News & Views is a bi-monthly
e-publication of the Sterling College Admissions Office.
In this issue:
Spring Open House Dates
Work College Consortium Conference in Kentucky
Who Goes Here? Profile of Sterling College Student, Caleb Fisher
Students Show Support for United Nations Conference on Climate Change
Global Field Studies-Destination Japan
Faculty Spotlight: Erik Hansen
News and Views Staff: Gwyn Harris (Editor), Jenna Ryan (Tech Support), and Ian Foerstch '09 (Chief Contributor).
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Apply Now for Fall 2006
Sterling College provides a depth of learning and intensity of interaction distinctive in higher education. Our environmental focus, commitment to experiential learning, and community is not for everyone, but it may be right for you.
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Click here to apply online or download a copy of our 2006 Application for Admission. The Admissions Committee will begin reviewing completed applications on January 15, 2006. Transfer students are encouraged to apply.
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Spring Open House Dates
Please join us for an Open House. Available dates are:
Monday, February 20, 2006
Monday, March 6, 2006
Saturday, April 22, 2006
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
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Students Attend Work College Consortium Conference in Kentucky
By Crystal Hoyt ’08
In November, six Sterling College students, Erik Hansen—Dean of Work, and Laurie Laggner—Registrar traveled to the annual four-day Work College Consortium Conference hosted by Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes, Kentucky. This was the second conference for Kathy Fournier ’08, Lauren Bergeron ’08, and I. We were excited to return and ready to learn more about other college work programs. Isaac Vars and Stephanie George, both second-year students, and Matt Hawley, a first-year student, saw this as a new and exciting opportunity to travel, meet new people, and learn about the Consortium. |
The Work College Consortium is comprised of six U.S. colleges that host work college programs on their campuses. At Sterling College all students who live on campus participate in work college jobs and responsibilities, performing many tasks that are essential to the operation of the campus. In exchange students earn $1,400 towards tuition and books each year.
The conference provides an opportunity for the work colleges to share ideas about improving their work programs. The days are filled with presentations, speakers, group projects, interactive games, workshops, and a lot of fun. Students from other colleges learned about Sterling’s unique experiential curriculum and how the work program is integrated with learning on campus. Our presentation highlighted Sterling courses such as Experiential Education and Tools and their Application as well as our community-oriented learning environment. |
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Each year conference participants volunteer an afternoon to complete a service project. This year we built retaining walls along a small creek bank to prevent erosion. After a hard day of work hauling rocks, sledge hammering, and rock wall building we were treated to a real Kentucky fried chicken dinner at Alice Lloyd College. Our last night of the conference was spent at the annual raffle, for which each college donates items from its college store. Sterling students were delighted to hear hoots and hollers from others as our donated items of hand spun yarn and maple syrup—both products of the Sterling Farm—were raffled off.
This conference is a great opportunity for students to experience the cultural differences and uniqueness of the individual institutions that make up the Work College Consortium. The Sterling College students who attended this year hope to return next year to share another valuable experience with other students who support the efforts of the Consortium. |
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Who Goes Here?
Caleb Fisher '07
Hometown: Ocean Township, New Jersey
Major: Self-Designed Major in Sustainability Education
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Caleb Fisher’s current commitment to studying and practicing sustainability developed out of a feeling of frustration. As an individual well informed of environmental issues, Caleb was stymied by the thought that he was still consuming more than his fair share of resources.
“At one point I decided to buy a plot of land and settle down as a homesteader. After some thought, I came to the conclusion that while I wouldn't be contributing towards the destruction of the environment, I also wouldn't be helping at all. I believe the current situation is a little too unstable to become a hermit at twenty-five years old, I think the environmental movement needs as many people as it can get."
Caleb is also an avid outdoorsman; many of his weekends are devoted to camping and hiking trips in the surrounding area. It was on a weekend camping trip at a nature preserve in Eden, Vermont, when Caleb met a Sterling College student who would ultimately change his path. Caleb attributes this chance encounter as the reason he decided to transfer from the nearby state college to Sterling. He was eager to begin learning practical skills such as agriculture and forestry. Caleb comments, "I enjoy being in a place where I can take theoretical, academic classes and integrate them with real world experiences such as walking in the woods, applying forestry practices, and working in the Sterling College gardens.” |
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As a junior at Sterling College, Caleb is currently devoting much of his time to planning and refining his Senior Applied Research Project (SARP). Caleb will be coordinating the efforts of the environ-mental clubs in the middle and high schools of his hometown in New Jersey. He plans to expand student involvement in the environmental movement by funneling student energy and ideas to fuel environmentally related projects such as starting a local Farmers’ Market.
This SARP project ties in closely to Caleb’s self-designed major in Sustainability Education.
“The hardest part of designing my own major has been deciding what to study. Sustainability covers a broad range of subjects; I am not limited to studying agriculture or conservation. Sustainability Education allows for a more holistic approach.”
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This past summer, Caleb interned with the Global Living Project in East Corinth, Vermont. At the Global Living Project he ran workshops, participated in outreach work for local youth, and participated in the upkeep of the land and facilities, which entailed gathering firewood and working in the orchards and gardens.
Back on the Sterling College campus this semester, Caleb serves as the Sustainability Assistant. In this role, he works to lessen the ecological impact of the College, and educate students, faculty, and the local community on environmental issues. Some of his projects include creation of a Campus Ecology Club, the careful monitoring of campus energy meters, and the placement of educational signs and posters around campus. Caleb’s work as the Sustainability Assistant is tied in to Sustainable Sterling—a renewed effort directed toward greening the campus and infrastructure of Sterling College.
Caleb’s post-graduation plans include travel and work in the education sector as a sustainability educator or work for a non-profit advocacy group. He considers his current work college position, as Sustainability Assistant, good training for his future career. |
Students Show Support for United Nations Conference on Climate Change
By Caleb Fisher ’07
The United Nations Conference on Climate Change took place in Montreal from November 28th to December 9th. Recognizing this event as the most significant climate change gathering since the Kyoto Protocol was developed in 1997 coupled with the fact that Montreal was only 2.5 hours away, my peers and I knew it was an opportunity not to be missed! After all, world leaders were gathering to discuss an issue we care deeply about. This particular conference precipitated a large international gathering of youth on climate change issues. |
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| Even though the conference and youth events conflicted with Sterling’s finals week, three students and I traveled to Montreal on December 3rd. David Earle ’07, Tyler Self ’07, Gordon Adams ’08, and I participated in a march of 40,000 people showing support for strong climate policy and action. We also engaged in workshops and attended lectures and panels held at the Youth and Climate Justice Convergence Center. Meeting students from around the world as well as leaders in the climate change movement was energizing. We also strengthened relationships with a developing network of Vermont students concerned with climate change issues.
There is a lot riding on the shoulders of today’s youth and climate change has been dubbed “the challenge of our generation." After my experience in Montreal I’m hopeful for the future and I’m reminded that change really does start at home. |
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Global Field Studies: Destination Japan
by Erik Hansen, Director of Global Field Studies
Interested in enrolling in college and fulfilling your desire to see some of the world at the same time? Sterling’s unique academic calendar provides flexibility and engaging learning opportunities. It consists of two semesters (fall and spring) and two week-long intensives in September, January, and May. The intensives provide students with the opportunity to participate in Global Field Studies.
During the September 2005 Intensive, students and faculty traveled to Hokkaido, Japan’s northern-most island, for a fortnight of study in the Far East. Participating students earned 3 credits in either Sustainable Japanese Systems or Field Study in the Circumpolar North. |
| An array of activities on the trip detailed the ecology and culture of northern Japan. Lectures at cooperating universities in Sapporo and Obihiro and in the northernmost city of Wakkanai augmented site visits to national parks, organic farms, and Shinto temples. Discussions with university students and homestays with Japanese families added personal experiences from which to better understand the rare combination of the ancient intermingled with the modern, a phenomenon so frequently encountered in Japan.
The Northern Studies component encompassed a trip to Cape Soya at the very northern tip of Hokkaido, just across from Russian Sakhalin Island. |
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| In addition, extensive study was made of Japan’s indigenous Ainu people. Students visited with noted scholar Chisato (Kitty) Dubreuil, herself of Ainu heritage and curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibit on the Ainu a few years ago. Notable highlights included the spectacular vistas and ancient traditions encountered on idyllic Rebun Island, where the Sea of Japan meets the Russian Sea of Okhotsk.
Participants of Global Field Studies in Japan received special financial help from the Freeman Foundation of Vermont, whose on-going support helps fund Sterling College endeavors in the Far East. |
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Faculty Spotlight: Erik Hansen, Dean of Work
B.A., American Studies, University of Minnesota, 1967; M.A., Scandinavian Studies, University of Minnesota, 1972. Graduate Teacher Certification, Education, University of New Hampshire, 1977.
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| A map of the Arctic Region is tacked above Erik Hansen’s desk. It is a desk stacked with files—files filled with the documentation he is using to record student achievement both in his classes and in Sterling’s Work College Program this past semester. The shelves of his dormered office above the Sterling College library are brimming with books and binders. Strunk and White’s venerable grammar bible Elements of Style, Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach, John Dewey’s Experience and Education, and The Lonely Planet Guide to Japan. |
An office above the library seems a fitting place to house Erik Hansen as his past career includes a twelve-year stint of teaching English and journalism to high school students as well as a career as editor and writer of fiction and nonfiction. And indeed, also fitting is Erik’s presence at Sterling College. Sterling College is the ideal place for someone who is fascinated and well versed in areas such as travel, cultures of the north, experiential education, English grammar, and photography.
Dean of Work is a brief moniker for one whose role at the College is so diverse and eclectic. In addition to overseeing the administration of the Work College Program, Erik is also the Director of Global Field Studies and teaches courses such as: Black and White Photography, Indigenous Cultures of the Circumpolar North, Education and Culture, Experiential Curriculum Design, Sustainable Japanese Systems, and Sustainable Scandinavian Systems. |
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Erik Hansen came to the College in 1999 when Sterling became a part of the Work College Consortium. He had been working with the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) as an outreach counselor for high school students. His role at VSAC focused somewhat on assisting students who were trying to overcome obstacles to higher education and acquire funding to attend the institution of their choice. Erik was disheartened by the national trend in financial aid that was developing. He saw the availability of grants and scholarships diminishing, loan burden increasing, and tuition costs rising. “The Work College Program seemed like a good way to address this problem,” comments Hansen on one of the reasons he was drawn to Sterling College. “I also feel personally, and as a society, that we have become increasingly detached from the local community and support systems that sustain us.”
Erik saw the Work College Program at Sterling College as a way to model a system in which everyone has a stake in and responsibility to the basic tasks that keep a community functioning. He is convinced that “if you do a work college program right, it is a transforming experience for students.”
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Hansen partially attributes his penchant for plain hard work and passion for northern cultures to his heritage. He was flanked during his “typical, American upbringing” in a small, Minnesota farming town by two sets of Danish grandparents and Norwegian neighbors. Recently, he discovered that he was bilingual for a time during his pre-school years when he found some jottings from early childhood in both English and Danish. Erik yielded to the Danish influence and a desire to see the world when he was 19. He attended a Nordic European folk high school in Denmark for a year. It was a “pan-Scandinavian experience” that gave him connections to peers throughout the world. It was during a trip to a friend’s home in Warsaw, Poland, in 1964 that Erik realized how little he knew of his own country. Here, in a foreign landscape still visibly scarred by World War II, he found himself bombarded by questions about America that he could not truly answer. This experience influenced Erik to pursue an undergraduate degree in American Studies.
Years and careers later, after completing a master’s degree program in Scandinavian Studies, Erik began his second sojourn into graduate level work. He was pursuing graduate level certification in an experiential education program at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) that was created by Jed Williamson (current president of Sterling College). Erik received his certification and then began teaching courses for the program at UNH. From 1980-1999 he led the outdoor piece of the master’s program—taking beginning educators into the White Mountains for a wilderness experience and rock climbing.
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| Erik’s work during the '70's and 80's with New Hampshire high school students followed the experiential model as well. The students studied “cultural journalism” and were involved in every step of creating a published journal. They generated ideas for the articles, did the interviews, took the pictures, developed the film, wrote the articles, and set the type for printing. The high school students under his tutelage created a journal called Back Log that documented tales of old ways that were being practiced by local community members. The students chose the title Back Log as a metaphor for the tales they were capturing in their journal. The title of the journal refers to the log at the back of the fire that never goes out as long as you tend the fire. |
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| The image of these fiery coals at the back of the fire seems a fitting metaphor to extend to Erik’s work at the College today— especially appropriate as we head into the coldest days of winter. It is the creative and tireless work of Erik Hansen and others like him that keep the literal and figurative home fires burning on the Sterling College campus. |
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