"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." - Sterling College Mission
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A look at how we came to be who we are, and the people who got us to this point. This timeline is incomplete because it needs YOU! Share your photos, stories and milestones with us by emailing them to [email protected]
The class inscription in the yearbook reflects a sense of commencement: “To the future of Sterling School. As the first class to graduate from Sterling School, we hope that we have set some standards and precedents which will be carried on by future classes. It is one of our fondest wishes that this school should grow and prosper, for the future holds great promise for both of us. The school must grow and work, as will the graduate, in order to maintain its reputation and position. So, we, the Class of 1959, dedicate this yearbook to the future of Sterling School, its growth and prosperity.”
Sterling School establishes both the “new school farm,” and Dunbar Hall in honor of the chair of the first board of Sterling trustees, James H. Dunbar, under the leadership of new headmaster Ted Bermingham.
The first Bounder winter camping trip takes the entire school on a trip to Essex County, where students and faculty endure sub-zero temperatures and high winds. The students persist through the adverse conditions, and so does Bounder.
Sterling School headmaster Ted Bermingham adds the Short Course program to the the school’s curriculum in an attempt to boost dwindling enrollment numbers.
In 1974, William Manning becomes the President of Sterling.
In 1975, after a proposed North American campus of the United World Colleges is not implemented, Sterling is left without students. Ted Bermingham, who had stepped down as Headmaster to join the United World College board, pivots, and expands the Short Course program into a one-year intensive college program in agriculture, forestry, and wildlife management. Sixty-five students join the debut class, and the Grassroots era of Sterling begins. Bounder and Expedition remain as part of the program.
“At the core of all Sterling programs is the concern for the relationship between man [sic] and his [sic] environment. No more critical issue faces society today, and it has become very clear that neither the narrow technician nor the uninformed idealist can reach a solution alone. Sterling provides a comprehensive bridge between thought and deed as its students confront questions that affect the future of us all.”
Sterling is certified by the State of Vermont as a ”bona fide institution of Higher Education” and can offer its own college-level credits. The Sterling School name evolves to Sterling Institute in recognition of this change to higher education status. The Grassroots Project curriculum is described as “a one-year intensive program in agriculture, forestry, and wildlife management”
1981 Sterling becomes a candidate for accreditation through the New England Association of Schools andColleges. Pilot year for the Rural Resource Management Program
1982 The Grassroots program continues with students choosing to focus on forestry and wildlife (Woodchucks) or livestock agriculture (Aggies) although all students continue with a significant core program which includes year-round Bounder and Expedition. The Rural Resource Management Program (RRMP) is fully launched. Sterling is approved for degree-granting authority by the State of Vermont in spring 1983 so that the first class receives their two year AA degrees. The institution’s name changes from Sterling Institute to Sterling College in recognition of newly earned degree-granting authority. An integral part of the program are ten-week internships completed in the winter quarter, and Sterling students start a long tradition of grounding their studies in the working world.
The Grassroots Project continues to operate with between a quarter and a third of ‘Rooters continuing on in the Rural Resource Management Program to earn two-year degrees.
1987: Robert Cowen becomes the President of Sterling College and Sterling is featured in the New York Times Education; Wilderness for Learning.
The McCarthy Barns built through the same building internship program with a barn raising with the College community and alums in the Fall. On the barns is the first solar energy system for a Sterling building. The Brown Library (completed in 1989) is complete and named for trustee Marvin Brown.
1992: “Working Hands, Working Minds” makes its debut in a Sterling College publication. Ray Leonard becomes the interim President of Sterling College.
1993: John Devens becomes the President of Sterling College.
1995: Southwest Field Pr0gram, a 10-week field course in the southwest that basically followed the Colorado River from mouth to source, is initiated.
1996: Jed Williamson becomes the President of Sterling College.
Sterling College becomes a federally-recognized Work College and joins the Work College Consortium. Also in 1997, Sterling was granted authority from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) to grant Bachelor’s Degrees.
1998: Sterling’s Mission Statement appears in print for the first time. Sterling enrolls its first third year students in the newly approved BA program. The Sustainable Scandinavia Global Field Studies trip began.
2000: Sterling has its first BA commencement ceremony. Renowned climber and filmmaker David Breshears receives an honorary degree and is Commencement speaker.
Renowned climber and filmmaker David Breshears receives an honorary degree and is Commencement speaker.
2001: The first Mountain Cultures Semester, nicknamed “Semester with the Sherpas,” travels to Nepal.
2005: Center for Northern Studies joins Sterling College.
2006: Will Wootton becomes the President of Sterling College
Sterling installs its first solar systems to meet energy needs of student residences, Hamilton and Jefferson, which also undergo major renovation and achieve great energy savings.
2012: Matthew Derr becomes the President of Sterling College
2013: Sterling College announces that it is the first college in Vermont, and the third college in the U.S., to divest its endowment from fossil fuel extractors.
2014: Sterling College has its 50th annual Expedition, a four-day, three-night hike in the winter woods with only tarps for shelter. Expedition is the capstone to the Bounder (Experiential Education I) class that is part of the core curriculum. The Alfond Draft Horse Barn is dedicated.
2015: 1st Axe Ceremony for A Sense of Place takes place. The Behrend Admissions Center is completed.
Eleven solar trackers are installed on Sterling’s campus, giving the College the ability to produce 100% of the electricity used for instructional purposes.
2017: Sterling celebrates its 60th year with an alumnx reunion weekend kick-off and announcement of a formal partnership with The Berry Center in Kentucky to create the Wendell Berry Farming Program of Sterling College.
2018: Sterling College announced the successful completion of its five-year Nourish the Roots comprehensive campaign by exceeding the original $9 million campaign goal, raising $11.6 million in gifts and pledges.
2019: The two-year, no-tuition, Kentucky-based Wendell Berry Farming Program of Sterling College is established thanks to a $3.5 million grant and matching challenge from the NoVo Foundation.
Sterling’s Continuing Education program, The School of the New American Farmstead, launches new programming, offering participants opportunities to earn Professional Certificates and chances to travel abroad while EcoGather moves Sterling into the distance-learning arena with the first higher education platform of its kind designed to advance ecological thinking and action as a foundation for building regenerative communities.
In May, 2021, Sterling graduated the first cohort of 12 students from the Wendell Berry Farming Program through which students earned a BA in Sustainable Agriculture. Wendell Berry provided the commencement address. In Vermont, Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Band of the Abenaki spoke to both the 2020 and 2021 graduates in Sterling’s first virtual commencement.
In June, 2021, the College entered into Memorandums of Agreement with five partner communities for its EcoGather initiative and the microsite was launched.
With over sixty years behind us and an ambitious ten-year strategic plan to guide us, Sterling embarked on a nine month journey that arrived to an updated identity in July 2021 that is both timely and timeless. This evolution supports the College in connecting learners to the Sterling mission, will engage future generations in the growing kinds of experiences that we offer, honors our history, and reflects our vision for the future. We have gratitude for the students, faculty, staff, trustees, advisors, alumnx, partners, and community members who served as our guides.
In August, 2021, Rachael Blansett joined Sterling College in a collaboration with College of the Atlantic (Maine) to serve as our first Diversity & Inclusion Fellow.
One reason that Sterling was such a special place for me was that it embodied so many ideals and ways of life that I already held dear before attending, while opening my…
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