News & Views is a bi-monthly
e-publication of the Sterling College Admissions Office.
In this issue:
Fall Open House Dates
Wanted: Next Year's Environmental Stewards
Notes from the Fields— Farm Semester Update
Who Goes Here? Profile of Sterling College Student, Andy Webster
The Langdon Street Caf
é
Faculty Spotlight: Professor Kathleen Dana
In October's New & Views: Spring 2006 Mountain Cultures Semester travels to Mexico.
|
Most students who apply for admission to Sterling College embrace the ideas summarized in these words.
Most students who enroll at Sterling College want to make a difference in our world.
Do you?
Apply for fall 2006 admission as early as November.
Sterling College is now offering Early Action Admission for student who apply before December 15, 2005.
Click here to find out more.
|
 |
Fall Open House Dates
Please join us on Saturday, October 29 or November 12, 2005!
Take a tour, chat with students and faculty, and sample a delicious meal in Sterling's Dunbar Dining Hall. Staff, students, and faculty will be on hand to answer all your questions about our academic majors, experiential curriculum, global field studies, internships, admissions, and financial aid. Please register.
Click here for more details and on-line registration or call 800-648-3591 |
|
Environmental Stewards Wanted
Small, environmentally focused college
in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont
seeks motivated students who have
demonstrated an exemplary commitment
to the environment for
amazing scholarship opportunity.
The Environmental Steward Scholarship at Sterling College rewards two students per year with a four year, full tuition scholarship.
Click here to find out more about applying for the scholarship. |
|
|
Notes From the Fields— Farm Semester Update
by 2005 Farm Semester Students
The first days of August have filled our harvest baskets with deep red beets, young pearly onions, pickling cucumbers, crispy snow peas, sweet carrots, and more green beans than you can shake a stick at. We prefer to eat them though. The Summer Farm Semester at Sterling College is well underway. When we aren't in the classroom completing coursework in Issues in U.S. Agriculture, Grazing Management, and Organic Vegetable Production, we're out here in the fields and pastures getting experience. |
Strolling through the gardens we see rows of flowers and veggies for the farmers' market and Sterling College kitchen, along with experimental plots where we're investigating the effects of various pest and weed management practices.
Down at the farm we've been developing a more efficient rotational grazing system for the sheep, cows, rams, goats, calves, and Odin, our guard llama. We're all getting a good idea of how to create a grazing system that results in both healthy animals and pastures. We are also getting a crash course in reverse psychology as we convince cows to come back through the holes they make in fences.
This summer has been full of planning, planting, weeding, shearing, milking, harvesting, reading, discussing, driving the tractor, collecting eggs, chasing piglets, and witnessing the growth of life all around us.
Find out more about Sterling's major in Sustainable Agriculture and The Summer Farm Semester. |
 |
|
|
Who Goes Here?
Andy Webster ‘06
Hometown: Lunenburg, MA
Major: Conservation Ecology |
|
Andy developed a love for nature by simply watching thunderstorms from the back steps of his Massachusetts home. He was about 19 when he became more curious about what the natural world was made up of
— particularly its systems and patterns. The more he learns about the world around him, the more patterns he sees. Andy feels his Sterling College experience is unique because of the size of the College and the focus of the curriculum.
While rock climbing at a local crag, analyzing plant structure in ecology lab, or feeding livestock on the farm, he enjoys delving into natural systems and exploring the mysteries of ecology from many perspectives.
|
 |
Additionally, Andy values the off-campus opportunities that the College encourages students to embark upon. This past spring semster, as a junior, Andy decided to take his love of nature to the sea. Andy participated in Sea-mester, sailing throughout the Caribbean Sea north to Long Island, NY. Andy regards this experience as a once in a lifetime opportunity. On a 131-foot Schooner, Andy learned traditional sailing techniques, seamanship, and navigation while engaging in the disciplines of science and humanities.
The Sterling community is enlivened by Andy’s presence on campus as he plays an active role in community life by sharing his amazing musical talents, organizing Open Stage, and participating in the Men’s Group. Andy recently released his latest CD, Libra. Andy describes this compilation of work as representing the dichotomy of life and the importance of seeking balance. Click here to listen to clips from Andy's new CD. |
There is a hip, yearling café in Montpelier, Vermont. The Langdon Street Café, a funky, artsy gathering place, drew many Sterling College students to Montpelier throughout its first year. What was the draw? Live music ranging from Irish and old-time sessions to reggae and blues bands, organic coffee, tea, local and organic sweets and eats, and good company. (Click here to read more about The Langdon Street Café...) |
|
Faculty Spotlight: Kathleen "Kati" Osgood Dana
B.A., History, University of Vermont, 1974; M.A.T., English, Keene State College, 1987; Ph.D., Literature, University of Oulu, Finland, 2003.
Professor Dana recently received a grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation in New York City to help fund research in literary ecology. Her research is supported by Giellegas Instituhtta (Saami Studies Institute) at the University of Oulu in Finland. Taarna Valtonen, a PhD candidate at the Institute, will participate in the project.
|
|
| |
During a three-week period Professor Dana and Taarna Valtonen will travel 300 kilometers of the reindeer migration route, from the high fells of Finnish Lapland to the fjordside in northern Norway. Their goal is to analyze and explain the relevance of places along this route as they relate to a lyrical poem written by the late Saami poet, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää. The places are key sites along the reindeer migration route of Valkeapää's reindeer-herding family. Their intent is to come to a greater understanding of the meaning of these places, their particularities, and how they fit together.
Professor Dana will present a slide show and lecture at Scandinavia House in Manhattan in the fall for the American Scandinavian Foundation.
Are you interested in studying the people and places of northern regions? Click here to read about our major in Northern Studies. |
|
|
