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Field Guide for Admitted Students

Sterling College » Field Guide for Admitted Students

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Submit your Fall 2021 Application Today! | Read More

1. Confirm Your Enrollment

Reserve your space and send your deposit
2. Complete the Required Forms

Fill out all the required forms
3. How to Get Here, What to Bring & When to Arrive

How to get here, what to bring & when to arrive
4. A Sense of Place: Expedition 1

For students entering in the Fall semester
6. Meet Your Field Guides

Get connected to the people and resources here to help you
7. Policies & Guidelines

Come prepared to thrive!
8. Make the Most of Your Time Here!

Make the most of your time in Vermont

Portal Quicklinks

Begin your journey!

Choose Sterling!

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” – Audre Lorde

Congratulations. We see the honor and courage in you, and we know that you have what it takes to do the critical work necessary to rebuild humanity’s relationship with the natural world. We believe in your abilities, trust in your creativity and can’t wait to co-create a sustainable future with you on our team.

This Field Guide is the portal we use to guide Admitted Students through the enrollment process. Navigating through this guide will ensure that you provide all the info you need to Sterling so that we can reserve your space and look forward to your arrival!

We’re here for you and so looking forward to your presence in our community and your contributions to our mission of ecological thinking and action.

Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and dig in?

Let's get started!

You are here.

Home Field Guide

Step 1: Confirm You're Coming

Step 2: Required Forms

Step 3: Packing List & Arrival Day

Step 4: A Sense of Place: Expedition 1

Step 5: Helpful Resources

Step 6: Policies & Guidelines

Step 7: Nourish Yourself

Finish Line:You're Ready!

If you follow the path through this Field Guide, we trust that you will get the information, contacts and details that you need to feel ready to arrive here. That said, we’re here – every day – and happy to guide you on this journey! Please feel free to reach out to us for any support you might need as you navigate this process!

Moxie Mehegan

Dean of Admission & Financial Aid
Jimmy Clark

Admission Counselor
Barb Stuart

Director of Financial Aid
Amalia Harris

Director of Admission Services

The Gear Design and Repair course being held in partnership with @alpine_luddites will give students the hands-on tool skills necessary to design, make, and care for outdoor gear and equipment. Students will be introduced to the history of gear manufacturing and learn about what goes into material selection and the manufacturing process. Students will also learn hands-on skills to do common gear repair both in and out of field situations.

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Things are on a roll at Sterling (pun intended) 🍱 Last Tuesday, the Sterling Kitchen hosted a Sushi Workshop featuring Faroe salmon and Ahi tuna from Stowe Seafood. Director of Dining Services, @eachad '14, demonstrated how to make Spicy Tuna, Salmon Avocado, and Philadelphia rolls - and the students made those and basically whatever the heck they wanted (even peanut butter made an appearance).

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Join us virtually by Zoom on Thursday, April 15th, 6:30pm - 7:30pm as we welcome Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx and the Majora Carter Group, for a discussion on Environmental Justice: Implications of America’s Land Uses

The built environment plays an important role in community talent retention or repulsion. When the majority of success stories migrate out, communities are more vulnerable to the consequences of dirty power, transport, and waste management practices.

Join the Sterling College Environmental Justice Beyond Borders class as we explore the work of Majora Carter, environmental justice activist dedicated, in her words, to “greening the ghetto,” encouraging urban renewal, green-collar jobs, and environmental justice.

Majora Carter will share how her projects and policy initiatives have progressed over the years and produced valuable lessons across several fronts in the quest to make America as good as its promise. She is responsible for the creation and successful implementation of numerous economic developments, technology and green-infrastructure projects, policies, and job training and placement systems.

Majora’s pioneering sustainability work from one of America's most storied low-status communities, the South Bronx, has garnered a MacArthur 'genius' Fellowship, a Peabody Award, and 8 honorary PhDs, including one from Sterling College.

She and her teams at the Majora Carter Group develop vision, strategies, and the type of development that transforms low-status communities into thriving mixed-use local economies. Her approach harnesses capital flows resulting from American re-urbanization to help increase wealth building opportunities across demographics left out of all historic financial tide changes.

This event is made possible by a generous Sterling family and is part of a Spring semester series that encourages listening to and conversations with distinguished and accomplished people working in mission-aligned focus areas to advance ecological thinking and action. Stay tuned for future events!

Link on bio.

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When we think of words to describe Sterling, community tops the list. When we think of ways to illustrate that, we think of current student, Aidan Levesque. Aidan has been spending his time in the Sterling Kitchen and making danishes for the weekend brunches. Nourish to flourish!

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"When you are new at sheep-raising and your ewe has a lamb, your impulse is to stay there and help it nurse and see to it and all. After a while, you know that the best thing you can do is walk out of the barn." - Wendell Berry ⁣
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#sheepofinstagram #farming #lambingseason #lambing #lambingtime #wendellberry

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Things are really taking off on the glasshouse, where we start all the seedlings for our summer gardens! Tiny pepper plants have been transplanted by our work college garden crew, and every day students adjust temperatures, water, and keep tabs on the progress of the seedlings.

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Brennan Gallagher of the Wendell Berry Farming Program drives Molly and Mindy and brings up two sections of a northern red oak from the woodlot which will be used for a variety of green woodworking projects as we start work on our woodland workshop in the weeks to come. #wendellberryfarmingprogram

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We are pleased to announce the addition of a dazzle of Mountain Zebras to the Sterling College farm to compliment our fiber arts program!

"With the rise in demand for low impact black and white fiber, zebras offered an excellent solution for Sterling College to differentiate ourselves in the sustainable fiber market," remarks faculty who wish to remain anonymous. The pandemic allowed us the time to try our hand at zebra shearing, short haired equestrian yarn making, and the results have been tremendous! ⁣
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#aprilfoolsday

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From the Kitchen // We've been working with the Sterling Kitchen lately to highlight the goodness that is baked into every bite and also reinforce that even our dining hall is a component of our mission to advance ecological thinking and action (and eating).

So let's stir the soup:

Meet Bobber’s Seafood AKA (@bobbers_seafood )

We sourced monkfish from "Cranberry Bob" that were caught off the coast of New Hampshire from the F/V Rimrack - a family owned fishing business based out of Rye, NH since the 1970s.

U.S. wild-caught monkfish - also known as “poor-man’s lobster” for its flavor similarities - is a smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. regulations.

Bonus! Besides fish - the cranberries we all love as the holidays near are from Bobber as well!

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A rainy compost pickup with Susie, the Haflinger, with the help of students Gabby Shulkin, Emmet Gilbert and Andrew Wlodarczyk.

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Student Takeover // This spring students took part in a challenging hands-on, wheel throwing class. Students explored and developed some mastery with a range of pottery forms and techniques. This was an intensive, studio based, skill building workshop in wheel throwing techniques.

By the end of this course, students were able to throw a variety of basic pottery forms including bowls, mugs, tumblers, lidded jars, pitchers, and candleholders. Students gained some proficiency in a variety of surface decorating techniques including altering, carving, stamping, and glazing. Students also developed a vocabulary to discuss and critique pottery in terms of anatomy, form, craftsmanship, style, and functionality.

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