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(02/25/16 3:00am)
The Middlebury men’s Swimming and Diving team competed in the 2016 NESCAC Championship meet last weekend, Feb. 19-21, at Williams’ Samuelson-Muir pool, finishing seventh as a team for the third consecutive year. The hosts racked up 1789.5 points to claim their fifteenth title to date against the ten other NESCAC teams, followed by Tufts (1410.5), Connecticut College (1407), Amherst (1315) and Bates (956) to round out the top five.
“Coming into [the] weekend, we knew we would be most competitive with Bowdoin and Bates [based on] the last few years,” co-Captain Andrew Fleisher ’16 explained.
“Because every team trains differently at various points in the season ... we didn’t really know what to expect from either of them,” he continued.
The Panthers finished much closer to Bowdoin (834.5) and the sixth-place position than they did last year, and the team recorded three individual podium titles in the process.
Paul Lagasse ’16, Fleisher’s co-Captain, emphasized that “almost every member of the ... team swam to their fullest potential [during the meet], Middlebury swam beyond every expectation this weekend, and just saying that we came in seventh place doesn’t capture that in the slightest.”
The 200 free relay team of Bryan Cheuk ’16, Lagasse, Jack McLaughlin ’18 and Stephan Koenigsberger ’16 came in fifth with a time of 1:24.35, only 0.63 seconds behind Tufts in the first final on Friday, Feb. 19.
Other highlights of the day included Koenigsberger’s seventh-place time of 26.12 in the 50 breast — a mere milliseconds behind his sixth and fifth-place competitors — and Mike McGean ’17’s consistent performance in both the prelims and the finals of the 500 free that earned him sixth in the event (4:39.18 in the final and 4:37.56 in the prelim).
McLaughlin nearly made the top ten in the 50 free; his 21.50 time in the prelims and 21.51 in the final clinched the 11th place spot and the quartet of Brendan Leech ’19, Koenigsberger, Alex Smith ’18 and Lagasse ’16 placed eighth in the 400 medley relay (3:29.23).
Will Greene ’19 took fifth on the one-meter diving platform with a score of 411.10 to close out the day, helping to place Middlebury in sixth place by the end of day one.
McGean’s previous times this season in the 1,000 free placed him just 1.39 seconds behind Tufts swimmer Brandon Jinn for the event title on Saturday, Feb. 20. When the evening’s competition rolled around, McGean bested his own school record by 0.51 seconds to win the event by a margin of 4.39 seconds (9:32.36).
Building on his teammate’s success, Koenigsberger made the podium with his third place finish in the 100 breast (56.08). Koenigsberger’s times in both the prelims and the finals of the 100 breast qualified as NCAA ‘B’ Cut times.
Middlebury’s swims in the 200 medley relay (Smith, Koenigsberger, Cheuk and Lagasse, 1:34.77) and 800 free relay (Smith, McGean, Leech and Connor McCormick ’18, 7:09.49) proved good for eighth and ninth place, respectively.
Though the Panthers trailed just six points behind Bowdoin at the start of day three, they weren’t able to re-claim the sixth position. Middlebury’s seventh place time of 3:07.23 in the last event of the meet — the 400 free relay — by Lagasse, McLaughlin, Smith and Koenigsberger cemented the Panthers’ standing in the meet.
On that same night, McGean recorded the NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 16:02.45 in his 1,650 free victory — his second gold-medal swim in the meet. He touched the wall 3.72 seconds before the second-place finisher from Connecticut College in this third-straight top-four finish of his NESCAC career.
Koenigsberger also swam to fifth place in the 200 breast, stopping the clock in 2:06.24, and on the deep end of the pool, Green placed fifth in the 3-meter diving competition with a score of 416.20 in the finals.
“This weekend and this season was a huge success,” Fleisher reflected. “We scored about 160 points more than last year as a team, which shows great improvement. I ... think we showed our depth a lot more this season with over 20 of 24 guys scoring. Getting points from nearly everyone demonstrates the strong foundation of the program and that we are moving in the right direction.”
Lagasse echoed that “while we may have come in 7th last year as well, we were so much more successful as an entire program this year, and I couldn’t be happier with that.”
If McGean’s and Koenigsberger’s NCAA ‘B’ cut times qualify them for nationals, the two swimmers will have a few weeks to train before travelling to Greensboro, North Carolina on March 16-20 for the NCAA Division III Championships.
(02/25/16 12:48am)
Good theatre, as is often said, is like a “slice of life.” A play captures compelling and often uncomfortable elements of the human existence — and as more and more traditionally (and still) marginalized voices burst into the national conversation and more formerly taboo subjects become open to discussion, theatre provides a powerful avenue for these voices to share their stories.
Unfortunately, contemporary theater is often a luxury item for its patrons, as opposed to an easily accessible artistic medium. According to a report by The Broadway League, the average age of Broadway theatregoers from June 2013 through to June 2014 was 44. Moreover, Caucasians purchased almost eighty percent of all tickets — or more specifically, affluent Caucasians. An average Broadway audience has a reported annual household income of $201,500. Of theatregoers over the age of 25, 78 percent have completed college and 39 percent have earned a graduate degree.
The demographics of theatregoers are a result of the continuous increase of ticket prices, as well as the low incomes experienced by the younger generation. In addition, there is pressure on producers to match the special effects that have become dominant in film in the past couple of decades, leading o greater expenditures on state-of-the-art equipment to satisfy customers. Finally, regional theaters find that producing the latest Broadway hit or a famous American work is more profitable than taking a chance on a new, discourse-heavy play, something that would perhaps attract a new and more diverse audience. Hence, shows nowadays exist at the exclusion of the majority of the population.
Perhaps the most problematic aspect of contemporary theatre, however, is that plays are not adequately or accurately representing current U.S. demographics, both racially and economically speaking. Keith Hamilton Cobb’s new play, American Moor, tells the tale of a large, middle-aged black man auditioning for the role of Othello, as a young and white artistic character tries to impose his sense of race on the character. The story is, as Cobb tells it, a representation of the black experience in the theater business. Relevant statistics back up Cobb’s story. As of the 2012-13 season, actors of color make up only 25 percent of the staff in popular off-Broadway theatre companies in NYC. And, with respect to roles without racial specificities, no theatre company studied has an inclusive (non-traditional) casting rate of over 20 percent. Regarding roles pursued and performed by actors of color, only 10 percent of roles received by actors of color are not racially specific.
This has important implications, as the theatre certainly provides a stimulus for public discourse concerning social and political issues. Plays demonstrate the opinions and lifestyles that members of the audience may not necessarily be privy to, and provide a lens through which one can learn about human psychology and culture. They can also influence the audiences’ values and behavior, prompting them to analyze their environment and their interactions with it.
The cost of seeing a play can limit the impact it can have on dialogue surrounding key matters, as well as deprive people of the opportunity to experience something outside their realm of existence. The impact on the younger generation is one of particular concern, as a study by Theatre Bay Area found that younger respondents generally report higher levels of discussion following the conclusion of the play, as well as greater personal reflection. As a result, those who could benefit the most from contemporary theatre productions are those who are least likely to be able to attend such an event.
(02/24/16 5:00pm)
President Ilana Gratch ’16 began the Jan. 24 meeting of the Student Government Association (SGA) with the announcement of a new working group to examine dynamics of power and inclusivity on campus. The hope is to implement courses on these topics into the College’s curriculum.
Gratch also announced that the Feb election will take place on Feb. 25 and that, despite a special election held earlier this fall, both seats will be up for election.
Speaker of the Senate Reshma Gogineni ’16 shared that she is currently working to update MiddCourses with faulty biographies and information on teaching styles.
Wonnacott Senator Lisa Han ’16 reported that funds have been secured to purchase rental skates for Kenyon Arena. Once storage space for the skates is obtained, the skates will be ordered and made available for students.
SGA Treasurer Aaron de Toledo updated the group that the finance committee will be taking new money requests until Apr. 1. Most organizations have already made their new money requests and the committee is currently transitioning to look at spring budgeting. He also shared that the yearbook came in $22,000 under budget and that money will be returned to the SGA.
Senators discussed a proposal to purchase an app and website called LaundryView that would allow students to view when their laundry is finished and when machines are available for use. Last year, the SGA passed a bill to fund half ($3,500) of the project, but the College is not able to pay the other half of the cost. President Gratch shared that one potential way to fund the project would be to increase the cost of laundry by $0.25 for every wash and dry cycle. Senators discussed the merits of the additional cost and came to the consensus that doing so would not be beneficial to students.
The meeting concluded with a discussion of creating an SGA-run Facebook group/page to share information and resources about diversity and racism. Senators were skeptical of the effectiveness of such a group. Many agreed that, if it were implemented, it would have to be a small part of an overall effort by the SGA.
At the Jan. 31 meeting, Associate Dean of Students for Residential and Student Life Doug Adams asked the SGA for feedback on how rooms should be assigned in the new Ridgeline Housing Complex. According to Adams, students have expressed frustration with the room draw system, and asked that a new method be implemented for the project. Senators agreed that since one of the goals of the new housing is to keep students on campus, seniority should play a role in the process. President Gratch agreed that seniority should be considered, but pointed out that Febs may be disadvantaged should they choose to live with an individual one semester below them, versus one semester above.
First-Year Senator Charles Rainey ’19 introduced a bill recommending that Middlebury College President Laurie L. Patton send an all-school email addressing the controversial comments on affirmative action that the now late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made in December. The bill also called for President Patton to address the MLK Today event held in Mead Chapel on Jan. 18 that, as worded in the bill, “featured numerous highly offensive and post-racial actions (to name a few of a long list: a majority white oratory choir reading black experiences in the first-person, white students delivering quotes in a context that police POC’s reactions to racism and songs repeated by the entire chapel suggesting POCs smile and many more).” After much debate, the resolution passed six to four, with two abstentions.
Senator Rainey introduced another bill that called for the SGA to release its own statement to the student body addressing both the MLK Today event and Justice Scalia’s comments. The resolution passed seven to five, with one abstention.
(02/18/16 4:16am)
After a long season of preparation, the Middlebury Swimming and Diving teams recorded multiple best times over the past three weeks in two of the most important culminating meets: the Middlebury Invitational and Women’s NESCAC Championship. Though team scores were not recorded in the Middlebury Invitational (Jan. 29-30), this last meet of the regular season gave the Panther men and women the opportunity to race tough competitors from Williams, Springfield, Tufts and the University of Vermont. Two weekends later, the Middlebury women hosted NESCAC Championships, placing fourth out of 11 teams with 1,090.5 points over the course of three days (Feb. 12-14).
The ‘A’ relay team of Bryan Cheuk ’16, Paul Lagasse ’16, Jack McLaughlin ’18 and Brendan Leech ’19 began the meet for the Middlebury men with a victory in the 200 freestyle relay (1:26.07). Building upon their teammates’ success, Justin Cho ’17, Stefan Pla ’18, Jack Dowling ’19 and Stephan Koenigsberger ’16 later touched the wall first in the 400 medley re- lay in 3:35.08.
The quartet of Eric Stanton ’17, Dowling, Andrew Grant ’17 and Leech went on to earn second in the longer, 800 free re- lay (7:11.57), while the teams of Noel Antonisse ’17, Nathaniel Smith ’16, Alex Smith ’18 and Koenigsberger, and Lagasse, Grant, Charlie Nuss ’19 and McLaughlin, each finished third in the 200 medley relay (1:38.57) and the 400 free relay (3:16.15), respectively.
Dowling and Grant each picked up victories for the Panthers with top individual performances in the 200 fly (1:57.47) and 100 breast (1:01.33), respectively.
Meanwhile, Connor McCormick ’18 placed second in the 1,000 free (9:48.55), and Chris Mombello ’18 took third in both the 200 IM (1:59.91) and 100 breast (1:01.78).
Michael McGean ’17 secured fourth place in the 200 free with his personal-best time of 1:46.43, coming in just behind Koenigsberger who took third (1:46.17). Koenigsberger missed the podium in the 500 free by just 58 hundredths of a second (fourth, 4:52.69).
Elissa DeNunzio ’18 (363.15) and Will Greene ’19 (408.35) finished third in the one-meter diving competition, while Greene earned enough points (439.35) on the three-meter board to clinch second.
On the women’s side, Middlebury won four relays in the 200 free (Morgan Burke ’17, Isabel Wyer ’18, Megan Griffin ’16 and Stephanie Andrews ’18, 1:37.42), the 800 free (Burke, Wyer, Caitlin Carroll ’17 and Maddie Pierce ’16, 7:49.97), the 200 medley (Caroline Kelly ’16, Liza MacCowatt ’19, Griffin and Kelly Delane ’18, 1:49.95) and the 400 medley (Claire Treesh ’17, MacCowatt, Margaret Pollack ’18 and Grace Stimson ’19, 4:03.50). The women clocked in podium finishes in individual events as well. With a time of 58.00, Griffin won the 100 fly — the event in which Audrey Bangs’ ’18 personal record of 58.85 earned her fifth place. Griffin went on to place second in the 50 free (24.52) as well.
Meanwhile, Bangs and Katie Aman ’19 swept the top two spots in the 200 fly with times of 2:11.64 and 2:13.48, respectively, and Andrews placed third in 200 free (1:58.27) — just 0.07 seconds off of the second place time.
Middlebury earned second through fourth place in the 500 free, with Alaina Pribis ’19 in second (5:14.84), Burke in third (5:15.02) and Bangs in fourth (5:15.61, PR).
Wyer was runner-up in the 200 IM (2:09.05), and won the 200 back (2:04.88), just in front of second-place finisher Katie Corrigan ’19, who clocked her second personal record of the meet at 2:12.70.
When it came to breaststroke events, Pierce placed third in 200 (2:30.87), while Jen Koide ’17 placed third in the 100 (1:08.34) with MacCowatt less than a second behind (1:08.98, PR).
Coming out of the Middlebury Invitational, the women had two weeks before hosting the Women’s NESCAC Championship on Feb. 12-14, where they placed fourth out of 11 with a score of 1090.5: just one position below last year’s finish.
On the diving platform, DeNunzio racked up enough points to secure seventh place in the one-meter final (347.50) and fifth place on the three-meter platform (391.25).
“This was a team that set out day one to be successful while enjoying each other and performing instinctively. They achieved all of that,” said Bob Rueppel, who was named the NESCAC Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year on Tuesday, Feb. 16 after five years at the helm of the program. His swimmers have set a total of 24 school records and multiple All-American accolades.
Not only did Griffin and Wyer make the All-NESCAC team with their top- three finishes in the meet, but they also broke a total of three school records in the process. On top of their record-breaking swims, Griffin placed seventh in the 100 fly (56.86), and Wyer placed sixth in the 200 back (2:03.27).
Griffin bested her own record by 0.05 seconds on Friday in the preliminary rounds of the 50 fly (25.29), before placing third in the event final with a time of 25.44.
Wyer’s won the 500 free final by a margin of 2.74 seconds earlier that night; time of 4:54.36 in the 500 free earlier that night was fast enough to win theNESCAC by a margin of 2.74 seconds, and to break Middlebury’s record (set by Marika Ross in 2007) by 4.51 seconds.
On Saturday, Feb. 13, Wyer swept the championship heat of the 200 free with her second record-setting time of 1:50.36, eclipsing Nora Daly’s 2010 mark of 1:51.00. Burke touched the wall less than three seconds later to come in fifth (1:52.63).
The Panthers’ 200 free quartet of Burke, Wyer, Griffin and Andrews (1:36.47) finished fourth, and the medley relay of team of Sarah Bartholomae ’18, MacCowatt, Griffin and Andrews placed eighth (1:47.00).
Burke, Griffin, Wyer and Andrews also earned sixth in the 400 free (3:29.31), while Wyer, Burke, Kristin Karpowicz ’19 and Andrews touched the wall fifth in the 800 free (7:36.82).
Individually, Burke tied for 10th in the consolation final of the 50 free (24.40), and clinched fourth in the 100 free 51.94.
Lily Sawyer ’16, Carroll and Pollack placed 10th, 11th and 13th in the 200 fly with respective times of 2:08.94, 2:09.03 and 2:09.74. Additionally, Pierce got eighth in the 400 IM (4:39.66), fol- lowed closely by Stimson in 11th place (4:39.04).
In the Panthers’ distance events, Lucy Scott ’16 swam to ninth in the 1,000 free (10:33.09) and eighth in the 1,650 free (17:41.22).
Cumulatively, the Middlebury women clocked in eight NCAA ‘B’ Cut times, which they hope will qualify them to compete in the NCAA Division III Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina on March 16-20.
“Our 800 free relay is currently ninth in the nation but fifth in the NESCAC... an indication how good this conference is in swimming,” Rueppel commented. “We hope the 400 free relay [will make] the cut. Isabel [Wyer] will compete in the 500/200 free and 200 back, and Morgan Burke in the 200/100 free. If the 400 free relay makes it, Meg [Griffin] will swim the 100 fly.”
Rueppel “was thrilled with our weekend. Simply put, [it was] a culmination of 5 years of work. Our seniors were my first recruiting class and had blind faith in the future of the program[, and our] NESCAC performances were a reflection of that. They [have] led this team to success I hoped for but never imagined.”
The men’s teams will travel to Williams for NESCAC Championships this coming weekend, Feb. 19-21.
(02/18/16 4:03am)
With each passing week, the Middlebury track and field team has looked more and more ready for the New England Division III Championships coming up this weekend, an important step on the road to Nationals. School records have been falling left and right, going back to the Middlebury Invitational three weeks ago when James Lynch ’16 set a new heptathlon score and John Natalone ’19 left his own mark on school history in the pole vault.
The ladies had no shortage of stellar performances either: Maddie Provonost ’17 gave the Panthers a sweep of both heptathlons by winning the women’s, Paige Fernandez ’17 took the title in the 500-meter dash, Abi- gail Nadler ’19 crossed the line first in the 1,600-meter competition, and the squad of Halle Gustafson ’16, Alexandra Morris ’16, Lucy Lang ’19, and Jackie Kearney ’16 out- paced the competition en route to winning the 4x400 relay.
The weekend after, the squad sent athletes to both the Dartmouth Indoor Classic and the Cupid Challenge at Tufts, where the 4x400 relay team of Lang, Kearney, Fernandez and Morris placed second overall and smashed the old school record by almost three seconds at 3:56.72. James Mulliken ‘18 led the charge for the men, separating himself from the field to win the 500-meter dash. Down in Boston, Adrian Walsh ’16 smoked the competition in the 5,000-meter race, finishing more than 10 seconds in front of the second-place competitor in the field of 32.
Just this last weekend, Kevin Serrao ’18 blew past the previous 800-meter record by more than a second at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University; in the same meet, Alex Nichols ’17 set a new mark in the 400-meter dash, only to watch Jimmy Martinez ’19 break it again minutes later.
Against a field of female athletes from all three divisions, Fernandez placed first in her 500-meter heat and Lauren Bougioukas ’16 wound up second in her 800-meter heat.
Morris also lowered the 400-meter mark she already held by a little over half of a second. Her time of 56.43 earned her 20th out of 196 athletes and was the top DIII runner at the meet. She currently sits second in the country.
Lynch, whose performance helped the Panther men land first place out of eight teams at the Middlebury Invitational, spoke about some of the unique challenges that ath- letes in his event face.
“It’s a grind over the two days,” he said. “The hard part is going to bed sore on Friday night having competed in the 60-meter dash, long jump, shot put and high jump, and knowing that you have to wake up the next morning and perform near your best in three more events [60-meter hurdles, pole vault, 1,000-meter dash].”
The women almost did equally well, coming in second out of six (behind Williams). That being said, the ladies will have another chance to compete at the Virtue Field House this next weekend when Middlebury hosts the women’s New England DIII Champion- ships.
Newly hired Assistant Coach Jordan Schi- lit, who boasts his own impressive collegiate athletic resume (six-time DIII All-American in cross-country and track), was very excited by the attention that the meet drew. “Several people had marks that ranked in the top 10 in the country for Division III,” he noted. “All of the teams were very excited to compete at our new facility and are looking forward to returning next winter.”
Schilit also reflected briefly on his first year working with the Panther athletes. “My job has been extremely enjoyable so far,” he said. “I try to bring the same passion and enthusiasm I had as a competitor to my coaching role. The most helpful information I can pass along is how to avoid the mistakes I made as an athlete and to convince the team to not set barriers.”
If helping the team avoid barriers has been his goal thus far, things seem to be according to plan; Lynch could barely contain his optimism as he looked forward to the rest of the season and beyond. “I feel great about this team,” he beamed. “We’ve got some great new faces and our returning athletes are excited to be here. This team is hungry. I would be lying if I told you I didn’t know how many days there are until NESCACs. This field house is going to give us incredible momentum into the outdoor season. I am excited for this year, but I think we are really going to see something special out of this team over the next three years.”
Looking forward to next week and beyond, Serrao hoped that the team would be able to put the finishing touches on the training that’s led them to the success they’ve had so far. “Personally, I have a lot of strength in my legs right now, but not a lot of speed,” he explained. “I think across the board the team is working on improving turnover for the championship season. We’ve already done the long slow distance, but we all need to get some speed in us to hang with the big league boys in the weeks to come.”
For the DIII New England Championships next weekend, the men will be at MIT; the women are looking forward to competing in front of a crowd of Panther fans at home.
(01/28/16 3:43am)
Middlebury’s Charter House Coalition currently helps house and feed over 500 people per year through a number of ever-expanding programs. The non-profit has come a long way since the organization started hosting monthly community dinners back in 2004. “If someone had told any of us back in 2004 what we were getting into, we probably would have run the other way,” jokes Doug Sinclair, executive director of the non-profit.
Sinclair is one of the community members who has seen Charter House grow organically, from a time when it hosted quiet dinners where volunteers matched the number of guests, to the far-reaching shelter and meal-provider it is today.
At the beginning Sinclair was simply one of many members willing to pitch in some extra time to help those who were food insecure.“We’ve just responded to community needs as they’ve arisen and as more people have wanted to get involved,” Sinclair said. Word spread rapidly about community dinners and within the year, they were a weekly event. In 2005, the organization rented its first apartment to help a family who needed shelter, commencing the Charter House’s housing program. By 2007, the entire apartment building was under Charter House ownership.
The economic downturn in 2008 created a crisis in supplying enough emergency beds and meals. The back portion of the Charter House building was opened because it was empty at the time, but now welcomes around 20 guests per night during the winter months and dozens more for community lunches and breakfasts.
As the organization grew, management demands increased along with it. Prior to his relocation to Vermont 12 years ago, Sinclair worked as a chemistry and physics research manager developing electronic and photonic devices.
“Managing a volunteer organization is very different than managing most kinds of commercial operations, but managing research has a lot in common with managing volunteers because you’re managing a lot of people each bringing their own talents and ideas,” Sinclair said of his experience. Indeed, the volunteer basis of Charter House makes it unique. “We have not discovered any other organization that has this many volunteers,” said Sinclair. Over 950 volunteers participate annually in Charter House programs, 30 percent of which are college students. The number of hours volunteers collectively contribute totals to the amount of 12 full-time paid staff, saving the organization hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
Apart from the college and its students, numerous church groups and other service organizations have been integral to the continued operation of the Charter House. Many volunteers choose to come in for a couple hours a week, but Sinclair’s weekly commitment ranges from 15-20 hours in the slower summer months, and far beyond 40 if the College is out of session but the winter shelter is open.
“To some extent my job is to plug the holes,” Sinclair said. “The management team has to jump in any time something comes up that isn’t covered elsewhere.” Thus, there is no one thing Sinclair does on a day to day basis. His responsibilities range from budget concerns to large-scale rethinking of the organization’s programs, to everyday staffing of the shelter. Sinclair is the first to admit that the financial tasks and other details are not his favorite part of his role.
“The management kind of things you do because they need to get done,” he said, “The part I enjoy most is working with volunteers and working with the folks we’re serving. There’s so much energy in people who come work here. It makes it a lot of fun for me.” Sinclair particularly likes the engagement from student volunteers who help out frequently in all of the Charter House’s programs, including the warming shelter, fund-raising, community meals and farm-to-table gardens. Student initiatives have also been formative in the organization’s development. Sunday Grill Night, conceived of and executed by the Men’s Rugby Team this past fall, has been a huge success and helped accomplish the Charter House’s goals of providing at least one meal for community members every day of the week. Sinclair’s interest in working with students also manifested itself in his other occupation as a chemistry and physics teacher at state colleges, a position he retired from just last May. He enjoys being around those who are still figuring out what their life will entail, a situation he himself experienced upon his move to Vermont.
When he moved here with his wife, the change in location was the only detail of which he was certain. Sinclair was drawn to Middlebury because his son attended college here, graduating in the early 90's.
"The first thing was to move to Vermont, the second was: what am I going to do?" Sinclair recalls. “I decided to take a year to explore different possible things to do.” His volunteer work developed in the background as he continued teaching until it became what he calls his “full-time hobby.” He reflects that his own involvement with the Charter House has developed parallel to the growth of the organization itself.
“The reason we’re still involved is because we found out how much value it brings to the folks we’re serving but also brings a lot of value to each of us and so many volunteers continue to say, ‘gee, I get more out of it than I put into it.’” Though Sinclair admits that recent discussion has turned towards a transition of power, he insists he will continue to be a regular volunteer as long as possible. In all likelihood, Sinclair’s successor will be multiple people, as the responsibilities he fulfills are fairly demanding for a single volunteer position. But this is merely a positive sign that the Charter House hopes to continue to grow into an even greater community force than it is today.
(01/28/16 12:41am)
The College installed a charging station for electric vehicles (EVs) in the parking lot behind Proctor Dining Hall this Nov. The station is a level two charging station that can service two cars at once and charge an EV battery in three to six hours, depending on the EV model and other factors, such as temperature.
Director of Sustainability Integration Jack Byrne helped lead the initiative and said that the increased prevalence and practicality of electric cars made the charging station an important addition.
“We have at least five employees with all electric vehicles and it makes it much more convenient for them to charge their cars while at work when needed,” Byrne said. “It may help other employees in deciding if their next vehicles will be electric knowing that there is a place for them to charge it at work. It also will be used by alumni, parents and students who have EVs. We have had several requests from people in those groups in the past as well.”
The charging station’s installation was a yearlong effort that began in 2014. It was funded by the Environmental Council, which gives grants to student projects. In previous years they have funded the wind turbine at the recycling center, the solar decathlon houses, Earth Day events, the fermenter’s guild, and the organic farm’s initiative to raise chickens.
“The Environmental Council has a grant program that runs the entire academic year,” Byrne said. “People can propose any project that in the broadest sense moves the sustainability agenda forward at The College. They can propose anytime for up to $1,500. For bigger projects you can propose for up to $5,000. We have a deadline Jan. 31 and another Feb. 29. We are just receiving our first batch of them now. We seem to have fewer proposals this year than in previous years. So it’s a good year to propose because the odds are in your favor.”
Ali Cook ’16, who worked on the Environmental Council for two years, came up with the idea for the EV charging station and submitted the proposal to the grant committee.
“There was environmental and compact car parking behind Hillcrest, but we didn’t have a EV charging station,” Cook said. “ I thought this was strange because we try to promote a sustainable lifestyle for faculty and students. One day I overheard a parent on a guided tour exclaim ‘Middlebury doesn’t even have electric car parking!’ It was sort of embarrassing.”
Cook researched the logistics of installing an EV charging station and surveyed faculty and staff on whether they drove an EV, how long they commute and if having a charging station at the College would make a difference to them. The response was overwhelmingly positive. After the grant was approved, the Environmental Council had to find a space on campus, negotiate with Green Mountain Power, which has a EV charging station program, and get approval from the Space Committee.
Although the single EV charging station can only service two cars at once, it is an important first step in expanding the amount of EVs at the College.
“It’s a pilot project, and it’s symbolic, but the idea is that in the future Middlebury could have an all electric fleet, and public safety could drive electric cars,” Cook said.
Two major problems: EVs have battled with are range and charging time. But recent electric car models have started to change this: the Nissan Leaf, to be released in 2016, will be able to travel 107 miles on a single charge and the Tesla Model S can travel 208 miles. The number of electric charging stations across the country is also increasing. Vermont, for instance, has over 115 EV charging stations. One company, Better Place, is creating electric car charging stations that can switch out an EV battery autonomously on a conveyor belt and replace it with a new, fully charged battery in five minutes. The company has launched pilot programs in Israel and Denmark.
Electric cars will be an important part of our future, and as climate change becomes more urgent and oil dwindles, it will become increasingly necessary to make the transition from gas-powered cars. The EV charging station is a symbolic start, and it’s hopefully a sign of more EVs and charging stations to come.
(01/28/16 12:07am)
As the indoor season begins to pick up more steam, the Middlebury men’s and women’s track and field teams both had remarkable showings at the Smith College Benyon Invitational this past Saturday. En route to a second-place team finish for the women and a third-place finish for the men, a number of Panther athletes distinguished themselves in various events. Jimmy Martinez ’19 stole the show by setting a school record in the 600-meter run (1:22.96) and by finishing first in the 200-meter dash (22.79). Not to be ignored, the ladies made their presence felt in the mile run when a pack of Panthers outpaced the rest of the field and swept the top four spots: Sasha Whittle ’17 led the charge with a personal best of 5:09.15, followed closely by Nicki Schachman ’16 (5:10.51), Lauren Bougioukas ’16 (5:10.93) and Robin Vincent ’18 (5:11.49).
Always looking ahead to the national-level meets at the end of the year, Head Coach Martin Beatty ’84 prioritized the season-long development of his athletes in deciding who would be running in what event. “We really planned to train through the Smith meet,” he explained. “That meant keeping some key people home to nurse injuries and running many of our athletes out of their priority event in order to change things up a bit.” Nevertheless, Beatty was pleased with the squad’s showing.
“The team performed great, garnering the school record [from Martinez in the 600] and some impressive PR’s such as Sasha Whittle’s in the mile,” he observed. In fact, he was so optimistic about the team’s development that he couldn’t help but lament having to lose some of his athletes down the road. Using Whittle as an example, he praised the progress she’s made during her time at Middlebury: “Sasha is going abroad for the spring, so I’m very sad that we won’t have her next semester. She’s really come into her own and is finally running the times that we knew she had the potential to run.”
Still, when a team gets contributions from top to bottom, even from first-years like Martinez or Lucy Lang ’19 (who broke the 500-meter school record in last week’s meet)—it’s hard not to be optimistic about the future. Beatty had especially high praise for the young man following this week’s performance: “Jimmy has had a marvelous start to his first year. Breaking Kevin Bright’s 600m record is especially impressive since Kevin was a three time All-American in the 400 hurdles. He has a long range of running well in races from the 200 meters to the 600 meters. But really, Jimmy is just one in a good group of hard workers: our whole team.”
For the men, other victories included Kevin Serrao’s ’18 winning 1,000-meter run (2:30.59) and the 4x200 quartet of Adam Markun ’17, Jackson Bock ’18, Brandon Cushman ’16, and Alex Nichols ’17, who came out on top with a time of 1:33.45. On top of their mile sweep, the women saw Halle Gustafson ’16 win the 600-meter dash (1:42.39), Lang take the top spot in the 800-meter run (2:18.18), and Katherine MacCary ’19 claim the 3,000-meter crown (10:31.88). James Mulliken ’18 posted impressive results with a second-place finish in the 800-meter race (1:59.54), saw the meet as a crucial step in turning the team’s hard work into results.
“As is usually the case with early season meets,” Mulliken explained, “the goal heading into this competition was not necessarily to ‘run fast’ as much as it was to reacquaint ourselves with racing. We have all season to run fast, but now is when we build our training base and start to tap into our competitive focus. There’s a reason why we call early meets like these ‘rust busters.’”
Next weekend, the Panthers will be excited to return home for the two-day Middlebury Invitational, with events getting underway at 3 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29, and 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 30.
(01/28/16 12:07am)
Middlebury Swimming and Diving had their last dual meet of the season at Williams on Saturday, Jan. 23. The Panther men and women fell to the Ephs 186-94 and 211-83, respectively, struggling to keep up with Williams’ nationally ranked teams.
Head Coach Bob Rueppel explained back in Nov. that swimming against top NESCAC teams like Williams “[is] great because … that’s the bar we’re shooting for.”
“Williams is always a tough, but fun meet,” said Women’s co-Captain Maddie Pierce ’16 in an echo of Rueppel’s sentiment. “They are an incredibly strong team, but we enjoy racing them.”
Lily Sawyer ’16, one of Pierce’s two co-captains, was “[excited] that all of our girls held their own [against] some of the strongest swimmers in D3.”
The Panthers started with a strong showing in the long-distance 1000 free. Mike McGean ’17 won the men’s 1000 with a time of 10:04.63, just 3.09 seconds before his closest competitor. Andrew Rosenthal ’16 finished fourth in the close race, touching 6.22 seconds behind McGean (10:10.85). Lucy Scott ’16 and Angela Riggins ’19 secured second and third in the women’s event with their 10:54.13 and 11:07.29 performances.
Middlebury’s next couple of victories came when Isabel Wyer ’18 clocked a 1:56.07 to win the 200 free, and Stephan Koenigsberger ’16 finished first in the 50 breast (27.65) a few events later. Liza MacCowatt ’19 took third for the Panthers in the women’s 50 breast with her 32.46-second swim.
Grace Stimson ’19 led her heat in the 200 fly with a time of 2:16.51 and Morgan Burke ’17 sprinted to third in the 50 free (25.53). The Middlebury men captured second through fourth in the 50 free, with Jack McLaughlin ’18, Taylor Moore ’18 and Paul Lagasse’s ’16 times of 22.07, 22.69 and 22.72.
Elissa DeNunzio ’18 and Will Greene ’19 competed next on the three-meter diving board, earning second and first place, respectively, with their 209.47 and 217.57-point dives. DeNunzio and Greene went on to finish second (196.65) and first (232.72) on the one-meter board as well.
Then back on the blocks, McLaughlin and Burke were runners-up for the men and women in 100 free (48.82 and 55.11). Wyer finished second in the 200 back (2:11.93), while Brendan Leech ’19 clinched third for the Panther men in the same event (2:01.12).
Connor McCormick ’18 earned Middlebury’s seventh collective victory of the day in the 200 breast (2:15.37) by a margin of 4.87 seconds. Meanwhile, Stimson came second in the women’s 200 breast with a time of 2:34.47 and Alaina Pribis ’19 rounded out the day by swimming to a third place finish in the 500 free (5:23.43).
“The team is [now] excited to head into championship season,” Pierce said. “We have a great group of girls finishing out their season at Midd Invite. We know they will swim fast and set the tone for the team heading to NESCACs.”
The Panthers will swim in the Middlebury Invitational this Friday evening at 5:30 p.m., and Saturday at 10 a.m. (Jan. 29-30).
“We are training at a level that we’ve never done before ...[and] have built up an incredible base this season,” co-Captain Megan Griffin ’16 said. “At this point it’s about fine tuning the details and believing that everything will come together when it matters.”
(01/28/16 12:03am)
Women’s basketball split a pair of inspired games this past week. On Tuesday, Jan. 29, the Panthers outlasted Smith for a 70-57 victory. The Panthers returned to conference play Sunday, Jan. 24, when they travelled to Williamstown, Mass. to play Williams in the Chandler Athletic Center. The Panthers entered the game needing a win to climb above .500 in conference play and tied with Williams with a 2-2 record in the NESCAC standings.
The Panthers’ victory over Smith did not come easily, as they fell behind the Pioneers 12-10 early in the first quarter. The turning point came in the second quarter when Middlebury broke a 17-17 tie with a nine straight points, propelling the team to a 14 to seven run and a 31-24 halftime lead.
Eileen Daley ’18 and Sarah Kaufman ’18 helped the Panthers hold onto the momentum when they came out of the locker room for the second half. Daley and Kaufman hit five jump for the Panthers combining for 17 of the team’s 21 third quarter points, which gave Middlebury a comfortable 52-39 lead heading into the fourth.
Daley finished the game with a double-double, scoring a career high 14 points to go with 13 boards, two assists and three steals on the defensive end. Kaufman led all scorers with 21 points, played a game-high 38 minutes and went five-for-five from the free throw stripe.
Catherine Harrison ’19 and Sabrina Weeks ’18 also contributed to the winning effort. Harrison had 10 points to go along with eight rebounds, while Weeks added 11 points off the bench.
The Panthers improved to 10-5 with the win.
The Panthers again struggled out of the gate again Sunday in Williamstown. However, after the team dug itself a 10-0 hole, the Panthers bounced back and took a 19-17 lead after Kaufman sunk a clutch three-pointer with 3:41 to go in the first half.
The travel, the injuries and the team’s depleted bench began to take a toll on the Panthers. Middlebury was trailing 49-37 by the end of the third quarter, having lost the momentum they built up at the end of the first half.
In the end, the Panthers were undermanned, limping to a tough 66-49 loss.
For the game, Middlebury shot an uncharacteristically low 32.7 percent from the field and went just eight for 15 from the free throw line. If the Panthers are going to compete against the tougher opponents on their NESCAC schedule, they must be more efficient from the field. Even in their NESCAC wins against Bates and Wesleyan, the Panthers only shot 44.6 percent and 41.4 percent, respectively. Despite the loss, the Panthers had two players score in double figures as Kaufman netted 14, Harrison just missed a double-double with eight points and 11 rebounds and Collins added 10 off the bench.
“We’re looking forward to another opportunity to prove how hard we have been working,” said Harrison as the team hopes to shake off their low shooting percentages in the Williams game.
After last night’s home game against Castleton — the results of which can be found on the Middlebury Athletics website — the Panthers will take on Hamilton for another important NESCAC game this Saturday, Jan. 30 in Pepin Gymnasium. With just five NESCAC games left in the regular season schedule, the team will need to capitalize on the weak opponents heading into the playoff race against tougher teams.
(01/27/16 5:06pm)
The College announced on Jan. 14 that Colleen Fitzpatrick, a current administrator at Duke University, will succeed Jim Keyes as Middlebury’s next Vice President for Advancement. Fitzpatrick currently serves as an Assistant Vice President for Trinity College and the Graduate School and also previously served as Assistant Dean for Arts & Sciences Development at the University of Virginia.
As Vice President for Advancement, Fitzpatrick will be responsible for fundraising and alumni relations for the College and its affiliated institutions such as the Bread Loaf School of English and the Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
In an official announcement, President of the College Laurie L. Patton said that she was excited for her former colleague’s arrival.
“I’m delighted that Colleen will join the senior administration at Middlebury,” Patton said. “Having worked closely with Colleen at Duke University, I know first-hand what a positive impact she makes and the value she places on an institution’s mission —particularly in institutions that have liberal arts at the center of their common life. As Middlebury has grown in size and complexity, and expanded the reach of our programs, the need to think globally and strategically about our relationships with alumni and friends has never been greater. I am confident that Colleen will build on the success our alumni relations and advancement teams have enjoyed in recent years.”
Fitzpatrick, too, shared her excitement.
“The opportunity to work with President Patton and the senior leadership team at Middlebury was irresistible,” she said. “Middlebury College alumni are among the most engaged and supportive in the country, as is evident from their extraordinarily high giving rates year after year. That is a legacy I will be proud to help build upon.”
At Duke, Fitzpatrick helped raise $418 million from 1996 to 2003, and an additional $425.5 million in an ongoing campaign. Her office also raised over $200 million in need-based scholarships and graduate fellowships during Duke’s 2005-2008 Financial Aid Initiative.
“Laurie Patton is fortunate to team up with Colleen again to further Middlebury’s historic accomplishments in development and alumni affairs,” said Stephen Bayer, Duke’s Associate Vice President for University Development.
Keyes announced his retirement in Sept. after five years in the position. During his time, Keyes helped spearhead the Middlebury Initiative, a seven-year fundraising campaign whose goal of $500 million was ultimately exceeded by $30 million.
In an email to advancement staff on the day of the announcement, Keyes concurred with Patton.
“I’ve spent time with Colleen and I’ve been extremely impressed with her development and alumni-relations expertise and her insights and perspective on higher education,” he said. “I look forward to working with Colleen during a transition period and I know you’ll join me in welcoming her to Middlebury and to our office.”
(01/21/16 12:43am)
The women’s basketball team started 2016 by racking up bus mileage, travelling to New York City, Boston and Lewiston, Maine. The team left for break with a 3-1 record and have gone 6-4 since they returned. They currently stand at sixth place in the NESCAC with a 2-2 conference record.
After a 79-58 win over Salve Regina at Pepin Gym on Wednesday, Dec. 30, the Panthers opened the new year in the Big Apple for the Jan. 2-3 NYU Holiday Classic. The Panthers started hot with a 72-59 victory over Bridgewater State. First-year Catherine Harrison ’19 led the Panthers with a game-high 23 points, while Sarah Kaufman ‘18 added 19. In their second game against the hosts and fourth-ranked NYU, Middlebury led 34-32 at the half thanks to 13 points from Sabrina Weeks ’18 off of the bench. Ultimately, the Violets pulled ahead and held onto a narrow 70-62 loss.
The Panthers opened NESCAC play against Wesleyan at Pepin Gym on Tuesday, Jan. 8. Middlebury dominated the Cardinals from the tip, jumping out to a 23-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. Kaufman once again led the charge with a career-high 31 points on the way to a pivotal 76-59 win. Harrison carried the defense with 15 rebounds to go along with her 12 points, while sophomore guard Eileen Daley ’18 followed closely behind with 11 boards of her own. The Panthers faced a quick turn around to take on Connecticut College on Jan. 9, and fatigue ultimately held them back in a back and forth 66-53 loss. After falling behind early, Colleen Cavaney ’19 spurred a 12-0 Panthers run to give them a 25-24 lead at the half. The score remained tight until just under six minutes to play at 47-46, but the Camels pulled away down the stretch to even the Panthers’ NESCAC record at 1-1. Kaufman had a team high 17 points, while Harrison added 15 rebounds.
In a break from league action, Middlebury capitalized on a weak opponent with a 65-45 win over SUNY Postdam, holding control of the scoreboard for the whole game. Alex Huffman ’19 had a career- and game-high 16 points for the Panthers in the first of a three game road stint.
After the Jan. 12 victory over SUNY Potsdam, the Panthers took on defending league champion and 12th-ranked Tufts in Medford, Massachusetts. The Jumbos dominated the Panthers 57-37.
In a game when the Panthers needed one of their best performances of the season, they shot a dismal 21 percent from the field, 11-51, and they committed 19 turnovers, more than twice the amount the Jumbos committed.
Coach KJ Krasco called the 20 point loss “a wake-up call,” as the the team will most likely return to Medford in February for the NESCAC championship.
The next day, journeying all the way to Maine, the Panthers battled Bates 43-43 going into the fourth quarter. The final ten minutes could be a defining moment of Middlebury’s season, as they avoided slipping to a 1-3 conference start. The Panthers proved resilient, recovering nicely from their loss to Tufts with a 61-56 victory as they clawed their way back to .500 in the NESCAC. The victory against Bates was a true team win, with each starter scoring at least nine points. Kaufman led the way with 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and a steal.
In the midst of Middlebury’s early January games with Elizabeth Knox ’17, the team’s only junior, injured, the underclassmen continued to shine. Highlights included Harrison, who continued her strong freshman campaign, earning NESCAC Player of the Week honors the week of Jan. 4 and a spot on the NYU Holiday All-Classic Team. She is averaging a double-double on the season with 13.5 points and 11.9 rebounds per game, and is shooting an impressive 53.5% from the field. After she shot just 16 percent, 2-12, in the Tufts loss, it became clear that a key going forward will be consistency from Harrison and other underclassmen. Kaufman anchors the team, averaging almost 17 points-per-game, and shooting an impressive 36.6 percent from beyond the arc.
The team will be back in action this Sunday, Jan. 24 when they travel to Williamstown, Mass. to take on the Ephs to try and climb above .5oo in league play.
(01/21/16 12:30am)
Middlebury swimming and diving has been busy these past few weeks, having competed in four meets and spending the final 10 days of winter break training in Key Largo, Florida.
On Saturday, Dec. 12 the Panther men defeated Springfield 197-69, while the women suffered a close 152-148 loss to the same out-of-conference competitor. Almost a month later, the Panthers traveled to Maine for their next two NESCAC meets against Colby and Bates on Saturday, Jan. 9 and Sunday, Jan. 10, respectively. The Middlebury men’s and women’s teams beat Colby with respective scores of 200-93 and 214-77, but lost to Bates 183-111 (M) and 211-99 (W) the next day. Most recently, Middlebury’s men and women bested Union 150-88 (M) and 140-99 (W) in a non-conference meet at the Natatorium on Saturday, Jan. 16.
The weekend before finals (Dec. 12), the men swam to their first victory of the season against Springfield (197-69), managing to touch the wall first in 12 of the meet’s 14 swimming events. Will Greene ’19 also won in the three and one-meter diving competitions with scores of 240.75 and 210.9, respectively.
Brendan Leech ’19, Stephan Koenigsberger ’16, Bryan Cheuk ’16 and Paul Lagasse ’16 opened the meet with a splash, swimming a 1:37.57 in the 200 medley relay to clinch first place.
The Panther men won every individual freestyle event against Springfield. Michael McGean ’17 dominated the long-distance races, clocking a 4:45.61 and 9:43.60 to win the 500 and 1000 freestyles. Later, Jack Dowling ’19 (1:49.78) barely bested Cheuk (1:49.88) for first place in the 200 freestyle, Lagasse notched a 22.15 in the 50 free to win first with Taylor Moore ’18 just .25 seconds behind him and Jack McLaughlin ’18 (48.72) eked by Lagasse (48.78) to win the 100 free.
Though Justin Cho ’17 fell to Leech (55.11) in the 100 back by less than a second, he was still able to notch a victory in the 50 back (25.66). Koenigsberger was the only Panther to win a breaststroke event with his 27.23 performance in the 50 breast.
Alex Smith ’18 and Cheuk won the 100 and 50 fly, respectively, with times of 55.13 and 23.86. Connor McCormick ’18 also had a fast swim in the 100 fly, coming just .19 seconds behind Smith for second place.
Meanwhile, Springfield squeaked past the Middlebury women to win the meet 152-148. Nevertheless, the Lady Panthers charted seven victories and several top-three finishes during the event. Like in the men’s 200 free, Middlebury’s quartet of Isabel Wyer ’18, Liza MacCowatt ’19, Megan Griffin ’16 and Morgan Burke ’17 swam to a first place finish (1:49.96).
Wyer won both the 100 and 200 free with times of 53.75 and 1:55.61, respectively, while Griffin took the 50 free in just 25.39.
Sarah Bartholomae ’18 took the lead to win both the 50 back (28.85) and the 100 back (1:02.19), and Grace Stimson ’19 placed first in the 400 IM (4:44.23) for the first time in her Middlebury career.
The Panthers’ downfall came in the final relay of the meet, when Burke, Griffin, Stephanie Andrews ’18 and Wyer lost to Springfield in the 200 free relay by just 15 hundredths of a second.
The Panthers emerged from their rigorous winter break training schedule ready to start a weekend of NESCAC competition at Colby on Saturday, Jan. 9. Middlebury’s men and women blew the Mules out of the water with scores of 200-93 and 214-77, respectively.
Greene and Elissa DeNunzio ’18 managed to sweep the diving events on both the one and three-meter platforms, with respective scores of 232.43 and 246.37 (Greene) and 216.08 and 233.95 (DeNunzio). Sophia Allen ’19 finished in second behind DeNunzio in both events as well.
Just as in the Springfield meet, at Colby “[the teams] raced in a sprint format and had a positive outcome,” Head Coach Bob Rueppel said.
Middlebury opened the meet with men’s and women’s victories in the 200 medley relay. Leech, Pla, Dowling and Lagasse swam a 1:41.33 for the men, while the women’s lineup of Bartholomae, MacCowatt, Griffin and Wyer clocked in at 1:52.38 for first place.
In a repeat of the Springfield meet, Cheuk, Cho, Koenigsberger, Leech and McLaughlin swam to first in the 50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast, 100 back and 100 free, respectively. Cheuk also claimed the 50 free title with a time of 22.57.
Like McGean on the men’s side, Alaina Pribis ’19 won both the women’s 500 free (5:22.50) and 1000 free (11:04.17). In fact, the Middlebury women bested Colby in all freestyle races: Burke won the 200 free (1:59.76), Andrews the 100 (56.18) and Griffin the 50 (25.92).
Butterfly was a similar story, as Griffin swam to another victory in the 50 fly (27.47) and Lily Sawyer ’16 won the 100 (1:00.55). Meanwhile, Wyer claimed both the 50 and 100 back (29.19 and 1:00.29) and Stimson swam a 1:03.10 to win the 100 IM.
The Colby meet finished just as it had started, with wins in the 200 free relay by Lagasse, Leech, McLaughlin and Cheuk for the men (1:30.49), and Burke, MacCowatt, Catherine Pollack ’19 and Andrews for the women (1:43.56).
The Panthers travelled south to take on Bates on Sunday, Jan. 10. The 14th-ranked Bates women beat the Panthers 201-99, while Middlebury’s men’s team lost 183-111.
“Bates [was a] challenge [because they were] waiting for us rested, while we returned from the training trip 32 hours [before heading] to Maine. I was extremely pleased with our preparation and demeanor that day,” Rueppel said.
Middlebury finished strong in the first and longest event of the day; Andrew Rosenthal ’16 swam the almost mile-long 1650 free with a time of 17:19.52 to come in second to McGean (16:28.34). For the women, Lucy Scott ’16 clocked an 18:07.14 in the 1650 to place second.
McGean also won the 500 free in 4:50.21, and Rosenthal touched the wall 9.81 seconds later for third place.
Koenigsberger claimed the only other men’s victory in the 200 breast (2:13.20), and got second in 100 breast (1:00.98).
Koenigsberger’s was just one of the many second place finishes for the men that day; others included performances by Morgan Matsuda ’19 in the 400 IM (4:23.03), Dowling in the 200 fly (2:03.93), Connor McCormick ’18 in the 200 free (1:47.84), Leech in the 100 (54.59) and 200 back (2:01.42), and Cheuk in the 50 free (22.12).
Greene continued his winning streak on the diving end of things with a score of 221.15 on the one-meter platform and 219.55 on the three. Meanwhile, DeNunzio earned points for the women with her second and third-place scores of 202.85 on the one-meter and 208.80 on the three-meter.
On the women’s swim team, Burke and Bartholomae each placed second in the 50 free (25.30) and 100 back (1:01.86), respectively.
Burke swam to first in the 100 free with a 54.92-second time, and Wyer dominated both the 200 free (1:56.23) and 200 back (2:09.21).
Burke, Wyer, Griffin and Andrews helped close out the meet on a positive note for the Panthers, besting Bates with a 1:40.66 in the 200 free relay.
Finally, the Panther men and women bested the Union Dutchmen 150-88 and 140-99, respectively, at home this past Saturday, Jan. 16.
As usual, McGean claimed the 500 and 1000 free, while Lagasse won the 100 free (49.06) and Koenigsberger sprinted a 22.34 to win the 50 free. Cheuk, McLaughlin, Leech and Lagasse went on to lead the 400 free relay as well (3:16.93).
Rosenthal’s 200 fly clocked in at 2:00.71 to win the event, and Middlebury’s 400 medley relay team of Leech, Koenigsberger, Cheuk and Lagasse beat Union by 4.84 seconds.
Representing the women, Bartholomae, Jennifer Koide ’17, Griffin and Kristin Karpowicz ’19 opened the meet by winning the 400 medley relay in 4:07.79.
Angela Riggins ’19 and Scott earned first in the long-distance 1000 and 500 free events with respective times of 11:17.00 and 5:20.30. Caitlin Carroll ’17 and Stimson were able to win the 200 fly (2:16.19, Carroll), 400 IM (4:47.58, Stimson) and 200 breast (2:31.79, Stimson).
In the deep end of the pool, DeNunzio placed second in both the one and three-meter diving events, scoring 207.83 and 239.40, respectively. In men’s diving, Greene earned third in both events with scores of 232.13 and 245.70.
After finishing first in more than half of their contested events in the last four meets, men’s and women’s swimming and diving each have a season record of 3-4.
Moving forward, “training will be very specific,” said Rueppel, who is confident that “all will come together if [the team] competes instinctively.”
The Panthers will travel to Williams this Saturday, Jan. 23 for a dual meet against the defending NESCAC champions.
(01/21/16 12:16am)
The indoor competition season is now in full swing for the Panther track and field teams after the school hosted the inaugural Middlebury Winter Classic, the first such event held in the new Virtue Field House since its opening in January 2015. Before a packed house that included numerous alumni of the program, as well as the usual crowd of parents and spectators, the meet ran very smoothly for the Panthers. The men dusted the competition with a total of 260 points, 111 better than second-place Springfield, while the women scored a resounding victory of their own, racking up 257.5 points, 41 ahead of Springfield, who came in second once again.
The weekend before that, Middlebury had sent a small contingent of runners who had been able to find practice facilities over the winter break to the Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, NH. Head Coach Martin Beatty ’84 had only positive things to say: “The group did very well. The Dartmouth meet has Division I athletes, so it is always fun to go against that level. At this point in the season, the performances were where they should be, or even a little bit better.”
For the Panthers, the instant celebrities of the event were the four members of the winning 4x200 relay team — Jeremy Carter ’17, Brandon Cushman ’16, Paul Malloy ’18, and Alex Nichols ’17 — who came in first overall with a time of 1:35.23 (1.58 seconds ahead of the second-place team). “The 4x200 win at Dartmouth was totally unexpected,” said Cushman, also a captain of this year’s squad. “A lot of our faster 200-meter guys were still away on break for the race, so the quartet was made up of mostly 400-meter runners looking to get some speed work in. We were surprised to be placed in the fast heat to begin with … So you can imagine our surprise when we crossed the line in first.” When the dust had settled after all the events, the men tied for 8th out of 16 teams while the women snagged eighth out of 19 competing schools.
Still, the elation following the Dartmouth Relays was overshadowed by the buzz generated by this past weekend’s home meet. Before the main events got underway, Coach Beatty decided to let some of the alumni get the first crack at the new surface as thanks for their continued support. “Supportive alumni made this indoor track event happen,” he noted. “In that spirit, I felt that it would be fitting to invite the alumni to run in the very first running races. They didn’t have such a facility, so I wanted them to feel proud of it — it’s theirs as well.”
Current members of the team were equally excited by the inaugural event that, according to Cushman, had been a long time coming. “Saturday was an incredible experience,” he said. “Hosting the first home meet on the track meant a lot to everyone on the team. The seniors were especially excited because we have seen this project through from the beginning, moving from the old bubble into Nelson and finally into the new field house. The alumni only made the day even better. It made you feel the team was more than just the athletes that are here.”
The Panthers found success across the board on their home turf, picking up victories in a total of seventeen events. Of those, the men won nine: the 200-meter dash (Nichols at 23.15), the 400-meter dash (Jimmy Martinez ’19 at 50.60), the 1,000-meter run (Andrew Michelson ’19 at 2:40.7), the 1-mile run (Kevin Serrao ’18 at 4:26.38), the 3,000-meter run (Brian Rich ’17 at 8:59.14), the 60-meter hurdles (Tyler Farrell ’18 at 8.76), the 4x400 relay (Farrell, Nichols, Cushman and Martinez at 3:29.76), the pole vault (John Natalone ’19 at 14’5.25”) and the shot put (Daniel Plunkett ’16 at 46’2.75”).
The women came away with eight victories of their own, including a school record in the 500-meter dash set by Lucy Lang ’19 (1:17.55). The other wins were as follows: the 400-meter dash (Alexandra Morris ’16 at 58.00), the 800-meter run (Isabella Alfaro ’18 at 2:26,02), the 1000-meter run (Robin Vincent ’18 at 3:05.40), the 1-mile run (Vincent again at 5:13.33), the 3,000-meter run (Adrian Walsh ’18 at 10:25.83), the 4x400 relay (Morris, Lang, Paige Fernandez ’17 and Halle Gustafson ’16 at 4:04.97) and the pole vault (Kreager Taber ’19 at 10’6”).
At the end of the day, Cushman felt good about the team coming out of the meet. “It’s hard to get a good impression from the team as a whole this early in the season because Saturday was the first meet for a majority of the team,” he conceded. “But I’m really pleased with how well our team competed during the meet. To my knowledge, there weren’t many people who were disappointed in their performances, which starts the season off on a really good note.” The Panthers will look to continue their success at Saturday’s Smith Invitational in Northampton, Mass. before they come back for another home meet, the Middlebury Invitational, on Jan. 29 and 30.
(01/20/16 11:57pm)
On January 7, Governor of Vermont Peter Shumlin delivered his sixth and final State of the State address, in which he reflected on his successes in office — and the challenges that lie ahead for Vermont. Shumlin has elected not to run in the upcoming gubernatorial election, ending his five year stretch as governor.
In the hourlong address, Shumlin maintained a proud and defiant tone.
“We started at the trough of the Great Recession, unsure whether we’d be able to build back,” he said. “Soon after, Irene struck. We were down and we got knocked down again. But we stood back up.”
In the beginning of his speech, Shumlin outlined what he saw as the most important goals for the state: a dynamic economy, an improved education system, a renewable energy policy, a reformed criminal justice system, and affordable and effective health care statewide.
Of these issues, Shumlin first addressed the economy. “We added 17,600 new jobs in the last five years,” he began, “and have grown per capita incomes at or above the national rate every year I have been Governor. That has never happened in Vermont’s history.”
Shumlin also described an “agricultural renaissance” that has accounted for 4,400 new jobs in Vermont.
“In the past two years,” he said, “I’ve had the privilege of moving the Best Cheese in America award from one Vermont farm to another Vermont farm. Take that Wisconsin.”
Shumlin warned, however, that without effective education reform, this economic recovery could be hindered.
The biggest problem for most employers, claimed Shumlin, was their inability to find “trained and educated workers to help them grow. They know that our success in moving more low-income Vermont kids beyond high school will determine their success.”
Accordingly, Shumlin’s new budget will include a grant of 250 dollars to every college-bound Vermonter, and 500 dollars for every low-income college-bound student.
The governor also announced a new education program, called Step Up, which will fund a semester of free courses and support services for first generation and low income students.
Shumlin also warned that failing to address climate change could threaten to derail this economic recovery.
“The most tropical Christmas in memory,” he warned, “reminds us that climate change threatens the Vermont we love, from our ski season to our lakes. That’s why we are working so hard to move to green, clean renewable energy that is creating jobs, reducing power rates and putting money in Vermonters pockets while we do it.”
That Vermont has more clean energy jobs per capita than any other state, and solar power has replaced nuclear as the primary energy provider during peak energy hours, are two facts that Shumlin pointed to as indicators of progress.
Yet Shumlin pushed the envelope further, urging legislators to follow California’s lead and send him a divestiture bill.
“[Pollution] sickens our children, creates acid rain, dumps mercury on our forests and in our lakes and increases greenhouse gas emissions,” Shumlin said.
In what he described as “a page right out of big tobacco,” Shumlin slammed ExxonMobil for their complicity in climate change and their efforts to obscure the truth.
“Vermont should not wait to rid ourselves of ExxonMobil stock,” he said. “It has been clearly documented that since the 1980’s, ExxonMobil’s own scientists have long known about the dangers of global warming, and chose to conceal that from the public.”
Shumlin then addressed opiate addiction in Vermont, a topic to which he dedicated his entire 2014 State of the State address. At the time, he said that opiate addiction was a threat to Vermonters’ very way of life.
Shumlin launched a closing salvo at the FDA, which he described as the very root of the problem: “In 2010, we prescribed enough OxyContin to keep every adult in America high for an entire month; by 2012 we issued enough prescriptions to give every American adult their own personal bottle of pills ... The $11 billion-dollar a year opiate industry in America knows no shame.”
In response to this overprescription, Shumlin sought to set a limit at the number of pills patients could bring home after a procedure, to expand ‘take back programs’ to reobtain painkillers, and to prevent addicts from acquiring drugs outside state lines.
Next, Shumlin widened his attack to include not only the FDA and painkillers, but the illegality of marijuana. Citing the state’s relative success in regulating medical marijuana, Shumlin advocated to end the “era of prohibition that is currently failing us so miserably.”
Shumlin explained that he would insist that five things must occur if he were to sign a bill legalizing marijuana. They include finding a way to keep the drugs out of the hands of underage kids, a tax low enough to still wipe out illicit drug networks, using the revenue from legalization to expand treatment programs, increasing law-enforcement capabilities vis-a-vis impaired drivers, and a temporary ban on edibles.
Shumlin used his concluding remarks to address a moral issue facing the state: the acceptance of Syrian refugees.
“I believe Vermont must not abandon its long heritage of being a welcoming state to those who are escaping unimaginable horror to seek a better life,” he said.
“We are blessed to live in a state where so many reject fear and hatred and I pledge to continue to work together with President Obama, our refugee resettlement community, clergy, volunteers, and our mayors to make our state a beacon of hope and hospitality to Muslims, to our Syrian brothers and sisters, and to all who seek to build a better life right here in Vermont.”
He then thanked the Vermont people for the opportunity to serve as governor, and stepped back from the podium.
(12/10/15 2:17am)
Well here it is, the final issue of the semester. And just like that you no longer have time to do all of those things you said you were going to do. So much for getting your life together. The time is approaching to escape with your sanity, that remaining portion of your dignity and whatever a night of cramming all the readings you “forgot to do” can get you on your exams.
This semester I feel as if I’ve covered all of the issues that needed discussing, totally no exaggeration.
I’ve covered the ever-pressing topics of vegan riblets, Ross smoothies, Battell Bathtubs, BannerWeb and many other undeniable priorities of Middlebury College life.
Ok, but in all honesty, how is my column still a thing?
To quote the always wise Bob and Bob from Office Space, “What would you say you do here?” Well to be totally honest, I have no idea. I guess I write 500 words a week, so there’s that.
I spend every column venting about minor inconveniences that in no way actually matter. Does it matter that the mailboxes are a little bit finicky? Not at all. Do you have to eat the vegan riblets? Nope. And I mean really, have you ever had to take a bath in Battell? I sure hope not… If you did, then please report back that you are, in fact, still alive.
My theme isn’t even original. I stole it shamelessly from the writers of Last Week Tonight. You would think that I could have at least come up with a significantly different title than John Oliver’s “How Is It Still a Thing,” but no. As I stated in the first column of the year, I prefer to think of myself as efficient rather than lazy, so I just threw Midd in there and called it a day. Brilliant. So much for creativity!
If you did, in fact, ride it out and read all of my columns (I’m looking at you, Mom), thanks and congrats.
You have made it through over 5,500 words of a mediocre satirical column that has a strange obsession with arbitrary percentages and references to mediocre movies forgotten by 67 percent of their viewers within one week of watching. (Pro tip: check out the 2006 animated film Barnyard, starring the illustrious Kevin James as a bull with udders, for an example.)
I’m going abroad in the spring, so the quality of writing and reporting in this paper is going way up.
But before I do so, I will bring the maturity of the Campus back down to a middle school level one time during J-term when the car column makes its triumphant return for one last GLaurie Ride. That’s right, in a rare lapse of judgment, President Patton has agreed to drive with me to McDonald’s. It will be the pinnacle of my journalistic career. Stay tuned.
(12/09/15 8:05pm)
Middlebury men’s and women’s swimming and diving traveled to Amherst College’s Pratt Pool last Saturday, Dec. 5 to race against the Lord Jeffs in their first dual meet of the season. Both the Panther men and women fell to their hosts, emerging from the meet with very similar scores of 173.5-111 and 177.5-111.5, respectively.
“Dual meets are always a great opportunity to get up and race while we’re in the middle of our training,” women’s co-Captain Lily Sawyer ’16 said.
Isabel Wyer ’18, Liza MacCowatt ’19, Megan Griffin ’16 and Morgan Burke ’17 were some of Middlebury’s first off the blocks for the 200 medley relay, and their time of 1:50.50 secured second place for the Panthers.
In the next race, Lucy Scott ’16 finished less than three seconds behind Amherst’s Marie Maxwell (first) to take third in the 1000 free.
Burke placed third in the 100 free (54.12), touching the wall just 0.12 and 0.07 seconds behind the top two Amherst swimmers, while Alaina Pribis ’19 finished the 500 free a heartbreaking 0.16 seconds behind Lord Jeff Charlotte Chudy to notch another third place finish for the Panthers.
Wyer left her competitors in the 200 free in her wake with a time of 1:55.45, and first-year Grace Stimson ’19 took first in the 200 IM (2:14.77).
Stimson touched the wall just 1.10 seconds before Pierce (2:15.87), and Katie Aman ’19 captured third in the IM event with her 2:18.48-second swim.
“We beat Amherst for the first time in a long time last year, so they came back with a vengeance,” said Maddie Pierce ’16, Sawyer’s co-captain. “[However,] we came off a tough week of training, and the team performed really well given that.”
Burke, Griffin, Stephanie Andrews ’18 and Wyer later won the 400 free relay in a combined time of 3:41.96.
Sawyer’s other co-captain, Griffin, explained that “Coach Rueppel sees meets as extensions of training, so our goal was to race hard, have fun and not worry about times.”
On the men’s side, the Panthers’ ‘A’ entry — made up of Paul Lagasse ’16, Jack McLaughlin ’18, Brendan Leech ’19 and Bryan Cheuk ’16 — won the 400 free relay with a time of 3:14.04.
Individually, Michael McGean ’17 tied Lord Jeff Connor Haley to win the 1000 free (9:54.51).
Later, McGean (first) and Andrew Rosenthal ’16 (third) swept two of the top three spots in the men’s 500 free. McGean sealed his win by 7.45 seconds with a time of 4:50.94, while Rosenthal rounded out the podium with a 5:00.90.
Connor McCormick ’18 won the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.03.
Cheuk’s 21.86 in the 50 free earned him a third place finish as he came in just 0.74 seconds after the winner, and his 48.84 in the 100 free secured him second in that race.
Leech and Andy Grant ’17 earned overall points for Middlebury, swimming a 2:02.84 in the 200 backstroke and a 2:05.66 in the 200 IM respectively to place second in each of those events.
In the diving portion of the meet, both Will Greene ’19 (209.25) and Elissa DeNunzio ’18 (188.63) placed second on the 1-meter board to earn points for the Panthers, while DeNunzio led the competition in the 3-meter event (198.00).
“Overall, both the women’s and men’s teams had great swims this past weekend,” Griffin said. “It’s always fun to race against a NESCAC rival.”
When the teams began their official practices a few weeks ago, Head Coach Bob Rueppel pointed out that, “Not looking too far ahead is the key with such a long season.”
“Right now, [we] are focused on putting in the work for the last few weeks on campus before we head off to Florida for training camp [in late December and early January],” Pierce said.
Before the teams leave campus for their short winter break, the Panthers will host Springfield for their second dual meet of the season this Saturday, Dec. 12 at 1 p.m.
(12/09/15 7:58pm)
The Middlebury men’s basketball team has begun to claw their way back towards a .500 record by stomping Johnson St. for the second time in five days on Thursday, Dec. 3 and beating Castleton St. in Middlebury’s home opener on Tuesday, Dec. 8, sandwiched around a five-point loss on the road at Skidmore on Saturday, Dec. 5, to move to 4-5 on the season.
Middlebury once again had an easy time dispatching the Badgers of Johnson St., using its considerable size advantage while out rebounding a winless Johnson team 45-12. It was all systems go out of the gate for Middlebury, as the Panthers jumped out to a 7-0 lead off of layups from Connor Huff ’16 and Matt Daley ’16 and a three-pointer from leading scorer Matt St. Amour ’17. Middlebury took a 10-point lead with 8:20 to go in the first half and led by double digits from that point on. Jack Daly ’18 capped a 12-0 run to end the half with a layup to make the score 45-21.
The Panthers scored 50 points in the second half on the way to a 95-48 win. St. Amour led all scorers with 19 points on 7-10 shooting and 5-7 from beyond the arc. Forward Eric McCord ’19 posted a career-high 10 points and added five boards to his stat line. Daley was efficient and productive with eight points on 4-6 shooting and eight boards.
Middlebury’s next contest at Skidmore, who beat NESCAC Champion Wesleyan in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament and returned two All-League players including Co-Liberty League Player of the Year Aldin Medunjanin, proved to be much tougher. The Panthers caught a break with Medunjanin out for the contest, but still could not overcome the Thoroughbreds.
St. Amour had a great first half for Middlebury, scoring 14 points on 4-7 shooting, 3-4 from deep and 3-4 from the charity stripe, as the Panthers went into halftime with a 35-29 lead.
The Thoroughbreds began the second half with an 11-6 run to take the lead by one, lost it on a couple of layups from McCord and Hilal Dahleh ’19, then took a lead they would never relinquish when Nick Volpe drained a three-pointer to make it 47-45 with 12:13 to play.
Skidmore kept Middlebury at bay for the rest of the game, stretching the lead to 10 with 4:35 left, but failing to put the Panthers away.
The Thoroughbreds led by just five late in the contest when Daly fed Dahleh for a three-pointer to tighten the score at 72-70 with exactly one minute to play. At the other end, Skidmore’s Edvinas Rupkus hit a pair of free throws to go back up by four. The Panthers tried to get a quick shot up but missed. Daley was able to corral the rebound and put it back up and in, drawing the Panthers within two once again. Rupkus once again made things difficult, hitting another pair of free throws for Skidmore. Middlebury closed the gap to one with 18 seconds remaining when Daly finished a three-point play the old-fashioned way, making a lay up and calmly sinking the free throw, but Skidmore just could not miss from the line, as point guard Royce Paris made two more free throws for the Thoroughbreds. It took all of six seconds for Dahleh to make a layup to make it 78-77, but once again it was Rupkus who made two more free throws to make it 80-77. With five seconds left, the Panthers needed a three-pointer, but the last-ditch attempt missed the mark, and Skidmore sank two more free throws to close it out, 82-77.
“I was happy with the run we had down the stretch to get a chance to tie the game in the final seconds,” Head Coach Jeff Brown said. “Our group plays with grit and determination.”
The Panthers coasted to their fourth win of the season with a 96-74 victory over Castleton St. Middlebury lead for the final 38:28 of the contest. Middlebury loves to run on offense, and finally showed off their aptitude to do so with 18 fastbreak points.
“We weren’t as successful as we wanted to be in our transition game [against Skidmore],” Coach Brown said.
Jake Brown ’17 notched a game-high 16 points and added eight assists to the mix. St. Amour continued his hot shooting with four three-pointers, including a 75-footer right before halftime, and 12 points overall. Zach Baines ’19 and Adisa Majors ’18 tallied double digit points with 11 and 10, respectively.
Middlebury plays just one more game before the long Christmas break, a Saturday, Dec. 12 contest with a Plattsburgh St. squad that has proven difficult in the past.
(12/03/15 1:17am)
In a meeting on December 1, the fate of a 145-year-old historical document was decided: the College’s yearbook.
The first edition of the Kaleidoscope was produced in 1873. Since that time, the yearbook has undergone a variety of changes as print and digital technology have evolved and student interest in the publication has waned and waxed.
This year, prompted by discussions on how little students know about the yearbook and how few students want to participate in making in, the SGA sent out a survey to evaluate current student opinion towards the Kaleidoscope. For years, the Kaleidoscope has been one of the top recipients of SGA funding – yet there has been little conversation about whether the yearbook merits the thousands of dollars it is allocated annually.
After gathering their results, SGA representatives met this week with staff who help create the yearbook and administrators to address their survey findings, as well as budget and production concerns. At the forefront of everyone’s minds: do students continue to value the yearbook in today’s age of social media?
History
According to alumnus and historian David Stameshkin, “Before the first Kaleidoscope was printed, students paid for a special edition of the annual catalogue, which had extra pages listing student groups and their members; but the yearbook has been published nearly every year since its first issue in 1865.”
The first Kaleidoscopes little resembled today’s typical yearbooks: they were small pamphlets with pages for student groups and societies, listing the leadership and members of those groups. The name and year of each student at the College appeared in the Kaleidoscope, but fewer than 100 students attended the College each year in the 19th century. There were no photographs — cameras were not widely accessible at this time.
The first thirty years of the Kaleidoscope’s production were rocky. The Kaleidoscope was produced each year as a pamphlet from 1873 to 1881, but then production stopped. The publication returned, now in bound book form, in 1894.
In 1900, the yearbook briefly assumed a new name, The Laurea, evidently in an attempt to transform itself into a publication with staying power. The yearbook continued as The Laurea in 1901 but after that year, yearbook production again halted.
In 1909, yearbook production resumed again under the old name of the Kaleidoscope. Since 1909, the Kaleidoscope has been created and printed every year, excepting only one: in 1920, World War One prohibited yearbook production and, in general, interrupted campus life as male students left the College to go to war.
In the early years of the Kaleidoscope, the book was created by a group of about three students each year. All the pages were handwritten and then mailed to a printing press in Rutland, Vermont. Later, the book was typed and then sent away for printing. The speed of the typewriter allowed the yearbook to grow and with it the yearbook staff: in the 1920s, a group of around 16 students were responsible for production. Into the late 20th century, creating the yearbook was a student activity, operating like other student organizations today.
The Yearbook Today
In recent years, the Kaleidoscope has been created by a group of two to three unpaid students in collaboration with the Office of Communications. While certain elements of the yearbook are staples from year to year—such as senior portraits and photos and records from athletic teams and student organizations—these students have significant editorial power in deciding what goes into the book.
Editor-in-chief of Middlebury Magazine Matt Jennings serves as faculty advisor for the Kaleidoscope. He teaches yearbook student editors “best practices” and helps them make important editorial decisions.
Unlike at schools such as Dartmouth College where the yearbook staff is mostly composed of photographers, the Kaleidoscope staff largely obtains content from other sources such as Athletic Communications, the Study Abroad Office and Jostens, who takes senior portraits. From September through the winter, the yearbook editors devote themselves to gathering photos and other materials to fill the book.
In the spring, after collecting 90 percent of their content, lay out begins and editors collaborate with the staff of Jostens, a company that sells class rings, class tags and graduation apparel in addition to producing yearbooks. In mid to late summer, the Kaleidoscope is in production with Jostens and editors review proofs of the book. Once approved, it is printed in early fall and mailed free of charge to that year’s graduates. About 800 copies are printed each year.
As the Kaleidoscope contains no commercial advertising, funding for the yearbook comes almost exclusively from the SGA budget. The cost of production, printing and shipping the yearbook totals about $42,500 each year, or four percent of the entire SGA budget. This entire sum is paid to Jostens each year.
Uses of the Yearbook
The Kaleidoscope has many other uses outside of being a nostalgic token for graduates. For alumni planning their reunions, the Kaleidoscope is instrumental. The book helps them and the Alumni Office develop programming and, in particular, create the class books distributed at the 25th and 50th reunions. In addition, Middlebury Magazine regularly uses the Kaleidoscope for its Then & Now section.
One of the most important uses of the Kaleidoscope is as a historical document recording the people, events and ideas of a year. For the archivists in Special Collections, the yearbook is an invaluable way to learn about the College’s past.
“We refer to them all the time,” Director of Special Collections Rebekah Irwin said. “It’s often a second point of research to understand what [was] happening at the College.”
Irwin says the yearbook is priceless for learning about student life at the College, the College’s important figures such as Common’s heads and the history of students of color. Classes, in particular history courses, often visit Special Collections to examine the Kaleidoscope as well as other historical documents.
The SGA Survey
In a survey emailed out on October 28, the SGA attempted to gauge student opinion on the Kaleidoscope. The survey had 682 respondents who were relatively well distributed across the class years.
The survey found that 86.2 percent of respondents did not know that all graduating seniors are mailed a copy of the Kaleidoscope for free.
Student responses were mixed as to whether the yearbook was a good use of the student activities fee. Only one third of students believed it was; the majority of surveyed students thought otherwise. Twenty-nine percent of students said that the money should be allocated to student organizations and on campus activities, instead. Another 20 percent of students said a cheaper alternative should be found. Eighteen percent of students had no preference.
Despite the generally lukewarm support for the Kaleidoscope, 19 percent of respondents indicated that they would be interested in a paid position to help produce the yearbooks.
Chair of the Finance Committee Aaron de Toledo ’16, who has been involved in discussions about the yearbook since last summer, explained the value of the survey results to the SGA.
“At the end of the day, the SGA and specifically the Finance Committee, we are an allocation body that is allocating money based on student activities and student interest,” said de Toledo. “This is a big allocation of money that we want to know how students feel about it. [The survey] provided some valuable insight there.”
Changes This Year
Difficulties producing last year’s Kaleidoscope have resulted in changes in the production of the yearbook and even discussions in its general value.
During the 2014-15 academic year, the student editor of the Kaleidoscope abandoned the job before the finishing the yearbook. Completion of the yearbook fell to Jennings, along with the staff at Jostens. The 2015 yearbook, typically distributed in early fall, has yet to mailed to graduated seniors.
This episode revealed the folly of the Kaleidoscope relying on unpaid students to produce the yearbook. In order to ensure the commitment of this year’s student editors, Vice President of Marketing and Communications Bill Burger approved a new budget so student editors of the Kaleidoscope will be paid by the College as student employees.
“By making it a paid position, the hope was that someone would really commit to it and that ultimately you might get a better product,” said Burger.
Funding for these paid positions, which are B and C level positions on the student employment wage scale, is coming partially from the Office of Communications and partially from the SGA operating budget. Students are currently being interviewed for the position of this year’s editor-in-chief of the Kaleidoscope.
The SGA hopes these paid positions will allow student involvement in the yearbook to grow so that the Kaleidoscope is no longer being made by one person but by a passionate staff.
More changes to the Kaleidoscope may be in store as a result of the Dec. 1 meeting. President of the SGA Ilana Gratch ’16 said one of the biggest takeaways of the meeting for her was learning that the cost of producing the yearbook, previously perceived to be “fixed”, is actually flexible. Switching from hardcover to soft-cover, scaling down the yearbook and using paper of less quality are all possibilities that could help reduce the price of the Kaleidoscope.
De Toledo added that changes made this year are not necessarily permanent but are aimed at building a better future product.
“We’re not looking for a year long solution; we’re looking for a solution that will build quality and if we have a smaller scaled down product this year, it might be easier to build a quality product,” de Toledo said. “Then the next year, scale up a little bit and continue scaling up until the yearbook is where it has been in the past.”
The Future of the Yearbook
Some administrators attribute students’ lack of interest in the Kaleidoscope is the fact that a yearbook gains its value over time.
“Understandably, students today or very recent graduates don’t see a very great value in it and I understand why that’s the case,” Burger said. “It’s not nostalgia for them; it’s today.”
Still, the rise of social media and specifically Facebook makes some wonder if the need for a yearbook is obsolete. Others counter with worries about the feasibility of saving social media in the same way that the yearbook can be preserved.
“We’ve been a little frustrated in our efforts to preserve social media,” Irwin said, “because we can only essentially preserve a tiny slice of it. I am worried.”
Mikaela Taylor ’15, a post-graduate fellow in Special Collections, who along with the rest of the Class of 2015 has yet to receive her yearbook, said, “A book is something you will always be able interact with no matter what software you are using.”
Perhaps, instead of simply eliminating the Kaleidoscope, the publication should be updated to reflect today’s changing world. Many schools, according to Burger, are struggling with the same questions as the College: how can the yearbook be made relevant to the present generation?
“In the age of social media, there is a great need for innovation and for [the Kaleidoscope] to be really, really good,” Burger said. “Because the competition is so much greater, in effect, if it doesn’t keep evolving and it doesn’t keep getting better, I think it’s going to look more and more stale.”
“I’d love to see the student body come up with some creative solutions to this problem before the SGA completely eliminates the yearbook,” said Associate Dean of Students J.J. Boggs, who oversees the yearbook as one of many student organizations.
Jennings thinks the Kaleidoscope still has immense potential.
“I feel like we’ve never really gotten off the ground with what the yearbook could be,” Jennings said.
He envisions the Kaleidoscope as a memento that editorializes on the past year and provides an additional outlet for the College’s talented, burgeoning photographers.
It is this act of ‘editorializing’ that Irwin believes is most important about the yearbook.
“Its an important task to reflect on your experience and choose the pictures and the text that capture your years as a student. And most of us never do that,” Irwin said. “And in some ways, the yearbook asks a group of students to edit and reflect on their time at Middlebury … without asking a group of students to do that, then it [their four years] just passes by as a moment not reflected on.”
Some wonder what it says about the College’s community that the Kaleidoscope is less valued today than by previous generations.
“I think the fact that our community has not produced this document says a little more than just, ‘There aren’t three students doing it,’” Taylor said. “We aren’t really a cohesive community any more and we don’t really have a strong voice, a centralized voice on campus that says, ‘This is who we are.’ (…) I think it’s a lot more complex than: ‘Do you want a yearbook for your shelf?’”
(12/03/15 12:53am)
Men’s and women’s swimming and diving started their season on Saturday, Nov. 21, hosting Connecticut College and Tufts at the Middlebury Natatorium. While both the men and women lost to Connecticut College (152-128 and 152-136, respectively), and the Panther men sustained a 176-112 loss to Tufts, the Middlebury women edged Tufts 151-149.
Isabel Wyer ’18 started the season off strong, winning the 200 free by nearly two seconds with a time of 1:55.38, and the 500 free, clocking 5:07.56.
Close behind Wyer in the 500 free, Alaina Pribis’ ’19 5:22.21 earned her a third place spot. Co-Captain Megan Griffin ’16 got second place in the 100 fly (1:00.15), and Lucy Scott ’16 placed third in the 500 free (10:55.87).
Sarah Bartholomae ’18 and Katie Corrigan ’19’s times of 1:03.01 and 1:03.06 in the 100 back took both third and fourth place for the Panthers, and co-Captain Maddie Pierce ’16 placed third in the 200 back (2:16.46), before Caroline Kelly ’16, who finished fourth (2:16.86).
Middlebury showed strength in their relays. Wyer (back), Liza MacCowatt ’19 (breast), Griffin (fly) and Morgan Burke ’16 (free) won the 200 medley relay (1:49.94), and Griffin, Burke, Stephanie Andrews ’18 and Wyer touched the wall just .21 seconds behind Conn. College in the 200 free relay (1:39.82).
Head Coach Bob Rueppel differentiated the program’s strategies for the men and the women. “On the women’s side we’re hoping to build off of last season’s success: getting further along not only in the conference but on the national level,” Rueppel said. “One of my goals coming in [for the men is] to have a real solid foundation in the program.”
So despite the team’s overall losses, the eight different men’s swimmers who scored big in events throughout the meet helped set the versatile foundation that Rueppel talked about. Stephan Koenigsberger ’16 and Bryan Cheuk ’16 touched the wall first in individual events: the 100 breast (59.01) and 50 free (22.10), respectively. In the 50 free, Jack McLaughlin ’18 placed second (22.24) behind Cheuk, and Taylor Moore ’18 touched the wall fifth with a time of 22.44 to clinch three of the top five spots for the Panthers.
Co-Captain Paul Lagasse ’16 finished second in the 100 free (48.80), while Connor McCormick ’18 got second in the 200 breaststroke (2:14.33).
Michael McGean ’17 did well in long-distance events, placing third in the 500 free (4:48.20) and second in the 1000 free (9:51.71).
Cheuk, Brendan Leech ’19, McLaughlin and Lagasse each swam a leg in the 200 free relay to earn the Panthers’ final victory of the day (1:27.24).
Their splits of 22.12, 22.08, 21.62 and 21.42 respectively all came close to Cheuk’s winning time of 22.10 in the individual 50 free.
Meanwhile, first-year Will Greene ’19 placed first in the 1-meter (217.28) and second in the 3-meter (201.60) events in his first performance as a Middlebury diver. Elissa DeNunzio ’18 earned 182.00 points in the 1-meter diving competition and 208.20 in the 3-meter to take second in both events.
Amherst will host Middlebury this Saturday, Dec. 5 for what ought to be another fast meet.
