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

Emily’s Story | Wendell Berry Farming Program. Emily Wade never thought she would get a college degree. The Louisville native had given academia a try, attending Jefferson Community and Technical College for a bunch of credits, University of Louisville for more. An accomplished horsewoman, she was studying equine business, then switched to communications. But in the end, money became an issue, as did her diminishing interest in traditional college education. Then she found the Wendell Berry Farming Program . . .

This video was made possible by a generous donation from David Behrend ’60.

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VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE - OCTOBER 3, 2021 // Now more than ever, small has made Sterling College resilient and adaptable. We’ve made changes to housing, dining, and student life, so we can continue our experiential learning methods and our commitment to ecological thinking and action without compromising the safety and health of our students.

Though you probably have little desire to tune in to another Zoom call, we promise to deliver. You’ll get insights from faculty and current students. You’ll join us on a walking tour around campus from the farm to forest and see the work in action. We’ve dialed-in an experience as close to the real deal as possible.

Register now. Link on bio.

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EMERGENCY TO EMERGENCE PODCAST // Gwyneth Harris, Sterling College’s Garden Manager joins Emergency to Emergence hosts, Nakasi and Dakota, for a rich conversation on the intricacies and advantages of small scale farming. Though farming is often misconstrued as a simple vocation, Gwyneth portrays the elegant complexities of an agro-ecological farming system, particularly one that balances education, experimentation, production, and nourishment. Sterling’s educational farm offers opportunities to learn core skills for cultivation, put animal, plant, and soil science into practice, and to integrate food sovereignty, social justice, and systems thinking. The farm management choices Gwyneth and her colleagues make have ripple effects on the land, the people in our community, and the plants, animals, insects, fungi, and microbes with whom we share this space. Those choices also influence the lessons that students draw from the Sterling Farm and carry forward onto their future farms that will nourish their communities in the years to come. This conversation also illuminates the enduring contributions of smallholder farmers and positions community-scale food and fiber production as a viable and valuable alternative to industrial agriculture and production systems of extraction. By listening to Gwyneth, you’ll get a better sense of why so many of our students come to Sterling to study Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems -- and of the intentionality that they find when they work alongside our farm managers.

Take a listen. Link on bio

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We believe in thinking outside the classroom. For Wendell Berry Farming Program graduate Emily Wade '21, this non-traditional approach to higher education enabled her to earn a degree. We are launching Emily's full story on Tuesday but wanted to give you a sneak peek. #wendellberryfarmingprogram

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The new semester and cohort is underway at our tuition-free Wendell Berry Farming Program. Barn work and sheep pedicures have made the to-do list.

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Wendell Berry Farming Program. The Wendell Berry Farming Program of Sterling College is a two-year program, based in Henry County, KY, through which students earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems. Through their work, graduates of the program are expected to embody an ethic of environmental stewardship, and contribute to the revitalization and renewal of rural agrarian communities in Kentucky and beyond.

This video was made possible by a generous donation from David Behrend ’60.

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Students journeyed the Hudson River Watershed to examine the dynamic interrelationships between humans and the Hudson River valley, historically and today. How have humans adapted to and changed this landscape? How have settlement patterns, industry, and communities (natural and human) changed over time? What is the relationship between urban centers (New York City in particular) and the rural hinterland of the Hudson River? What have been predominant cultural images of this region and what has been their impact? What can a bioassessment of the river itself reveal about its role in the regional ecosystem and reflect our land-use practices? We investigated.

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More photos from A Sense of Place: Expedition I, an introduction to Sterling that provides students opportunities to dig into place.

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Every year, students begin the fall semester by participating in A Sense of Place : Expedition I. This course is designed to help students develop a sense of place as they begin their Sterling experience. The course allows participants to develop bonds with other incoming students and explore topics central to life at Sterling such as local ecology and community. The course uses experiential learning to improve interpersonal communication ability, leadership skills, enhance self-efficacy, and develop greater awareness as members of a community.

These students explored Belvidere Mountain (3,360.00 ft or 1,024.13 m). The summit has a fire tower and on a clear day views extend to Jay Peak and beyond.

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The Wendell Berry Farming Program (WBFP) spent time at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill where WBFP alum, Gabe Francisco is the Draft Animal Manager. Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill is a landmark destination that shares 3,000 acres of discovery in the spirit of the Kentucky Shakers.

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Sweet Rowen Farmstead | Sterling Chronicles. @sweetrowenfarmstead bottles gently pasteurized, cream-top whole milk and makes delicious, GMO free cheeses and yogurt in their farmstead creamery. Founder, Paul Lisai, and Herd Manager, Nathan van Gulden are both Sterling College alumni. Both reflect on their education as providing a holistic approach to sustainable agriculture and an appreciation for the work they do, day in, day out.

This video was made possible by a generous donation from David Behrend ’60.

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Students learning about emerging small scale marine and coast-adjacent food and fishing systems during the fall intensive fished for mackerel in Eastport, Maine. They celebrated the bounty with an evening of fish tacos!

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