I’ve been Sterling College’s president for only a few months now, and am still discovering the college the way a new student might. Everyday brings a surprise or two; every conversation offers a new perspective, and every walk reveals a new piece of the campus. Some of those pieces are large, like the Farm, or Bear Swamp; some are small, like the school boy signatures in the concrete pathway.

The best discovery of all, I think, is the over all strength of Sterling, in its economics, its educational philosophy, its people, and its spirit. So much as been accomplished over the past decade, not the least of which is the development of a rigorous curriculum that combines a series of two-week long intensive courses in the fall, mid-winter, and spring - with two semester-long blocks for concentrated academic work.

What else distinguishes Sterling? There must be more, but I’ve discovered these distinctive qualities:

I am struck also by the fact that a good proportion of Sterling alumni – who represent at least three distinct times in the school’s past – see the important connection between their academic experiences and Sterling as it is today.

Each of those earlier institutions and the people who made them – as an alternative preparatory school, as an institution offering the Short Course in Outdoor Leadership and the year-long Grassroots project, and as an Associate of Arts degree college – have contributed directly to the substance and spirit of Sterling today. The same is true, of course, for the Center for Northern Studies. CNS was an independent scholarly institution focusing on the circumpolar world and today, after the 2003 merger, represents one of Sterling’s four majors.

Certainly Sterling’s universe is small when compared to many, perhaps all other, colleges and universities. However, it is made larger and infinitely stronger by the inclusion of its friends. These men and women, generations of them, have become friends of the college in a great variety of ways. They are neighbors, whose families have lived in the Northeast Kingdom for generations, or they are recent transplants from flatter lands; they are former faculty and staff; they are academics attracted to Sterling’s way of educating young people. Friends of the College serve on our board of trustees, on the CNS advisory council, as lecturers and adjuncts, and as just plain friends. They are, at once, our tie to the past and our link to the future.

I welcome you as I have been welcomed to this special Sterling family and look forward to meeting all of you personally in the months and years ahead.