News & Views is a
bi-monthly In this issue: Mountain Cultures Semester: Destination Mexico A Horse Named Pete
|
||
 |
Where will you be next fall? Are you still considering the myriad of college options available? Its not too late to apply to Sterling College for the fall of 2006! Financial Aid is still available. Sterling College provides a depth of learning and intensity of interaction distinctive in higher education. Our environmental focus, our commitment to experiential learning, and our community is not for everyone, but it may be right for you. Click here to apply now. |
|
Facts about Financial Aid at Sterling College*
|
||
|  |
| Students in the 2006 Mountain Cultures Semester spent their time living, learning, and working in the Sierra Madre region in the northwestern part of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. | |
|
Their biggest project was to conduct a study of the Basaseachi National Park, where the biggest waterfall in Mexico drops 1,500 feet, eventually joining the waters that flow to the Sea of Cortez through the Barranca Del Cobra. Topics included water quality issues, effects on wildlife, impacts on native peoples, and socioeconomic planning. Field trips to existing and planned ecotourism facilities provided a first-hand look at the pitfalls and benefits of the controversial term ecotourism. As a final project, students actively assisted in planning the manner in which tourists can experience the splendor of Basaseachi while leaving no trace. |
Students also collected baseline data using GPS, then archived this data in a spatial database using ArcGIS. They learned how to use GPS technology, identify major flora and fauna, apply water quality assessment protocol, and begin to come to some understanding of the processes that influence biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics. |
|
Another aspect of the semester found them visiting a remote indigenous community within the Copper Canyon during Chihuahua’s busiest tourism week known as Semana Santa (Holy Week). During free time, students had the opportunity to explore the region and take advantage of recreational activities such as hiking and climbing. Now that they have returned to campus, the students will give a presentation to the Sterling College community that describes the Basaseachi project as well as share some of their experiences. |
 |
|
A Horse Named Pete I’m standing at the bottom of a log trace that slithers 30 feet up a hillside. Through the tree tops I can see the sky—a cold, mute gray. The ground below me is a sloppy mixture of mud, lichens, rotting leaves, crunchy sticks, and wet spring snow. In front of me is a 1700 lb. Belgian draft horse tossing his weighty head up and down in anticipation of the pull. He’s connected to me via two rugged leather driving lines I hold firmly in my hands, trying to reign in the horse’s pull. Next to me, my classmate hitches a rattling log chain attached to the horses harness to a small diameter maple log. My classmate gives me the signal. The log is hitched. I make two quick clicking sounds with my mouth and the horse explodes up the hill, pulling the 500 lb. log like it’s a match stick. I do the best I can with my inexperienced hands to control the horse’s energy as he rumbles up the trace. As we come to the top of the hill I call out, “HAW!” and firmly turn the horse left with the lines, the whole time being mindful of the quaking log at my feet. The horse obliges my commands. He turns left and we head up the road to the log landing. |
This was not what I thought I would be doing in college. In fact, I never thought I would do anything like this in my lifetime. Horse logging was never on my list of things to do before my time is up. Yet, when I came to Sterling College and saw students learning to drive and care for the draft horses I felt a strong desire to learn more about these powerful and beautiful animals. When I signed up for the Draft Horse Management course I knew very, very little about horses and even less about working with them... |
 |
 |
Who Goes Here? Luke Hardt '06 |
 |
||
Though it was Luke’s adventurous spirit that initially drew him to the Center, it has been the quality and reputation of the professors, access to Bear Swamp, focus on the north, and unique community of scholars that has kept him there. Luke describes the Center as “an intellectual community held together by a common interest in the north.” |
||||
|
||||
| Although Luke appreciates the camaraderie and discourse that takes place at the Center in and out of classes, he also fulfills his love of adventure through participation in Global Field Studies to the northern reaches of the planet. On one of these adventures Luke traveled above the Arctic Circle, north of Scandinavia, to Lapland to study the culture of the native Sámi reindeer herders. “It was an opportunity of a lifetime. Given the language barriers and remoteness of the region, there was no way I could have done this trip without the Center’s contacts,” he says with a serious intonation. In addition, Luke has twice visited the northern Scottish Isles. “The Shetlands are one of the most archeologically diverse places in the world. The Norse, Picts, and Anglo Saxons have all left their footprint there,” Luke explains, when asked why he chose to take part in the field study. Currently Luke is a senior completing his Senior Applied Research Project (SARP) entitled Tamarack Brook Watershed Research Project. Over the past year Luke engaged in a comprehensive watershed assessment of a 4,000 acre parcel of land in Wolcott, Vermont. He spent countless hours in the backcountry identifying plants, cataloging animal tracks, testing soils, and walking transects and utilized Geographical Information Systems or GIS technology to map his data. As a student in Advanced GIS he learned how GIS technology is being used in environmental research, and through his SARP he applied what he learned in class. Although Luke is thoroughly occupied with his SARP and other courses, he continues to find inspiration from the Center’s spirit of learning and exploration. |
   |
|||
Sterling College Internships Promise Memorable Summer Learning The Internship Program is an integral part of every Sterling student’s experience. The program embodies the experiential learning cycle of prepare, experience, and reflect. The preparation begins with Work Search—a one-credit course which facilitates the process of finding an internship. Then, students experience the internship. Finally, students reflect on their experiences through a formal presentation to the Sterling community. Ultimately the experiential learning cycle allows students to formulate concepts based on their own experiences and then apply these concepts in new contexts. Jennifer Payne, Director of the Career Resource Center, explains, “Sterling’s Internship Program is unique. When employers and organizations call my office, they are specifically looking for a Sterling student to fill their intern positions because they know all our students focus on some aspect of environmental studies. Organizations are excited to have found such a good match.” |
|
 |
|
 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
|
|---|
|
Conversations with Sterling College students convinced Jennifer Payne to put down her professional roots and accept the position as Career Resource Center and Internship Program Director. While interviewing for the position in 2003, Jennifer asked her typical series of questions to gain a sense of the climate on campus. The responses she got from Sterling students—anything but typical! Jennifer reflects on one pivotal conversation, “I learned that during lambing, students take turns sleeping in the loft of the barn. They rise every two hours to check on the ewes and assist with any problems.” Jennifer continues, “These were not the type of responses I was used to getting from students at other colleges where I was interviewing.” |
 |
||
What makes Jennifer Payne the perfect person to shepherd Sterling College students through the internship and job search process? Perhaps it is her infectious enthusiasm. Perhaps it is her dedication to researching and compiling amazing job and internship resources for students in the Weekly Update of Career Opportunities or on the CRC webpage, which offers hundreds of links to job resources. Most likely it is the combination of these factors and the fact that Jennifer chose a path that many Sterling students wish to follow. Jennifer’s resume is directed, eclectic, and adventurous. Throughout her undergraduate studies, Jennifer spent her summers working at camps around New England. Upon graduating, she juggled camp administration work in the summers with work as a Resident Director at SUNY Geneseo, where she hired student workers in Residence Life, Student Activities, and Athletics. The common thread between the two jobs was to encourage and facilitate leadership development for college age students. These experiences inspired Jennifer to pursue her graduate degree in Outdoor Adventure Education at Western Illinois University and subsequently work for Outward Bound in Minnesota and Maryland. In between Outward Bound positions, Jennifer was able to quench her thirst for travel throughout the United States. Jennifer incorporated her passion for travel into her next two job adventures—first as the Travel Program Director of Interlocken Center for Experiential Learning (now called Windsor Mountain International) and second as Resident Director (and later as the Assistant Executive Dean) of Semester at Sea. Jennifer’s experience with Semester at Sea confirmed her desire to return to the college campus and work with college age students long-term. She wished to work one-on-one with motivated students and help ignite their potential. |
|||
 |
Presently, Jennifer is involved in every Sterling College student’s education. All students complete a ten-week, six-credit internship. She begins working with the entering class each year and continues to work closely with all students throughout their time at the College. She assists greatly with each student’s internship process. (See above for additional information on the Internship Program.) Jennifer also enjoys her work with seniors and alumni in their quest for meaningful employment. Each year she conducts exit interviews with seniors. Jennifer is pleased to note, “Some common sentiments of seniors is confidence in and gratitude for attending Sterling College. They admire the commitment faculty have given them. Generally, the mind-set of seniors is an eagerness to give back and make the world a better place.” Jennifer is also chair of the Association for Experiential Education’s (AEE) Northeast Region. This role enables her to keep Sterling College students connected with up and coming events, industry standards, and current research in the experiential education field. She explains, “Many of my students attend the regional and national conferences every year. AEE is a great catalyst for networking students with potential internships and jobs.” Sterling College fosters an environmental ethic, weaves the philosophy of outdoor education throughout its curriculum, provides opportunities for international travel and study, and celebrates community. Given her background and future goals, Jennifer is an asset to Sterling’s curriculum and programs.
|
