam & Kathleen PerreaultThomas & Karen PerryKen Pick & Virginia SchollAnnagret Pollard

- In memory of Georgiana DucasCarl & Hilary PoulsenRobert & Donna Remy-PowersEdward & Jane RippeBrier RobertsAlbert & Nancy RomanoRichard RoseJoseph & Susan RothsteinMr. & Mrs. Lewis RussellDr. & Mrs. Herbert SchaumburgJohn & Lois SchieffelinRobert & Jean SchoenMary SemonLeon & Beverly ShankLeonard ShawEdward & Diann Shope

- In honor of Scott ShopeHerbert & Bonnie ShuerCharles SteinbrecherNancy Ann Stone & Jonathan LevyJoseph SzeligaAndrew & Elizabeth SzymczakLinda TennerNicholas & Roberta TesslerJohn & Henrietta ThomasLowell Thomas, Jr.George & Sarah TroutmanDr. & Mrs. Richard Vanden HeuvelBarth & Elizabeth Vander ElsKatherine Vernay & Arden ZippDavid & Annette VickeryLizette Jung Von GalPhilip WarrenWilliam Waters

Anne Wallace & David Gusakov- In honor of Nate Wallace-Gusakov & Amelia Gardner

Joann WebsterMichael & Janet Westling

- In honor of J.D. WestlingFrank & Jean WhitePatricia Wild

- In memory of Jeff BickartS. Donald & Sandra Kay Williams

Business Authentic Log HomesCanadian Consulate GeneralConcept IIDavis & Hodgdon AssociatesHigh Mowing SeedsMerchants BankVermont Highland Cattle Company

CNS Alumni & Friends Daniel BaileyRalph Bosworth Dewey

& Liz Barrett-BrownDavid BurnhamStephanie CollinsAnne FaulknerWilliam GilsonAdonia HenryEllen Starr & Geoffrey Fitzgerald

Employees Pavel CenklDeborah ClarkErik HansenRandy & Michele MartinMike & Barbara MorrowJohn Zaber & Farley Brown

Former Trustee Patricia & William AlleyDona & David Behrend ‘60Donald & Kathleen BrighamMarvin & Linda BrownSue & Carleton BryantNancy & Kim FaulknerNoah & Julie Fleischmann ‘85Lyman & Beverly HamiltonDrs. George & Lanie HillJackson KytlePeter McKay ‘63Robert Rheault & Susan St. JohnJed & Perry WilliamsonMary Witherbee

Foundations Cabot Creamery Cooperative, Inc.Charlevoix County Community

Foundation - In honor of Greg LeechExxon Mobil FoundationJephson Educational Trust

New Hampshire Charitable Foundation - Advised by Doug Viles

New York Life FoundationNorfolk Southern FoundationThe Alma Gibbs Donchian

FoundationThe Cargill FoundationThe Guide Foundation

- Advised by Ralph Bosworth Dewey & Liz Barrett Brown

The Oregon Community Foundation

Friends Harald & Rebecca AksdalRichard & Charlotte AlexanderEd & Mona AmesJeannette AndersonDelmer BarrowsJenneke BartonHelen Beattie & Brendan BuckleyDaniel Behrend

- In honor of David Behrend & 50th Reunion

Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Bickart- In memory of Jeff Bickart

Stark BiddleJim BlairDarby & Liisa BradleyArnold BrownDave BrownAndrea BrightenbachMarion Byrne

- In memory of Marion ManningRose Marie CarruthStanley & Kathleen CichanowskiNicholas & Deborah CliffordAndrew & Janet ConroyRichard Coyle & Sherilyn PetersonRobert Dewees

& Cheryl Publicover DeweesCarol DicksonElizabeth EdgertonChristina EricksonLarry EvansTrevor EvansRachel FarrarFrances FarwellWilliam & Lynne FitzhughWarner & Patricia FletcherBrian & Susan FlynnMark FlynnColleen Gardner

- In memory of George GardnerKenneth & Janet GibbonsRosemary GladstarNat & Caren GoodhuePeter GouldClive GrayPhilip Gray

- In memory of Sherry GrayRobert & Suzanne GriffithsVirginia HagenBjarne HaldGeorge & Charlotte Hall

Robert & Margaretha HamerschlagDavid & Barbara Harding

- In memory of Tina RayJan HerderJohn & Dorothy HerzogMitch HuntEmily KunreutherMarie La Pre GrabonWilliam & Monica LarameeMerrill Leffler & Ann SlaytonNeil LehrmanGeorge & Jane LinckBruce & Eleanor MacleodHoward ManoshFrank & Joan McGuiganJohn MillerRoss & Diane MorganTony & Dorothy MorseJoel & Carla MortensonTerence & Judith MosherJohn & Lucy MurphyC. Twiggs Myers

- In memory of Doug FieldDiana Noyes

- In honor of Will WoottonEtta PeabodyJames PealeJean PublicoverRuth Reed & Sally Hughey

- In memory of Margaret FieldFranz ReichsmanLeon RobinetteRonald & Marilyn RosenBettina Sawhill EspeEdward & Joan SayreBruce & Mary SloatRoger SmithMary Jo Smyth

- In honor of Richard T. SmythRussell & Janet SpringMr. & Mrs. Joseph StaffordHorace & Shirley StrongJay SwainbankBen & Bev ThurberElizabeth Titus PutnamCornelius & Barbara UlmanBruce & Betty UriePeter VandertuinDoug VilesSonja WalkerSarah WebbLlyd WellsMary WhiteA. Joseph WyseSteve YoungAnonymous

Bequests Georgiana Ducas Charitable Trust

28 CommonVoice


Fiber Arts ShowThe 1st Annual Fiber Arts Show was the cul-mination of a semester’s worth of creative designs from the Fiber Arts class taught by faculty Jody Stoddard. The exhibit displayed in the Dunbar foyer included student projects created using primarily local sources of wool and plant fibers. Students showcased their knowledge of mastering the art of hand spin-ning, weaving, knitting, and felting. The show was a colorful explosion of the traditional and the unique and included hats, scarves, cloth-ing, and footwear.

around CampuS

Environmental Education WorkshopAs the final project for their Environmental Education class Sterling students set up an interac-tive program for all 60 Craftsbury elementary students this past May. The elementary school students hiked down to the Sterling farm for “Mission Homestead.” The project was created solely by the Sterling class and creatively shared with the elementary students the elements crucial to survival and community. “Mission Homestead,” was divided up into five hands-on stations. The first station was Food, focusing on chickens and plants. Next came Shelter then Woodlot. The fourth station, Fiber, focused on sheep and felting. Visiting the Power station gave the children a glimpse into the benefits of horse, solar, and wind power. The last station was Water focusing on the importance of wetlands for filtering. The students received a puzzle piece at each of the sites and at the end put the pieces together to make a complete puzzle illus-trating “community” for their homestead. The final act was to discuss the importance of fitting together as a community.



Art and Literature at the Brown LibraryAs part of a long-time tradition of opening up the College to the surrounding community, Sterling hosts a revolving line-up of art exhibits and author readings in the Brown Library. During these past few months the exhibits and readings showcased a stunning array of Northern Vermont creativity.

Karl Decker’s black and white photography exhibit, The People of Townsend Vermont exhibited throughout the summer and was a visual highlight during the Rural Heritage Institute and Wildbranch Writers’ Workshop. This poignant show used large-scale prints to portray the intricate nu-ances of small town Vermont community members.

Vermont illustration artist Marie Bonneau exhibited her whimsical original water colors (see illustration above) illustrating the book The Fairy Feast by Tanya Sousa. Ms. Sousa also signed copies of her book at a September reception. Both the book and the artwork celebrated the need for diversity in the garden and in life.

Local author, columnists, and journalist Paul Lefebvre read from his book, Perimeter Check: Essays from Vermont’s Upper Kingdom—a collection of Barton Chronicle newspaper columns from 1997 to 2004. Howard Mosher calls Paul Lefebvre, “one of Vermont’s best journalists and writers,” dubbing Perimeter Check as, “one of the best books about place that I’ve ever read.”

Art exhibits and book signings are important to the College community for the perspective and creativity they bring to the campus. Sales of art-work partially support the College’s annual fund.

32nd Annual Wood ShowSimpson Hall was aglow with student wood projects this past April for the 32nd Annual Wood Show. A long-time Sterling tradition, the annu-al Wood Show provides an opportunity for the public to view projects completed by students in the “Reverence for Wood,” class. Under the guidance of woodworking teacher Keren Ferrari, the “Reverence for Wood,” class gives students of all woodworking abilities the skills nec-essary to create a final wood project of their choosing. After gathering for a community dinner local residents and Sterling students, faculty, and staff attended the Wood Show exhibit in Simpson Hall. Onlookers were treated to a unique exhibit of student work including an ornate blanket chest, bench, banjo, bow and arrow rack, rocking chair, spin-ning wheel, and hand painted pet dish stand.

Stream Research GrantsConservation Ecology faculty member Farley Brown received a second round of funding for her participation in the National Science Foundation’s Streams Project. The Streams Project is an effort to assess the Lake Champlain watershed by conducting biological, chemical, and physical assessment of the rivers in the watershed. This summer student Jake Van Gorder received a student stipend of $4,000 to work on the chemical assessment of the Lamoille River with a team from Johnson State College. A grant of $6,000 was awarded to Farley to oversee student research as well as working with the local high schools in their assessment of Lamoille River tributaries. This year student Eric Ellison has been funded $5,000 to conduct his own research as well as working with Farley on the high school project.

30 CommonVoice


Sterling Portrayed in John Miller’s Art of Action “Working Landscape,” Photo CollageThe Vermont Arts Council’s Art Of Action: Shaping Vermont’s Future Through Art commissioned visual artists to create artwork that address issues identified by Vermonters as essential to the state’s future. Three hundred applicants from 26 states and 3 foreign countries applied for the project last summer. The Project awarded ten of the artists commissions in February 2009. John Miller, a documentary photographer from Coventry, was one of the ten. For the project John visited local farms, businesses, and Sterling College. While at Sterling he spent time in classes talking to stu-dents, faculty and staff. In his artist statement he writes—“Themes that I consider vital in these images include: mentoring through experiential hands-on education…” For the exhibit John created five pigmented ink digital collages or “Variations” each 20.5” x 50.5” in size. Variation 4, pic-tured above, depicts several Sterling College students working on the Sterling farm. The Art of Action exhibit includes 105 pieces of art and will be touring around the state this fall and winter. Visit www.vermontartscouncil.org for more information.

Calderwood Speaks on NYU Farm PanelSterling College Sustainable Agriculture faculty member, farmer, and former Vermont Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Louise Calder-wood, presented at New York University’s (NYU) 2009 Critical Topics in Food Series, New York Farm Connections: Five Boroughs as Farmland and Marketplace, on June 4 in NYU’s Fales Library. One of four invited panelists, Ms. Calderwood discussed opportunities for Vermont farm-ers to infuse Vermont agricultural products into the New York City marketplace—highlighting the role this plays in economic viability.

Panelists included: New York Dept. of Ag. and Markets, Bob Lewis; Assistant Professor, NYU Dept. of Nutrition, Food Studies & Public Health, Gabriella Petrick; and Former Undersecretary for Farm & Foreign Agriculture Service, USDA, Gus Schumacher. The panel was moderated by Clark Wolf, director of NYU’s Critical Topics Series.

Superheroes on BikesA group of Canadian and U.S. caped superheroes on bikes and in search of community service found a needful niche in the Sterling College gar-dens in August. Fresh from sharing their superhero skills repairing a West Glover home the heroes landed in Craftsbury for some rest and relaxation. Then the call came that the College gardens had hundreds of pounds of beans that needed harvesting and scant hands to help. The group rose to the challenge and in scorching sun shed their capes and picked over 128 pounds of beans.

The goal of the group is to find community service jobs as they ride through the countryside to spread the energy that comes from helping people. The organization has received significant press. “But,” Super-hero Rabbi Yikes said, “it’s not just about the glory; it’s about meeting wonderful people and listening to their stories along the way.”



new faCulty:

Dan ZuckerDan Zucker joined Sterling as adjunct faculty in Introductory Science and Mathematics. He lives in Danville, and has taught at St. John-sbury Academy, Burlington College, Champlain College, VTC, and RIT. Dan holds an M.A. in Astronomy from Wesleyan University and a B.A. in Physics from Brown University. He has also developed data-base applications for both Jasper Hill and Cabot Cheese. Dan will be teaching Critical Science and Math, Integrated Chemistry and Phys-ics, and Statistics.

Anna SchulzAnna Schulz is welcomed as Sterling’s Local Foods Coordinator. This new position is funded by a grant from Vermont Campus Compact AmeriCorps/VISTA and continues Sterling’s initiatives supporting local agriculture. She graduated from Harvard University this past June with a degree in government. At Harvard she worked on a vari-ety of healthy food systems projects including integrating local food into Harvard’s food service, seeking out sustainable kitchen appli-ances, and educating students on the importance of local foods.

Charlotte RosendahlCharlotte Rosendahl joins us from Southern Utah University, where she has been an Assistant Professor of Biology,. Charlotte holds de-grees in agronomy from The Royal Veterinarian and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Minnesota. Her expertise in plant and soil science will be a key component of our Sustainable Agriculture and Conservation Ecology programs. She has most re-cently been working with the support of an EPA Environmental Edu-cation Grant to support undergraduate research to clean up an arse-nic contaminated mine using phytoremediation in Utah. Charlotte and her family are renting a home in East Hardwick.

Carol DicksonCarol Dickson is our new Director of Writing Programs. She comes to us with 20 years of teaching experience, including, most recently, as English Department Chair at the Putney School in Putney, and as Faculty in English at Goddard College prior to that. Carol holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and an M.A. in English from UVM. She has written and presented widely on American environmental literature. At Sterling, Carol will be undertaking a tripartite mission of teaching many of our writing courses, overseeing the Sterling Center for Academics, and working with faculty to support writing across the disciplines. Carol and her partner, Bruce, are renting a residence in Craftsbury Common.

Corie PierceCorie Pierce has been working as Sterling’s Garden Manager since the end of July, and she is teaching classes in Sustainable Agricul-ture including Exploring Alternative Agriculture, Agriculture Tech., and helping to support students in independent study work across the Sustainable Agriculture curriculum. At the University of Michi-gan, she was co-manager of the Student Organic Farm at Michigan State University and taught classes in agriculture. Corie has a B.A. from Middlebury College and worked as an apprentice in Organic Farming, University of California at Santa Cruz, CA. Corie, her part-ner Chris, and their son Henry are living in the Madison Residence apartment.

Jill FineisJill Fineis moved to Vermont from, most recently, Kelly, Wyoming, where she was enrolled in a graduate program through the Teton Science School and teaching at the Jackson Hole Middle School. Prior to that, Jill taught at the White Mountain School in Bethlehem, NH. Jill has a B.S. in Education from the University of Michigan and will complete her M.S. in Education in the coming year. She joins Sterling as a Visiting Scholar in Outdoor and Environmental Education and will help support classes including Bounder, Tools, A Sense of Place, and Environmental Education. Jill will be living at the Center for Northern Studies as the Center caretaker and has plans to increase the College’s use of that facility in the coming year.

We are also pleased to welcome these returning faculty members in their new positions:

Perry Thomas is returning to Sterling this fall to teach two sections of Ecology and, in the spring, to serve as Dean of Work and Faculty in Natural Science.

Jody Stoddard will be continuing her half-time position from this summer to serve as Sterling’s Livestock and Pasture Manager and adjunct faculty in Fiber Arts. Jody will also be completing her B.A. at Sterling this year.

32 CommonVoice


Summer SuStainable agriCulture SemeSter:

An interview with Lucy HankinsonWhen Lucy Hankinson enrolled into Sterling’s summer

Sustainable Agriculture Semester she had just graduated from Sweet Briar College in Virginia with a degree in environmental stud-ies and history and was on her way to a masters program in public administration with a concentration in non-profits at George Mason University in Washington DC and Virginia. With long-term goals to manage the family farm, Lucy was looking to balance her business skills with knowledge of practical hands-on farming. She knew about Sterling from her mother Pixie Hankinson, who was Sterling’s first Development Director in the early 1990s.

“Our family farm in Hyde Park, Vermont started out as 400 acres and was once a working dairy farm and sugar woods. The land is now down to about 100 acres. My father built the house and the barn and it means a lot to the family that it’s there. But it’s too much land to maintain practically. So we are looking at the potential of opening up the family land to the community—maybe providing a CSA for the neighbors and having people come and live there — really use the land.”

She chose to audit the semester rather than taking classes for credit. “I just wanted to be exposed to the skills—working with draft horses, gardening, and permaculture. And I wanted to make those connections within the sus-tainable agriculture community and I knew Sterling’s Summer Agriculture Semester would do this.”

After taking the permaculture course with Keith Morris she felt she had made a connection for future help when designing the family farms and Draft Horse Manager Rick Thomas could lend his expertise with horses — not to mention the potential of harnessing the knowledge and energy of Sterling interns.

What she wasn’t prepared for however, were the lessons she received on the benefits of working and living together as a community.

“After this semester I finally feel a part of this farming community that raised

me,” Lucy said. “I have been reminded of the beauty of this community. And through my exposure to other farms I understand the workings of a commu-nity—the hard work necessary in the world of farming and what it means to have daily barn chores. I was reminded of the profound difference of 15 people doing a job versus one. Essentially that’s what Sterling is—everyone helping out. You don’t have to be amazing at everything. Just be good at what you have and barter with the rest. This experience showed me we need only to look to the local community to see how we can help each other. When you think about it —this way of working could solve the problems of the world and get us all back in touch with nature.”

Another unexpected lesson was the use of horses as work animals rath-er than an expensive hobby.

“It was a huge wake up call to see that horses can in reality really contribute,’ Lucy said of Sterling’s draft horses. “They can help create and cultivate the field and are not just a drain of finances.”

With the onset of sustainable living as a means to survive a troubled economy, Lucy said she sees programs like Sterling’s Sustainable Agriculture Semester attracting an influx of older community members who are looking to re-learn practical farming skills lost through the generations.

“All around me in all generations I see people interested in re-learning skills that will help them provide for their family in a more secure way,” Lucy said.

To sum up the summer Lucy said it was all about preparing for the future.

“This semester was my graduation present from my mother. She saw it as a sound investment in my future—unlike the necklace she was given for her graduation but never wore. I feel as though I’ve just scratched the surface, but, as Keith said, I now have permaculture goggles. Sustainable Agriculture goggles. I see things in a new light and know the direction I need to go. It’s been a great summer.”



rural heritage inStitute:

Second Annual RHi is a Foodie HitThe second annual Rural Heritage Institute, Food, Farms, and

Community: Rural America’s Local Food Renaissance brought together farmers, activists, artists, teachers, students, and community members from all over the country for three days of workshops, conversations, and locally grown food. The conference ran from June 16 to 18, focusing on the emergence of local food throughout rural America. Participants took workshops on Draft Horse Cultivation, Scything, and Cooking from Historic Roots and fieldtrips to local farms and agricultural busi-ness. Presenters came from across the country to share their views, in-sights, and predictions of where the local food movement is going and growing.

Clark Wolf, restaurant consultant and author of American Cheeses: The Best Regional, Artisan, and Farmhouse Cheeses, Who Makes Them, and Where to Find Them discussed how restaurants and other food businesses con-nect with farms, food makers and farmers, and how the communities and press are viewing this phenomenon. His keynote address and chats with local chefs were both a lively mix of thoughtful maxims and hu-morous anecdotes. Clark has over 30 years of experience in the food industry and is Founder and President of Clark Wolf Company, a New York-based food and restaurant consulting firm.

The RHI workshop “Cooking with Historic Texts,” was taught by Ken Albala. Ken is a Food Historian at the University of the Pacific in Stockfish, California and author of Eating Right in the Renaissance, Food in Early Modern Europe, Cooking in Europe 1250-1650, The Banquet, and Beans: A History and Pancake. He has edited and co-edited numerous

food textbooks and journals. One of the more popular classes was his “How to Smeare a Rabbet or a Necke of Mutton.”

Presenters Annie Connole and Ulla Kjarval, co-creators and contribu-tors to the Grass-fed Party (www.grassfedparty.com), gave a talk en-titled, “A Presentation and Open Guided Discussion on Social Media in the New Food and Agrarian Movement.” Annie Connole is a profes-sional marketer and Ulla Kjarval is a NYC based blogger and photogra-pher whose family operates a grass-fed beef farm in the Catskills.

The following are reflections of the conference taken from a few RHI participant surveys:

“The Rural Heritage Institute provides an excellent forum for the open ex-change of ideas—a rural past and present. An ideal meeting space for academ-ics, farmers, policy makers, and gurus.”

“A place to gather to share ideas, problems, solutions and tools with people interested in a meaningful and productive relationship with the earth.”

“I enjoyed all the different types of people. Professors, chefs, historians, stu-dents—all with a common interest. So many perspectives and people to learn from.”

‘A fun, stimulating, relaxed, inclusive week! And fabulous food to boot!”

“Never before experiencing Sterling—the mission, the people, the place—have I felt so connected to what feels like my “organic purpose.” That is, to be a good steward of the land, and to be good in my community, my body, myself. The RHI in Craftsbury Common is like an awakening that is inescapable.”

Rabbit being cooked outside in sealed clay pot.

34 CommonVoice


Over 200 attendees joined in Sterling’s All College Reunion in August—beckoning back three decades of alumni from 1979 to 2009. They came with families, friends, and pets from Arizona, Maine, Connecticut, and across the country to reacquaint themselves with old friends and to

celebrate all that is Sterling.

When the collection of alumni and their families gathered in a circle for the weekend’s version of “All College Meeting,” they faced each other and aired appreciations of what was for some an education received thirty years ago.

“What was the biggest influence Sterling had on your life?” President Wootton asked of the collective. The responses reflected unabashed affection, expressions of thanks, and a renewal of the importance of Sterling values.

“Sterling gave my life direction,” was one reply. “I learned how to give back, and to create a sense of community,” was another. One answer, “having the confidence to run a chainsaw,” met with laughter—but there was also the shared empowerment that comes from tackling and mastering the unknown, something in which Sterling specializes in the classroom and in the field.

With nary a glance to the chilly rain alumni enjoyed the reunion weekend complete with horse and sheep shearing demonstrations, a locavore pork dinner, a cocktail party at North House, and a lively contra-dance. The Sterling kitchen was the hub of the weekend offering impromptu chats, moments of reflection, and a cup of good strong coffee.

For the current Sterling community the reunion was a chance to rekindle faculty and student friendships and to reach out to students past. We look forward to the next gathering and remind all alumni to keep in touch and let us know where life’s adventures take you.

2009 all-College weekend reunion: Rekindling Friendships



2000S Julie Almeter, ’08, and Silas Clark, ’07, have a baby boy, Rowan Durant Clark, born February 13. “We’re in Lincoln (VT) to be closer to Silas’s father who is struggling with cancer. Silas grew up near Bristol, so we wanted to be somewhere in that area for family and more work opportunities.”

Jay Merrill, ’02, has accepted the position of assis-tant director of admissions at New England College in Henniker, N.H. He wrote, “The office is great - just as quirky as we all were at Sterling…I think it’s going to be a good match. They’re serious but joke around a lot!!”

Nick Augsberger, ‘04 attended the All-College Reunion in August with his daughter Sophia, and later we caught a profile about him in the Pete’s Greens newsletter (written by Julia Shipley) Nick works with CSA subscribers among other duties. “…explaining his indirect path from wildlands ecol-ogy major at Sterling College to professional foodie at Pete’s Greens, he cites his experiences working in the College’s kitchen. Though he was monitor-ing watersheds on Mount Mansfield for his senior project, he was also learning kitchen fundamen-tals from Paul Sweeny, a long time cook for the College - kitchen fundamentals such as how to use a knife, and how to carve a turkey…He also took an off campus job at Pete’s Greens, back when it was based on farmer Peter Johnson’s parents’ land in nearby Greensboro. Since 2003, Nick has immersed himself in every aspect of the farm business: from field worker and wash-house crew to farmers’ mar-ket staff and restaurant sales representative to farm manager. However, concocting specialty products out of the high quality produce is what excites him the most.” “Nick got quite a bit of face time with famed chef Emeril Lagasse, filmed making pickles at Pete’s Greens and also at the big dinner they had at Lakeview Inn while filming in the Hardwick-Greensboro area!”

Dan Chehayl,’06, just returned from a 45 day hiking trip with four 17-year-olds in the Brooks Range, Alaska. He led the group for Manito-wish, an adventure and leadership organization for young people. In October, he studies for his wilderness EMT certification. You can reach him at [email protected]

1990S Alyssa Lovell, ’90, is “still working as an occupa-tional therapist in the Amherst schools, doing more gardening every year, working toward a M.F.A. in creative writing, and about to sell (her) house and move from the hills into the valley.”

Jody Stoddard, ’97, has returned to Sterling for her B.A. degree and is also working at Sterling College part time. (Jody also earned her A.A. at Sterling.)

Christine Vogel, ’95 told us, “skipped my law school graduation and went to FL instead. I went there to meet up with a ‘Sterler.’ He was class of ‘96 Matt Harper. While we were never “tight” at Sterling, it was awesome!!! Sterling connections never die no matter how much time has passed! I also did my best to peer pressure him into donating some money after I saw the Sterling letter on his coffee table.” Christine has been busy all summer studying for her New York State bar exams, the results of which will be ready in November.

Marion Sikora, ’97, married Kevin Divers, from Pittsburgh PA, the last weekend of August 2009. Marion says he’s “not a Sterling boy, but definitely Sterling at heart. We had a blast. It was beautiful – everything we wanted in a wedding,” she says.

1980S Elizabeth Goodwin, ’82, says, “My family and I had 9 wonderful weeks in Kenya this summer. Busy as always with work on our program, Batian’s View Experiential Education Center, in Naro Moru, Kenya. While there, my husband and I needed to accomplish months worth of work in weeks, but we managed to go camping in Samburu and to es-cape to the Indian Ocean for five nights--bliss! Now back into the chaotic academic year with our three children Jake (13), Makena (9) and Brewer (6) who have oodles of homework and love to participate in loads of after school sports and activities.” Contact Elizabeth at [email protected]

Hello Sterling Class of 1984! Has it been a while since you have used your canoeing and camping skills? This is your chance for fantastic wildlife view-ing. Visiting with a great group of friends, showing off to your teenage children that you really do know more than they do about camping, and perhaps re-taliating a few practical jokes. I am of course speak-ing about the BOUNDARY WATERS/ VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK CANOE TRIP planned for late July & early August of 2010. All Sterling 1984 alumni and their families are invited. For details about the trip contact: Jennifer Weinert at (802) 476-8215. Or you can e-mail her at: [email protected].

1970S

Sue Silvia,’77, wants to reconnect with her class. She writes, “I am still in Connecticut and have been getting the CommonVoice, but never see anything from the class of ‘77 in there. We are a lazy bunch! Trying to reconnect with people. I have found a few on Facebook and they are looking for others also, so I would like to begin the search.” Be in touch with Sue at [email protected]

John Molina, ’79, tells us he “worked for the Forest Service in ‘80 and ‘81 in Idaho, seeing people like Steve Wright, Kraig, Michaela, Roberta, Cheryl.

Ended up back in CT as a Constable and working for a tree service before going back into school for computers. Have worked for the state of CT for 21 years. Married in ‘91 and have 3 children, 2 from my wife’s previous marriage. I am currently co-author-ing a book about the pioneers of women’s basket-ball, the All American Red Heads (a team of women that barnstormed the country, playing only men, by their rules and winning over 75% of the time) with the historian of the Basketball Hall of Fame.”

Linda Kepner, ’79, wrote us earlier, “Things are fine. That newsletter (Spring CommonVoice) was so up-beat and positive I want to spread it around. You know, I’m not an “outdoorsy” type - I grew up in the country, but it was the country of the real, old, poor, mean-spirited, sexist dirt farmers, and coming to Sterling opened my eyes to farming in a far differ-ent sense. It’s really nice, now, to see these coopera-tive gardens and international nonprofit ventures, and see farming in an entirely different way. When I did my senior project at Eisenhower College (via Sterling) on the decline of the small farm, I was hop-ing it really was the end - it would mean the end of a lot of hopelessness and an incredible amount of meanness. I never thought a farmer could be a nice person (except my dad, of course, but he was extraordinary). But I can still milk a cow and help new chicks learn to say their prayers.”

Jennifer Jordan Gear, ’76, writes “I can’t believe it’s been 33 years, but there is the number right in front of me. Anyway, I am living in Salt Lake City with my husband, Jeff Rhoads, whom I met in 2000 at K2 base camp while researching my book and film, While I am still a very much displaced New Englander, there is a certain charm about living at the base of the Wasatch Mountains, only hours away from the Grand Canyon, one of my favorite places on earth (besides the Common under a full moon). Watch for my latest documentary, “Kick Like a Girl,” airing on HBO in June and my second book sometime next year. Be in touch at [email protected].”

Alumni News

in memoriam The College extends sympathy to the family and friends of Amanda Ridgely Lake, ’87, who passed away August 19, 2009. Ms. Lake was one of only a handful of women to earn a 100-ton Near Coast Master’s license, allowing her to pilot large vessels in and out of commercial ports. She also developed an award-winning website for the Public Broadcasting System.

The College regrets the passing of friend Mary Manning last spring, mother of past president Bill Manning. Mrs. Manning was instrumental in the College’s early years, as a strong sup-porter and champion of the Sterling ethos.

36 CommonVoice

S t e r l i n g C o l l e g eS t e r l i n g C o l l e g e

CommonVoice Fall/Winter 2009

P.O. Box 72Craftsbury Common, VT 05827

Environmental Benefits Statement ♼By printing this issue of the CommonVoice on environmentally friendly paper using a local press, we saved...

843 lbs solid waste 1581 lbs emissions 3 tons wood 13 million BTUs energy 6,563 gal wastewater

CommonVoice: Fall/Winter 2009

Documents

Transcript of CommonVoice: Fall/Winter 2009