The launch of the fresh Sterling College website reminds us of the school’s place in a global world—a world that is large and looming, joyful and full of potential (particularly as spring arrives!). The new website beckons one to the Northeast Kingdom, to a school that sets the gold standard on a global level for environmental stewardship. Vermont is not only its inspiration. Vermont is its classroom.
Sample some of the best
This ethic is illustrated daily in Sterling’s microcosm of farm, field, forest, and classroom work, and amplified perpetually in the undertakings of its alumni. The Sterling experience is an open one that reaches beyond degree students. From the college’s continuing education courses in the School of the New American Farmstead, to its participation in the Vermont Higher Education Food Systems Consortium and its Vermont Food and Farm Education Summer Study Tour, short-term students have the opportunity to “try on” some of the best of Sterling College.
The lens of environmental stewardship
The Summer Study Tour enables student leaders to experience food system classes, practical learning, and field visits with seven Vermont colleges and universities over two weeks this June. Each of these schools offers a view of the food system through a different lens; Sterling’s view is working in harmony with the natural world through sustainable choices that enhance our food system.
To that end, the “special of the day” on the Sterling College portion of the Summer Study Tour contemplates restoring the ecosystem that supports our food system, from underground biology to nutritious food. Time in class, in the field, and spent feeding cows, watering hogs, and gathering eggs will be served up with that Sterling brand of experiential learning that is quietly creating a food system revolution.
A mighty question
Where does my food come from, and what will I choose to express my values? Many have never considered this question. Seeding this powerful inquiry is one of Sterling’s biggest contributions to education, our environment, and our own personal journeys. What is my place in the food chain, the food web, food justice, and consumption? Through field visits to Laggis Farm and Sweet Rowen Farm, Jasper Hill’s cheese caves, and the Eureka Hay Dryer, last year’s Summer Study Tour students discovered a culture of strategic relationships that punctuated their learning experience.
Join the Vermont Food Systems Summer Study Tour!
The Vermont Food Systems Summer Study Tour is June 16 – 29. This two-week immersion in the best of Vermont food systems education is one way to take a dip into Vermont’s one-of-a-kind opportunities in collaborative learning for undergrad or graduate credit. For more information, please see www.vermontfoodeducation.org. Enrollment is open – register now to sample food systems education at Sterling College as well as six other schools, and learn from a diverse group of real people leading the way for real food, and real change.
Vicky Tebbetts manages the marketing for the Vermont Higher Education Food Systems Consortium, which is comprised of Sterling College, Green Mountain College, Middlebury College, New England Culinary Institute, the University of Vermont, Vermont Law School, and Vermont Tech.
