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Athletics

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“Endurance, community, and honesty are three very important things to me, and they all just so happen to come together beautifully in the athletic opportunities at Sterling College. It is probably one of the most inclusive programs in the country -- inviting athletes of all levels and backgrounds to participate and contribute. ” --Emma Enoch, ’17

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 Athletics at Sterling College

At Sterling College, athletics are about connecting students with the world–as an individual, a team, and as part of a supportive community. Sterling’s athletic programs are a natural complement to the College’s ecologically-focused curriculum and community. These sports are a great way to celebrate the seasons in Craftsbury.
Core athletic teams including Trail Running and Nordic Skiing are foremost extra-curricular means of immersing students in the natural world, setting and striving for personal goals, and empowering Sterling community members to not only see themselves as active participants in the world on the roads, trails, and woods around Craftsbury, but also to engage in supportive competition with peers beyond Craftsbury Common.
 
Interest in other sports such as Orienteering, Ultimate Frisbee, Lumberjacking, Canoeing, and Spring Triathlon are a chance to enhance skills learned within the curriculum and take further advantage of Sterling’s location, area resources, and partnerships to offer a wide diversity of opportunities for all Sterling students. Talk to the Director of Athletics about your ideas and interests. The associations and leagues in which Sterling student-athletes participate are inclusive and supportive and offer students exceptional learning, networking, and social growth experiences that are difficult to replicate on campus. The College’s partnership with the Craftsbury Outdoor Center offers Sterling students high quality facilities, equipment, coaching, and terrain for both Nordic and Running team practice and competition. Details of this year’s partnership will be posted on campus.

The Sterling Skyrunners – Trail Running Team

Sterling is proud to host the first collegiate program in Mountain and Trail Running in the United States, established in October 2013. Students are supported to compete locally and regionally in events throughout the Green Mountains, White Mountains, and around the Northeastern U.S. Sterling students, staff, and faculty train in a supportive community of runners to prepare for competitions from an annual 5k trail series at the nearby internationally recognized Craftsbury Outdoor Center to 50 km, 50 mile, and 100 mile ultramarathons in Vermont and around the world.

runnerPopular Races Students have Competed in:

  • Sleepy Hollow 10k Mountain Race, VT
  • The Race to the Top of Vermont (4.3 miles to the top of Mount Mansfield)
  • Ascutney Mountain Run, NH (3.7 miles to the top of Mount Ascutney)
  • Jack London 10k, NH
  • Wolf Hollow Half Marathon, NH
  • The Bighorn 100 Trail Race, WY
  • Big Brad Ultra 50k & 50 mile races, ME
  • TARC Winter Fells Ultra 32 mile race, MA

Capitalizing on the College’s location in the rural rolling hills nestled among Vermont’s Green Mountains, program participants are within a short drive of a wide variety of terrain and trails, including Mount Mansfield, the Long Trail, Mount Washington and the Presidential Range, and virtually endless miles of singletrack, gravel road, forest, and field.

Institutional memberships include: USA Track and Field Mountain, Ultra, and Trail Division (USATF-MUT); American Trail Running Association (ATRA).


 

Nordic Skiing

skier

Since its launch in December 2013, the Sterling Nordic Team has been developed in close collaboration with the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, whose world-class facilities, Olympic training center, and 100 km of groomed trails offer an unmatched opportunity for students and athletes interested in Nordic skiing. The team will work with Outdoor Center coaching staff as well as Sterling College faculty to build fitness and skiing skills throughout the season.  In recent years, students have competed in Division 3 USCSA competitions around Vermont and New York as well as local and regional citizens’ races.

The combination of a long natural snow season, the Outdoor Center’s snowmaking, capabilities, trails that cross the Sterling campus, and an impressive concentration of skiing and coaching talent make Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont an ideal location for student athletes.

We also have 4 renowned ski areas within 45 minutes of campus, including Kingdom Trails, Sugarbush, and Jay Peak.


 

Athletic Program Staff and Coaches

  • Adrian Owens, Director of Athletics and Trail Mountain Ultra Running Team Coach

 

Related Links

  • Craftsbury Outdoor Center
  • U.S. Track and Field
  • U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association
  • American Trail Running Association 
  • National Sports Shooting Federation

 

Students playing basketball

Play One, Play All! Inclusive Athletics at Sterling!

The late summer mornings are dark and cool; the constellation of Orion looms large overhead when we rise before the sun, and the dew seems to have its thoughts turned…

hand drawn bird

Climate Run

Pavel Cenkl, faculty in Environmental Humanities at Sterling College, is going the extra mile for climate resilience—171 extra miles! Cenkl is planning on completing a 275 km (170.8 mile), 3-day…

Health & Wellness

Health & Wellness Emotional, Physical, Mental Health   We look at the health of our community ecosystem from the ground up. From campus safety to promoting respect and inclusion on…

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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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Meet 2018 Alumni, Abbey Dearwester.  She educates some of the millions that visit Arches National Park annually in desert ecology, geology, indigenous history, and climate change and conservation. This includes education of school groups, families, and people from all over the world. She leads guided hikes, campfire programs, and stargazing programs at Arches, an International Dark Sky Park. Read more: Link on profile. ⁣
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#adventure #archesnationalpark #arches #nationalpark #archesnationalparkutah😊 #archesnationalparkutah🌵🌵 #utahgram #nature #moab #utah #nationalparks #moabutah #archesnationalparkutah
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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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Connect with Sterling Sterling College
PO Box 72
Craftsbury Common, VT 05827
(802) 586-7711

About Sterling

Sterling College uses education as a force to address critical ecological problems caused by unlimited growth and consumption that is destroying the planet as we have known it. Our mission is to advance ecological thinking and action through affordable experiential learning that prepares people to be knowledgeable, skilled, and responsible leaders in the communities in which they live.

Sterling acknowledges that the land on which we gather is the traditional and unceded territory of the Abenaki people on our Vermont campus, and the Shawnee, Osage, and the Eastern band of the Cherokee on our Kentucky campus.

Copyright 2021 Sterling College

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  • Academics
    • Find your program
      • Ecology
      • Environmental Humanities
      • Outdoor Education
      • Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems
      • Self-Designed Major
      • Climate Justice Minor
      • Draft Animal Power Systems
      • Education Studies
      • Natural History Minor
      • Natural Resources Conservation Minor
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