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(03/24/11 11:00am)
Beginning in the fall of 2011, the College will recruit 10 Posse Scholars from Chicago in addition to the roughly 10 students selected each year from New York City.
For the past 12 years, Middlebury has been a partner school to The Posse Foundation, offering full four-year scholarships to students selected and mentored by the foundation, or Posse Scholars. The Posse Foundation works within the public school systems of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and Washington, D.C. to identify and prepare talented student leaders from diverse backgrounds for attendance at one of Posse’s 39 prestigious partner institutions. President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz spoke to the success of the Posse program at Middlebury.
“So many on campus, and on the board of trustees, are strong believers in the Posse program because of the diversity, leadership and talents our Posse Scholars bring to Middlebury,” said Liebowitz. “I believe the Posse Foundation does an exceptional job identifying and then mentoring talented students — students who otherwise might never apply to Middlebury — who then make great contributions to our campus.”
Middlebury was the fourth school to forge a relationship with The Posse Foundation, and it will join the ranks of approximately one third of the current partner schools that draw Posse Scholars from multiple cities. Middlebury will be only the second New England school to recruit through Posse Chicago, the other being Trinity College. Dean of the College, Chief Diversity Officer and former Vice President of The Posse Foundation Shirley Collado, who was also a member of the foundation’s first graduating class, attributes the expansion of the College’s relationship with Posse to an already successful history together.
“The College has experienced a very positive and rewarding partnership with The Posse Foundation and was looking to expand the program to another city for the last few years,” said Collado. “We took a close look at the program and its success, examined our admissions efforts and diversity goals and came to the conclusion that this would be a wise investment for the College.”
According to Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett, the College currently draws around 10 percent of the student body from the Midwest, and recruiting in the Chicago area through Posse will further the College’s goal to increase that percentage.
“I have no doubt that being a part of Posse Chicago will significantly enhance Middlebury's visibility in that important part of the country,” said Clagett. “We are, of course, always trying to improve our outreach efforts in different parts of the country and around the world to help keep Middlebury as geographically diverse as possible, and the Midwest has been an important part of the effort.”
By 2016, two teams of Posse Scholars, or posses, will make up 20 students in each class, doubling the number of Posse Scholars on campus today from 40 to 80. Collado called this number a “critical mass of leaders.”
“As I imagine in four years having 80 [Posse] Scholars on campus from two major cities in this country, the power of that is really promising to me,” said Collado. “Not so much in terms of numbers, but the kind of talent and leadership and academic promise that I know these students will bring from two of the largest and most diverse public school systems in the country.”
President and Founder of The Posse Foundation Debbie Bial said increasing the number of Posse Scholars on campus benefits The Posse Foundation as much as it does the College.
“Nationally we had more than 12,000 nominations for 500 slots, so the fact that Middlebury is saying, ‘We have more room for these great kids,’ — I don’t know what could make anyone happier in this situation,” said Bial. “A lot of schools have separate programs that end up creating segregated diversity, but [Liebowitz] really gets it, and I am very appreciative of having a partner like him who knows how to address some of the difficult issues related to building a diverse community… It was a no-brainer when [Liebowitz] wanted to bring in the second posse, and it’s great for Chicago kids to have the opportunity to go to Middlebury.”
Collado believes maintaining a close relationship with The Posse Foundation will continue to do great things for all of the parties involved.
“I think this will be a win-win for Middlebury, for The Posse Foundation, for Posse scholars and Middlebury students in general,” said Collado.
(03/24/11 4:04am)
The College takes great pride in the quality of the food served in its dining halls. Matthew Biette, director of dining services, seeks local and organic products whenever possible. Though just 19 percent of the College’s food funds purchase Vermont products, Biette stressed that the statistic “depends on how you count it and what our luck is.”
“The local food movement is important for the local economy,” said Biette. “It keeps money in the area. If we know the people we buy from … then we are making a healthier community.”
Monument Farms, the source of the College’s dairy products, is a prime example of dependence on the local economy. Monument has maintained a valuable relationship with the College for over 60 years. Such a long-held connection is unique in comparison to other food providers with which the College works.
Monument Farms, located just a few miles off campus in Weybridge, Vt. is also unique in that it is involved in every aspect of their milk production, unlike most other dairy farms.
“They are completely vertically integrated,” said Biette. “They grow their own feed, they raise their own cows. They are completely local and they are just over that hill. It is really cool!”
A self-contained company, Monument Farms grows the corn to feed its animals, raises the next generation of cows from calf to heifer and completes all of the processing, bottling and distribution of the milk. So, when you drink a glass of milk in Proctor, you are consuming a genuine Vermont product that was produced — from start to finish — just miles away from where you are sitting.
“We are in control of everything from growing the feed to delivering the milk to the customer,” said Pete James, one of the owners of Monument Farms.
The farm has been run by the same family since the 1920s and is currently run by brothers Pete and Bob James and their cousin, Jon Rooney, all of whom grew up on and around the farm. The secret to having so much control over their product is found in the unique way the owners divide the work: Pete is in charge of the cows and fields, Jon the milk production and Bob the logistics and distribution of the milk.
“Probably one of the keys to our success is that we do not step on each other’s toes or anything like that, yet we all work together,” said Pete James. “It is one business and without [each aspect] we would not be the same. [The organization] just came about naturally.”
The family’s dedication to Monument Farms is evident in the high quality of its milk.
“I cannot imagine a purer product than what we produce,” said Rooney.
Bob echoed his cousin, noting that one of the reasons why Monument Farms milk is so good is because of the local, self-contained aspect of the company.
“The amount of miles that the feed has to travel to get to [other] farms and then the miles the milk has to travel to get to the processing plant and then get distributed is unreal,” said Bob.
Monument Farms cuts out all these extra transport steps. Not surprisingly, the owners are very conscious of the impact that they have on the local environment. A significant measure of their dedication to sustainability and the environment is the money they have spent on a methane digester, which will be functioning in two months. One of the inevitable drawbacks to dairy farming is that cows produce tons of manure and, along with that manure, tons of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. It is a constant struggle for dairy farmers to figure out what to do with all of the effluent; the new methane digester at Monument Farms will help solve this problem.
“In essence,” said Rooney, “instead of the manure going into an open manure pit and getting spread on the fields [the way it usually is] it will go into a digester, which is heated and the bacteria produce methane as well as other by-products. We will capture the methane and use it as natural gas to power a generator.”
Yet the machine does more than just produce methane for power.
“It is like a swimming pool with a cement top over it that seals in the gas for 21 days,” said Bob. “Then the manure goes through a separator that squeezes the liquid out of the solids. The liquid just goes to a manure pit, which will then get spread on the field just like it always was because it has the same nutrient value. The dry matter in the manure will go on a conveyer and will drop into a room, which will then be reused for bedding for cows.”
In essence, the digester takes a byproduct that was once used just as fertilizer and gives it many other uses. Using methane as power, however, is not the most compelling reason for installing the digester.
“It is not an efficient way of making electricity,” said Rooney. “The main driver behind this was to produce our own bedding because it is hard to come by and it is expensive.”
Traditionally bedding for cows is sawdust, a cheap, easily found material. But, with the advent of more wood-free building products, sawdust is increasingly more expensive and difficult to find. With the methane digester, this problem is solved.
“We were looking at it more for the bedding and electricity is a nice way to have it pay for itself,” said Rooney. “It is a huge investment in spite of the fact that we have got a bunch of grant money to do it. We are probably kicking in about the same amount of our own money to do it.”
Because of the enormous costs involved, there are only six or seven other dairies in Vermont that have similar methane digesters. Yet money to build the machines has become increasingly available because of the substantial benefits they offer.
Vermont’s power companies have started a program, “Cow Power,” that offers incentives to farmers who want to install methane digesters. The money comes from people who offer to pay slightly extra per kilowatt-hour on their electrical bill to help fund projects like the one at Monument Farms. In coming years, smaller dairy farms will be able to install digesters, though right now Monument’s grip on new technology keeps it at the head of the industry.
Pete credits the green movement for making the project possible.
“As this ‘green’ movement has gone on and on, the incentives for doing this have become greater,” he said. “The reason there are not more digesters is because it takes a big dairy farm. The practical ability to install one revolved around having a lot of cows. Now they have come up with digesters where they can have as little as 50 cows.” Currently, Monument has over 500 dairy cows.
Monument’s methane digester, in addition to its close proximity and high quality of its milk, is yet another reason why Biette loves doing business with the farm.
“We get today’s milk tomorrow or yesterday’s milk today,” said Biette. “It is that fresh.”
(03/24/11 3:59am)
Associate Professor of Political Philosophy Kateri Carmola has been charged with embezzling $4,500 worth of funds from the Salisbury Historical Society. Carmola will appear at the Addison County District Court on April 4 for a status conference on the case. The offense caries felony charges under Vermont state law with penalties of up to 10 years in prison or a $500 fine..
The administration offered no comment on the College’s response to the charges.
“It would be premature to comment on this legal case or to speculate about what, if anything, the College’s response will be,” wrote Provost and Executive Vice President of the College Allison Byerly in an email. “We do not yet have a full understanding of the extent to which, if at all, Middlebury College-related activities were involved.”
Alison Stanger, chair of the political science department, declined to comment on the situation.
Carmola did not return requests for comment.
The Addison County Independent published an online article on March 21 announcing the charges. According to the Independent, court records demonstrate that Carmola made 11 withdraws ranging from $200 to $1,000 from the account of the Salisbury Historical Society between July 6 and Sept. 8, 2010 while serving as treasurer of the society. Carmola told investigators that she used the funds from the organization’s account “to pay personal expenses associated with some Middlebury College-related trips.”
According to President of the Salisbury Historical Society Barry Whitney, the organization raises $2,000 worth of funds “in a good year.” The use of society funds must be approved by the society’s full board of trustees, said Whitney.
Society board members first discovered the missing funds last fall and called an emergency meeting. Carmola attended the meeting, wrote a check to cover the balance owed and agreed to resign from the board. Whitney reported that the board members did not wish to press charges, but that community members of the society who learned of the incident urged the board members to inform state law enforcement.
Carmola was officially charged on Dec. 23, 2010, and pleaded innocent in district court on Feb. 7 of this year.
Vermont State Police Trooper Joseph Szarejko wrote in the report that Carmola was “now aware that she made a mistake; she did not think anything was wrong with borrowing the money at first until she was confronted about this issue.”
Although Carmola has no previous criminal record, the Independent reported that a conviction for felony embezzlement carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $500, or both.
Carmola has been a faculty member at the College since 2001 and has received tenure. Carmola is currently teaching a course titled “Power and Powerlessness” as well as “Introduction to Political Philosophy.”
(03/17/11 4:06am)
Saturday, March 12 marked the third annual Winter Carnival and Chili Festival in the town of Middlebury. This year, over 3,500 people strolled down Main Street, 1,500 more individuals than last year. For three dollars, attendees could sample 85 different chilies from 54 vendors. Students and faculty from the College joined Vermont families, and together they selected their favorite recipes. Restaurants from 17 towns and three counties from across the state, Addison, Rutland and Chittenden, competed in what the Vermont Chamber of Commerce deems one of Vermont’s top 10 winter events.
Joe Colangelo, assistant town manager, was also the co-chair of the Chili Festival. He is a member on the board of the Better Middlebury Partnership, the organization that helped plan the day’s festivities.
“It [the Better Middlebury Partnership] works with businesses to make downtown a more lively place,” said Colangelo, who spoke with the town’s police department and emergency services to make sure downtown Middlebury could be closed off for the day.
This was the first year that the roads were shut down for the event, thanks to the new Cross Street Bridge. A beer tent, courtesy of Two Brothers Tavern, was open all afternoon. Children enjoyed a face-painting booth; police cruisers and fire trucks were on display. A cappella performances were complemented by two DJs, in addition to a flash dance mob in the center of Main Street.
“It should be great beer-drinking and chili-eating weather,” said Colangelo. “The event brings people to Middlebury that normally would not come here, and then they keep coming back. It is the chance to celebrate a nice town.”
Middlebury also changed the date of the Chili Festival so it did not interfere with Mardi Gras celebrations in Burlington, Vt.; the two events coincided last year, and the change allowed restaurants from Chittenden County to participate in the event.
“I think that now [the Chili Festival] is catching on and becoming an event that is getting not just local, but statewide and regional attention,” said Colangelo. “It draws a lot of positive vibes about Middlebury. It helps brand the town.”
There were 50 volunteers this year, many of whom were College students. Committees planned the event for the six months prior to the festival to ensure perfection.
“It really is a community event. The whole community deserves to be commended for putting something like this on,” said Colangelo.
There were five categories in which vendors could enter: beef, chicken, lamb, game and veggie. An overall winner was also selected at the day’s end. American Flatbread was the two-time defending champion, as it was the overall champion in both 2009 and 2010, but this year Costello’s stole the crown with their chocolate and red wine beef chili.
The Italian deli won the beef and pork categories, while Tourterelle of New Haven, Vt. captured the title for best chicken chili. Jessica’s Restaurant at the Swift House was proud to win the best game chili, as was Bar Antidote in Vergennes, Vt. for its best kitchen sink combination. The best veggie recipe was awarded to Inception Studios.
“The event ran beautifully and went off without a hitch,” said Holmes Jacobs, the owner of Two Brothers Tavern, who was also on the committee that organized all the vendors and the beverage tent in town. “We discovered ways to make it bigger, better and stronger next year too.”
(03/17/11 4:04am)
The end of February and beginning of March mark the start of the tapping season in Vermont, the time for extracting as much sweet goodness as possible from maple trees. All over the state, and as close as right next door, Vermonters collect maple sap and turn it into syrup.
College Professor Emeritus John Elder owns Maggie Brooks Sugarworks in Starksboro, Vt. The land Elder owns and taps for maple syrup is called a sugarbush. Fifteen years ago, Elder became interested in the sustainable forestry movement, prompting a land purchase.
“We wanted to buy a piece of land to help with the forestry movement, and found a piece of woodland filled with sugar maples,” said Elder.
After purchasing 142 acres in Starksboro, he began talking to people in the area to learn how to make maple sap into syrup. With the help of his two sons, Caleb and Matthew, who had learned about sugaring at the Mountain School, Elder began Maggie Brooks Sugarworks. They created a new family tradition that he hopes will continue on through the generations. Matthew’s twin four-year-olds are already big helpers.
Elder also learned a lot about the history of sugaring in Vermont. Originally, the state’s farmers used maple sap to make sugar, which allowed them to avoid white sugar, a staple in U.S. agriculture. Having access to maple sugar also proved consistent with Vermonters’ political views; many opposed slavery, and since cane sugar was produced with slave labor, Vermont’s maple industry was one way not to have to depend on it. The process of making maple sap into sugar is essentially the same as making maple syrup, only with a few additional steps and more evaporation. Nowadays few people make sugar, but the tradition of making maple sap into an edible treat is still strong in Vermont.
Sugaring is a relatively simple process. Forty gallons of sap makes one gallon of maple syrup. The trees can be tapped with buckets to collect syrup, or hoses can funnel all the sap into the building housing the evaporators. Evaporators are long pans with fire concentrated directly underneath to keep the pan boiling. After the sap has sat in the evaporator for several hours, syrup appears. Maggie Brooks Sugarworks uses wood to heat the evaporators, although larger operations often use oil fired evaporators and use reverse osmosis to reduce the water content of the sap before it boils. For Elder, the main attraction was the purity of the product he was creating. “Maple syrup is a whole food. There is only one ingredient; nothing is taken out but water,” said Elder.
Over the course of the past 13 years, Elder has become a bit of an expert in all things maple. At his sugarbush this year they began tapping the first week of March. There are about 500 trees, and it took two weekends to get all of them ready. The sap runs from late February into the second or third week of April, usually about five weeks. Once all of the sap has run and the process is complete, Elder and his family pack it to be sold.
“The main way we sell syrup is to put a big sign in the front yard; we sell a lot from the front porch of our house,” said Elder. Maggie Brooks Sugarworks also sells at the bookstore at Breadloaf. Because of his fascination with sugaring, Elder even wrote a book about his experiences, The Frog Run.
It is called ‘the frog run’ because the first frogs come out and begin to sing at the start of spring, also the end of the maple syrup season.
“When the buds open on the trees, it affects the flavor of the sap so we know we’re at the last part of the season,” said Elder, explaining the title.
Although he believes maple syrup as a product is worth all the effort, Elder does it for many other reasons. The purity of the product, the minimal impact on the environment and the benefits to using the land for such a useful and simple food play a large part.
“The thing I like the most is that it’s a family activity,” said Elder. He works closely with his two sons and their families, and that makes the process even more enriching.
Churchill Franklin ‘71, runs Bread Loaf View Farm in Cornwall, Vt. and he and wife Janet are hosting an open house March 19 and 20. There will be breakfast of pancakes and sausage with copious amounts of maple syrup from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, but guests can gather buckets of sap from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. all weekend. They also offer horse-drawn wagon rides and a band for entertainment.
“It’s terrific, you can stop by for 10 minutes or four hours; you can tap, gather buckets and watch syrup being made,” said Franklin.
The Bread Loaf View farm is 30 acres, and they tap about 800 trees. They began tapping 3 weeks ago, and hope to have over 800 gallons of syrup by the end of the 5 week season. Franklin has strong ties to Middlebury, such as three children who graduated from the school and being a chair of the board of trustees.
“We love students, just love having them,” said Franklin.
(03/17/11 3:58am)
With $53,879.19 in dorm damage already billed and what are traditionally the most destructive months still to come, the 2010-2011 academic year is shaping up to be the most costly on record.
This fall, the College saw over $16,000 of damage in both October and November, making the two months the second and fourth, respectively, most expensive months since at least September 2006.
This particularly destructive fall was noticeable not only in the dorms but also outside with a trend of tree vandalism, resulting in $6-8,000 in non-billable damage.
“I find the increases very concerning because they suggest a lack of general respect and a lack of self-control among some of our students,” said Shirley Collado, dean of the College and chief diversity officer. “If we can’t get students to feel empowered enough to protect that part of their lives here, I think we have to really consider what this means for our students and our expectations as a community.”
Collado sees next year’s Superblock “Intentional Living House” as an example and potential leader in creating a greater sense of community, a potential solution to the dorm damage problem.
“The whole premise behind [the house],” she said, “is to model community. The 26 members … want to really ‘walk the walk,’ if you will, and set up expectations, values, guidelines that really embody respect for the people who live with them,” she said. “These are students who are tired of being in these social spaces and residential communities where there’s not a real shared sense of respect and community.”
Collado added that she hopes the Intentional Living House can be a model to emulate for the rest of the campus, and emphasizes that while the administration can continue enforcement to the best of its ability, the discussion needs more student voices and cannot merely be a top-down approach.
Damage typically spikes again in March and April, as spring fever sets in, seniors prepare for graduation and sophomores prepare to go abroad. Dorm losses peak in May when more room damage is found after move out. Last May, there was $26,913.80 of damage discovered, which accounted for almost a third of the damage for the entire school year.
Assistant Director of Custodial Services Linda Ross cites the majority of these charges to students moving furniture out of the room and not moving it back in before they move out. Even if a piece of furniture is found elsewhere in the dorm once a student leaves campus, the student is still charged for the furniture because there is no way to prove whether the furniture belongs in the room. Furniture is expensive, with beds and desks costing almost $400 each. Ross reminds that these costs can easily be avoided if students remember to move all furniture back to the room and leave the room the way it was found.
The costs of the fire in Gifford — which already was the second largest bill for dorm damage this year, totaling $3,653.42 — have not yet been finalized. The cost of repairs for water damage, particularly for the elevator, and the cost to re-do the rooms will most likely be substantial.
This year, the bills have been highest for the sophomores and seniors, who have incurred $11,427.77 and $17,330.21 in damage costs respectively. Alan Sanders ’11.5, who lives in Milliken, a sophomore dorm that currently has the third largest bill this year with $3,519.18 of damage, said he is “surprised at the total cost of the damage, but not by the fact that it is occurring.” He has woken up several mornings to find damage in the halls and in the stairwells.
Atwater B, Hadley and Allen have also incurred high charges with over $2,000 of damage in each.
To the surprise of College administrators, Winter Carnival weekend saw less than $500 of damage, breaking with one prominent Carnival tradition.
The College continues to face difficulties deciding who to bill for the damages. The commons do their best to isolate the area to as few people as possible; however, it is often impossible to determine who exactly was responsible. This results in an inexact process, where entire halls being billed for the actions of only a few people. Sanders explained that he was charged for holes punched in the walls in his hall even though he was sleeping when it happened.
The damage generally occurs on weekends when students are in large groups and alcohol is involved.
“Students need to have fun, but it doesn’t mean you need to break something,” said Ross.
(03/10/11 5:05am)
On Saturday, March 5, Peak Sports held its annual Peak Snowshoe Challenge. The course, which weaved through the Green Mountain National Forest of Pittsfield, Vt., awelcomed 250 participants, including a handful of students from the College. Each individual snow shoed a 6.55-mile loop, and could chose to continue racing to complete a four loop snowshoe marathon (with 7,200 feet of elevation change) or a two loop half marathon. There was a 10-hour time limit for the races. Some ambitious individuals opted for the 100-mile race of 15 loops. They had 24 hours to complete the course, which amounted to 28,000 feet of elevation change.
The race began promptly at 8 a.m., and all participants were invited to a pasta dinner, awards ceremony and slideshow after completing their loops. Participants could also enjoy a sledding tour on Sunday morning, as well.
“I think that all Peak races provide amazingly innovative ways to challenge yourself, and the races utilize Vermont’s landscape to really push people to their limits,” said Jen Friedlander ’13, who competed in the race for her first time. “Snowshoeing up a mountain is something very few people have the opportunity to do. Taking advantage of our surroundings is really important — there are so many great things we are able to do.”
Andy Weinberg, who coached the men and women’s swimming teams at the College for two years, organized the event; as a result, many swimmers, including Friedlander, joined in the festivities. Six years ago, Weinberg founded Peak Sports and is now the race director for all of its races, including the annual Snowshoe Challenge. He believes it is “fun for students to get off campus and do something crazy,” which each one of his races promises.
“I think the college kids bring so much energy because they are such fun people to be around,” said Weinberg. “The students get a great experience at the College, but there are some neat Vermont things to do off campus too.”
In addition to the snowshoe racers, there were 20 individuals participating in a Death Race practice run. Throughout the winter and spring, there are six weekends of training in preparation for the official Death Race on June 24. Weinberg and his three partners are sworn to secrecy regarding the details of this summer race.
“We wanted something out of the norm and a different challenge,” said Weinberg, who also teaches Physical Education and Health in Proctor, Vt., though he lives in Middlebury with his family. “I wanted to challenge people physically, emotionally and mentally.”
The death races are 24-hour events in which individuals must complete extreme tasks, such as chopping wood and then hiking the pieces up a mountain, selecting rocks from a freezing river and using them to construct a three-foot statue and assembling a bird house, all the while fighting sleep deprivation.
Cross country runner Donny Dickson ’11 participated in the race two years ago and was excited to come back to compete again. He felt the workout complemented his training well, especially considering he opted to complete the half marathon this year.
“The event was an absolute blast. There was no shortage of enthusiastic people, as well as a huge range of how seriously people were taking the event, so it was easy to find a niche,” he said. “Within the first five minutes I was running with an old guy who somehow started talking about his time in Nam. He seemed pretty cool.”
This year, Amy Lane from Massachusetts won the women’s marathon division with a time of four hours and 42 minutes, and her fiancée, Brian Rusiecki, was the men’s marathon champion. He finished after racing for three hours and 52 minutes. Weinberg was pleased with the results, but said no participant has yet to break the course record of three hours and five minutes. Stanis Moody-Roberts ’11 won the college marathon division, and the Middlebury students also fared well in the half-marathon, placing second through fifth place in the women’s division.
An avid organizer, Weinberg has planned over 70 races. He enjoys spending time with the competitors, and began organizing races, “to give back and have these individuals come race in [his] town.”
Peak Sports’ next race, the Ultra Trail Run, will take place on Saturday, April 30. This is a 30, 50, 100, 150, 200 or 500-mile race that follows a 10-mile loop. Contact Weinberg at andy@peak.com for additional information.
(03/10/11 4:59am)
Residential Life released decisions on Monday, March 7 announcing the groups to be located in Superblock housing for the 2011-2012 academic year. In addition to Superblocks in the five Mods, the committee also approved applications for groups to be housed in Jewett House, Munford House and Palmer House.
Doug Adams, associate dean of students, explained that administrators worked hard to include student feedback before beginning the application process.
“We pitched the idea to Community Council, some of the existing Superblocks, the [Student Government Association] (SGA) and asked for their feedback,” said Adams.
Dean of the College and Chief Diversity Officer Shirley Collado also solicited feedback from all students on campus in her blog, One Dean’s View.
However, after the Campus printed an article announcing that Superblocks would only be located in the Mods, Adams said that the committee decided to clarify their message.
“Given the feedback, we wanted to make sure that anyone who wanted to apply could,” said Adams.
“It did become more confusing because we did pitch one thing and then we pitched a broader message,” added Adams. “But we did it to be responsive.”
Despite these good intentions, student applicants expressed frustration over the mixed message.
Brian Clow ’13 applied along with Olivia Noble ’13 for a Superblock entitled “The Dog House,” which proposed a community to raise a shelter dog through a foster care program. Although the group was eyeing Meeker House, they were not awarded a Superblock.
“They didn’t really stand by exactly what they wanted,” said Clow. “They came out saying ‘seven person Superblocks’ and then they backpedaled on that and said, ‘This isn’t exactly what we want — we have flexibility.’”
Noble added that the announcement “definitely came out of left field. Especially since we started working on our Superblock really early, we weren’t expecting that at all.”
Residential Programs Coordinator Lee Zerrilla explained that administrators hoped the focus on smaller Superblocks would strengthen adherence to the groups’ themes.
“The idea was by using the five Mods we could create a themed community — a neighborhood,” said Zerrilla. “We really want to give groups with common interests an opportunity to live together to really be able to capitalize on their interests and goals. They needed to have strong ideas about what they wanted to get out of the block and demonstrate [how] they could give back to the College community.”
Five groups will be housed in the Mods next year. Local Living will emphasize working with local producers in all industries and the Green Mountain Lodge group will focus on empowering students to explore greater Vermont. The Good Vibrations Superblock will focus on the study and appreciation of different genres of music, while the Pick Up Games group will maintain ongoing drop-in board game hours and game tournaments. Finally, Global Gatherings will provide both residents and other students a space to share their experiences abroad.
In addition to creating a focused community, housing Superblocks at the Mods will also solve housing problems Residential Life has experienced with the spaces in the past.
“[Last] year, when some seniors complained, ‘We have to have the Mods for seniors!’ only two of them were actually [chosen by seniors] in open draw,” said Adams. “So we put them into summer draw, and there were random groups of students that were placed down there.”
Both Zerrilla and Adams cited the success of the programming of the small Superblocks currently housed in Voter Hall as a primary reason for wanting to keep next year’s blocks smaller. They particularly praised the Katsuhama group, which focuses on Japanese cooking. The group re-applied for a Superblock this year and was awarded Jewett House, which will support 12 student residents.
“They came forward with really a fantastic presentation and application that showed growth from their current model,” said Zerrilla.
Adams added that Jewett fulfilled the group’s “specific needs [of] a larger kitchen and a larger social space to be able to host more people to feed them.”
The second larger block will house 26 students on the top three floors of Munford House. The group is called Intentional Living, and the students in it will center their efforts around community living and common ownership.
Palmer House was awarded to a group of students with the theme of Ethical Issues in Sports.
Grace Doering ’13 and Luke Dauner ’13 worked to organize the Palmer block. The group includes athletes from varsity-level to intramural as well as non-athletes. The mission of the group is to explore the ever-prevalent athletic culture at the College while simultaneously working to include those not on a sports team.
“We’re just trying to minimize any type of negative attitude toward athletes —” said Doering,
“— and at the same time make non-athletes feel welcome,” finished Dauner.
Both Dauner and Doering expressed enthusiasm for the programming they hope to bring to campus. In addition to a “Palmer Olympics” in which students across campus could compete and enjoy participating in sports, the group also hopes to hold a lecture series addressing issues common in the athletic community — hazing, gender issues, racial issues and recruitment policies, among others.
“We really want to emphasize transparent lines of communication with the administration that have not been existent in the past,” said Doering. “We want to set the precedent.”
“We really want to hold ourselves accountable to our goals,” added Dauner.
Administrators also hope all applicants will stick to their plans for programming. Each group will be assigned a Commons Residential Advisor (CRA) to oversee their block.
“They will establish a relationship, so hopefully groups won’t get off track,” said Adams.
This year also saw a change in the decision-making process for Superblocks. Instead of a committee comprised solely of administrators, applications were reviewed by an eight-person committee featuring students, faculty and staff. In terms of staff and faculty, the committee was comprised of Adams, Zerilla, Residential Systems Coordinator Karin Hall-Kolts and Dean of Brainerd Commons Natasha Chang. Students from the SGA, Community Council, a representative from the Inter House Council (IHC) and President of the IHC Ken LeStrange ’12 also sat on the committee.
Each Superblock is awarded a budget for their activities, using funds from the SGA Finance Committee. Although the final decision is in the hands of the students on the Finance Committee, Adams estimates that next year’s budgets will reflect those awarded this year, which was $1,000 for the larger blocks and $500 for smaller groups.
Meeker House will be included in regular room draw, as well as both the eight-person and six-person Voter suites. The five-person block in the basement of Munford will also be available.
The fluidity of this year’s Superblock process reflects the relative newness of the program — the 2011-2012 academic year will only be the College’s fourth year offering Superblocks.
Adams explained that the program was created originally to utilize the houses in the Ridgeline Woods, which remained unused after the Greek system disappeared from campus. In the first year of the program, both Brooker House — which was originally built to house KDR — and Palmer House were offered as Superblocks. The second year saw the addition of Fletcher House. Last year, the program took on enormous popularity, and Residential Life saw 14 Superblock applications.
“One of the great advantages of the Superblock system is we’re using existing housing in a focused way and if we don’t get good applications, we’re able to just put it back into regular [room draw],” explained Adams. “But if we do get a great idea, and we do have a group that seems like they’re really going to be focused and able to do a theme-based house, this would give them a place to do it from.”
“The consideration was given based on programming,” added Adams. “This is not about living with your friends, it’s not about avoiding room draw — it’s about having a legitimate program.”
Despite the workload of managing the application process, Zerrilla spoke of the program with a smile.
“It shows a lot of insight as to what students are interested in here,” said Zerrilla. “It’s really neat to see the process go from start to finish and watch as students formulate and solidify these ideas.”
(03/10/11 4:52am)
As of last February, the Library and Information Services (LIS) instituted a printing system aimed at reducing the number of pages printed by setting a quota for students. Now a year later, the results provided by the system have shown that the number of pages printed, both single and double sided, has dropped by 75 percent.
Mike Roy, dean of LIS, said that the printing quota was originally set to become more environmentally aware and to cut budget costs, while still being sensitive to students’ needs.
“We would find at the printing stations reams and reams of print jobs left. We had tons of wasted printing,” Roy said. “Now if you walk by any of the public printers, there are no longer piles of paper lying around.”
The LIS student advising committee originally wanted to cover 80 percent of student printing costs, estimating that for first-years, sophomores and juniors that would be 500 pages, and for seniors, 800 pages. Using a new system feature, LIS found that there were 201,535 pages printed from 22,857 print jobs.
During this fall, only 232 students, or 10 percent of the total student population, went over the allotted quota. The total spending was $4,457.50, which averages to $19.21 per student. Divided between all students, the total pocket expense averages to be less than $2.00 per student.
The money spent by students is being used to continue the system, not serve as profit for the College.
“The idea is that any of the money we take in, we will just plow back into the cost of the printing program,” said Roy. “We are hoping that printing can be more budget neutral.”
Roy estimates that four to five million pages of paper have been saved since last year equating to 1,005.2 kg of CO2 and 33,117.4 bulb hours saved.
Despite the environmental benefits, the added cost for some students is a source of frustration.
“The quota is not the issue,” said Oona Zeigler ’13. “I take a lot of literature classes, and it’s just a problem when some of my professors expect us to print all of the material to annotate and interact with the texts.”
Associate Professor of Political Philosophy Kateri Carmola has changed the structure of her course readings to suit the new print quota system. Because she feels having physical copies of readings is absolutely essential for learning, she prints readings out for her students at her own expense instead of requiring students to print themselves.
“To me it seems like at an educational institution, one of the most important things I think we should spend money on are the tools of learning,” Carmola said in a phone interview. She does not want students to feel they had to choose between spending the money or having a physical copy of the reading.
“I also thought it would just make me think more clearly about what I actually assigned,” she added. “I think there’s usually too much stuff assigned,” specifically with regard to articles. Books and anthologies, she explained, are generally more useful for reading than a variety of articles. The differing opinions that articles bring can be supplied in lecture, while the value of the original material remains in the texts themselves.
As for the resource problem, Carmola believes the benefits of printing greatly outweighs whatever ecological effects there are, especially given the fact that the College uses 100 percent recycled paper and there still remains a backlog of materials waiting to be recycled. “I’m all for creating a market for recycled paper,” she said.
While some struggle with the printing limit, outreach to faculty was made to determine the total cost of each course, which includes both books and materials that need to be printed. Overall, the estimate has proved to be accurate, making printing more budget-neutral for the College.
“The reality is that most schools already do this and those that do not are getting very close because it is not affordable to have this as a free utility,” said Roy. “Now that we have our foot in the door, I do not see any reason to undo [the system].”
Additional reporting by Adam Schaffer
(03/04/11 4:53am)
Students have proposed the use of Zimride, a new ride share system, to reduce the number of vehicles on campus and serve as an alternate means of transportation. According to its website, the California-based initiative is designed “to create social, sustainable and convenient transportation.”
Unique to Zimride is its integration with social networks, such as Facebook, to find and coordinate rides among other users within the surrounding area. After choosing a time and destination, a user can directly view the Facebook profile of the driver or rider from the website interface. This feature is intended to create trust among users in a way that ride share boards and posts were unable to do in the past.
Coordinator for Community Based Environmental Studies and member of the Environmental Council Diane Munroe is working on installing the program at Middlebury.
Munroe sees its integration with Facebook as key to its success.
“This is an obstacle in other ride shares systems because you don’t know who is offering a ride,” she said.
The Environmental Council proposed the partnership with Zimride to the SGA last month. In addition to the $2,500 from an environmental grant, the council is asking for additional funding. The program will cost $17,000 to $19,000 in total.
Transportation director for the SGA Matt George ’12 believes that because the program has good merit, the SGA will be willing to fund a significant portion.
While the program is aimed at involving students, faculty and staff, it remains unclear who will primarily utilize the service.
“Since we’re paid for by student activity fees,” George said, “student government has to make sure that we’re not subsidizing a service that’s used in a large part by faculty and staff.”
Students would be in support of a new rideshare program on campus.
“Given that students [at Middlebury] come from all over the country and the world, an interactive ride board would be great,” said Margaret Clark ’11. “I hate having to beg for rides.”
Transportation initiatives have had a wide range of success at Middlebury. Break bus services have drawn 150 to 400 students each break. Other services, such as the ride board, have been less successful, which George credits to lack of awareness. With the installation of Zimride, awareness will be generated through the connection with Facebook and transportation can be provided to those students, faculty and staff who fall between the gaps.
“We think that most of the students who don’t have cars who need rides are using the [break] buses,” said George. “Our buses don’t go to Washington D.C., so if students want to go some place like that, they could use this ride service.”
Besides providing more transportation options, this system was chosen by the Environmental Council for its focus on CO2 reduction. Zimride boasts high success rates on other campuses including 20 percent participation rates and schools with the service have demonstrated an average annualized reduction of 500,000 pounds of carbon emissions.
Director of Sustainability Integration Jack Byrne says the high rates of use in other areas was a selling point, as the council was looking for ways to reduce the number of vehicles on campus.
“The motivation behind it is to try to increase the efficiency of vehicle use and to have some impact on the reduction in the number of vehicles that students bring to campus.”
Zimride has not yet moved to smaller liberal arts colleges. Because of the high cost, the Environmental Council may propose signing a partnership with another campus, like Colby or Bowdoin. This could potentially cut the cost in half and bring another college into the service to give Zimride more data on how to make ride share better in a rural setting.
“Middlebury represents something somewhat unique for them,” said Byrne. “I think they’re looking at this as a potential site where they could learn a lot about how to make it work better for a rural based college or university.”
ZimRide Homepage
(03/03/11 5:20am)
Have you ever had an argument with a friend and wished there was someone there to settle it for you? Well now thanks to two Middlebury alumni, you can use Squabbler.com to share your side of the argument over the Internet and let viewers declare a winner.
The creators of Squabbler, Matt Bijur ’97 and Mike Bender ’97 — now based in Los Angeles, California — have been best friends since they met in Battell North in 1993 as first-years at Middlebury. They joined forces around their tendency to squabble with one another, as most friends do, and hence came up with the idea for Squabbler. On Squabbler, “the challenger” and “the responder” each presents his other side of the debate in a video of 30 seconds or less, and then over the life of the squabble, viewers cast votes, leave comments and decide on a winner.
Bijur and Bender’s original squabble back in Battell was over something as simple as air conditioners: “Matt was convinced that air conditioners can’t make you sick, but I absolutely believe that they can,” said Bender.
Bijur and Bender stress that squabbles can be as lighthearted or as serious as you want.
“There is no squabble too big or too small. It could be a debate over fraternities versus social houses or two roommates talking about classes, teams, whatever it happens to be,” said Bender. “It could be political debates, or a discussion about love and relationships. We encourage people to be creative about their squabbles. Everything’s debatable.”
Bender and Bijur have been working on the website for about a year. Since its launch at the beginning of February, Squabbler is already averaging close to 500,000 impressions per month. The site has already received a bigger response than its creators expected, and they hope that its popularity will continue to spread across college campuses.
“Our vision for the site is that it will become deeply embedded within universities and colleges across the country, but given the fact that we’re both Midd alums, we want Middlebury to be the first and we expect it to spread from there,” said Bijur. “We hope to have Midd Kids squabbling about everything from Middlebury sports, to dining halls, to roommate issues, to Midd’s carbon footprint. We have big aspirations for this website. It’s an enormous web property, and we want it to spread much like Facebook did, with Middlebury acting as the catalyst for it taking off.”
The creators of Squabbler did not always envision themselves working in the Internet business, as the Internet was not even available in their dorm rooms when they were at Middlebury. Bijur, who majored in architecture and economics, worked in the sports arena after college and then transitioned into the Internet business. He is now an employee of KIT Digital, where he works with video delivery, social media and applications.
“I think my work with KIT will help us see the direction of where Squabbler will go in the future, with mobile devices, TV shows, interactive tweeting and things that will help us maintain a connection with the viewers,” said Bijur.
Besides working in the Internet business, Bender, an English and film major, has primarily worked in the film industry as a screenwriter for corporations such as New Line Cinema, Disney, Warner Brothers and Comedy Central. Bender wrote “Not Another Teen Movie,” and more recently launched a website called www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com, with a tagline of “Spreading the Awkwardness.”
This site was launched about a year and a half ago, after Bender realized that the awkward family photos his family had were something central, relatable and something to which everyone could connect. He wanted to create a friendly place where everyone could come together and share uncomfortable family moments. Awkward Family Photos has received press hits from outlets such as CNN, the CBS Early Show, Hollywood Reporter, the New Yorker, GQ and Entertainment Weekly. However, Bender says that this press attention comes from the fact that everyone has a family and uncomfortable moments. He does not go out and seek press, but prefers to let it come in organically.
There are many rewards to working in the Internet business, according to Bijur and Bender.
“There’s so much freedom right now to create something original and different. The beauty of it is that there is no one telling you what you can and cannot do. You can break the rules and bring something original to people,” said Bender. “With TV and film, you know the format well and generally know where they’re going, but the web can go anywhere. It’s about figuring out what can inspire you.
“The most rewarding part of [working on Squabbler] is the creative challenge, building something people enjoy,” said Bender. “We want people to be entertained and to think about issues.”
In discussing the business aspects of Squabbler and Awkward Family Photos, Bender and Bijur explained that most of the revenue is derived from advertisements, campaigns and contests built around their advertisers. Awkward Family Photos also raises revenue through merchandising, books, and it even has a television show with ABC in development.
“Our first priority is to create something that is fun and that is a good experience for the people. If we can do that, the revenue will follow,” said Bijur. “That is what I believe makes for a successful business.”
Much like Facebook did years ago, Bijur and Bender are looking to hire Middlebury representatives who are interested in earning some money and introducing the Squabbler platform to the student body.
“We want Midd reps to talk about the site, explain what it is. The more the merrier,” said Bender. “We want Squabbler to be introduced to campuses because college students are the kind of people who will use it. At our age [of 35], people are like, ‘Wait a minute, explain to me again how this works.’”
Interested students can contact Bijur and Bender at reps@squabbler.com. The creators indicate that they are open to acting as resources and talking to students who are interested in social media and web business, and they also have some advice to share with Middlebury students about career paths and life in general:
“When I was at Middlebury, I thought I had to remember everything from every class. But you look back, and it’s really the experience and the people that are important. It’s about being around smart people, the respect for learning you develop and the interactions you have at Middlebury,” said Bijur.
“You don’t have to be on a set track at Middlebury or even after graduation. Your 20s are a great time to experiment and not just get caught in one path.”
Squabbler.com
(03/03/11 5:05am)
The Rikert Ski Touring Center at the Bread Loaf Mountain Campus in Ripton, Vt. hosted the 2011 TD Bank Bill Koch League Festival on Saturday, Feb. 26 and Sunday, Feb. 27. The two-day event hosted over 500 five- to thirteen-year-old racers, marking the highest participation rate yet.
In April 2010, Frost Mountain Nordic, Addison County’s cross-country ski club, put in a bid to the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) with hopes of hosting the annual Bill Koch Festival at Bread Loaf. Bruce Ingersoll, who skied for Bates College’s nordic team and graduated from Breadloaf in 1996, was co-chair of the Bill Koch Festival this year, and was proud to organize the event. A resident of Middlebury, Ingersoll worked closely with his co-chairs, Chris and Barney Hodge, the owners of Sunrise Orchards in Middlebury. Since receiving the good news last spring, the three have met on a weekly basis.
“This festival is a celebration of cross-country skiing,” said Ingersoll, who also works at Camp Keewaydin on Lake Dunmore. “This is the biggest event Rikert has ever hosted. It is good for our community, good for our club and good for the sport.”
Ingersoll was personally pleased with his own club, Frost Mountain Nordic. When he moved to Middlebury in 2006 with his wife and two daughters, there were eight children skiing for Frost Mountain. Now the club boasts a youth program of 95 cross-country skiers from across Addison County.
“It is great fun to all get together,” said Andy Grab, a coach for the Mansfield nordic team, located in Mount Mansfield, Vt. “There is energy and smiles, and it’s a warm 15 [degrees]. It is nice there is no wind.”
Each year, the festival organizers pick a theme and encourage participants to dress up for their races. The event was held in Maine last year, and the host site played with its coastline location and chose a “Ski the Wave” themed-festival. As Robert Frost was a frequent summer visitor to Breadloaf, Ingersoll and his co-chairs found inspiration for this year’s theme from Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Ingersoll and his team appropriately named the festival “Skiing by the Woods on a Snowy Day” and encouraged participants and attendees to dress as animals from Frost’s forest. Ingersoll himself took the lead and wore a bear suit.
“I was amazed at the support of the Middlebury community,” he said. “Everyone gave much time and money to the event. It is a really cool thing and the intentions are great.”
Eight different age groups competed at the Bill Koch Festival. On Saturday, after the opening parade, there were a series of mass-start, two-person relays, with each team member skiing two kilometers. Younger kids skied Picnic Loop, while the older ones competed on Battell trail. All racers represented their respective ski clubs, which the event grouped according to region — Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and upstate New York. There are a total of 12 clubs in New England. Ingersoll explained that there is no scoring at the festival, but racers’ results are published.
Christian Ostberg, a 12-year-old from Darien, Ct., skies for Craftsbury Nordic, a team based out of northeastern Vt. Ostberg travels to Stowe, Vt. on the weekends to ski. This year, Ostberg and his 13-year-old brother competed on a relay team together.
“I started skiing since before I can remember,” he said, but credits his dad’s Norwegian background to his love of the sport. “This is an awesome setting. It was a great place to host the event.”
Following the races on Saturday, families were encouraged to join their kids on the Frost Cabin Forest Animal Cruise, a casual, non-competitive opportunity to explore the Rikert Ski Center on skis. Later, a pasta dinner and a silent auction delighted many at Middlebury Union High School. On Sunday, individual competitions were timed, as were the Lollipop Races for the youngest members of the crowd, five and six-year-olds.
Ingersoll and the event staff were all volunteers; any profit made at the festival goes directly to the Frost Mountain Club.
“Any profit goes back to … supporting the kids,” he said. “It also
helps support coaches clinics, which then promotes the sport in Addison County.”
The Bill Koch League is currently in the process of becoming a non-for-profit organization. Its paperwork is pending.
Various venders were also on site over the weekend, including Olivia’s Croutons from New Haven, Vt., Two Guys in Vermont, a soup company based out of Montpelier, Vt. and Vermont Natural Foods from Randolph, Vt., which makes homemade specialty dressings and vinaigrettes. Jen Nemi, a volunteer for Ski Vermont, a non-for-profit that promotes skiing, helped out at the Vermont Natural Foods’ tent.
“It is a very well-attended event. I am impressed,” said Nemi, herself a Nordic and downhill skier.
While the College ski teams hoped to attend the festival, they were at Bates College for the NCAA Regional Championships on Saturday and Sunday. Nonetheless, Ingersoll said both teams were very supportive, and he especially appreciated the help of Andrew Gardner, the head coach of the men’s and women’s Nordic teams. He also thanks Corrine Prevot ’13, as she donated several of her homemade Skida hats to the staff.
“Our motto is, if you have a question then ask the hat,” said Ingersoll.
Nordic racer, Chase Marston ’12 participated in the festival from sixth through eighth grade. He believes it is “an important tradition for skiing because it brings all the young skiers throughout New England together and allows them to meet, befriend and hang out with each other.” A Charlotte, Vt. native, Marston thought Breadloaf was the “perfect venue” for the weekend’s festivities and wished he could have watched the races, as they were the favorite of his career thus far.
“The racing is fun, but the importance of the festival is the lasting effects of the fostering of such a tight knit community,” he said. “This is so evident today. My favorite part of skiing is still the people and the community, and most of my best friends in the sport are from the festival days.”
Austin Cobb ’14, a fellow skier, said the annual snowball fight at the festival is his fondest memory. A participant in the event from the age of 5 to thirteen, Cobb feels he would not be skiing today if it had not been for the Bill Koch League.
“This year, when it [the festival] was up at Rikert, there were way more people than there were at the Middlebury Carnival, which shows just how large of an event the festival is,” said Cobb. “It shows that Nordic skiing is growing in Middlebury and is becoming a prominent and important sport in the area.”
Keely Levins ’13, Marston’s teammate, also competed in the festival from the age of six to 13. She said it is “an important tradition because it pulls skiing out of the many niches of New England, and for days, makes this scattered community whole.” When the event was held in Putney, Vt, both Marston and Levins remember the theme was “Olympians.” Vermont Olympians led the opening parade and spoke with the racers during the two days about their skiing experiences and memories.
Other students from the College also volunteered at the event. Stephen Lammers ’13 and Katie McFarren ’14, members of the Student Emergency Response Team (SERT), were on call in case of emergency or injury.
“It is cool that everyone comes out for an event like this,” said McFarren.
Ingersoll believes Bill Koch is an “innovator” and was thrilled with the outcome of the weekend’s festivities. He said there is “a lot of momentum to continue events like this” in the future and feels the Bill Koch Festival was an important event not only for the racers, but for the community as well.
(02/24/11 5:40am)
Every February, Middlebury gets as New England as it can possibly get — we eat sugar on snow while watching ski races, build ice sculptures, and can watch our peers compete in snowshoe races. But the carnival is never exactly the same year to year, and it’s changed a lot over the years. This year, the event hearkened back to carnivals of winters past, but do most of us really know what that means?
The 1920’s marked the beginning of Middlebury’s Winter Carnival tradition. Although the first modern Winter Carnival did not occur until 1934, the early 1920s saw winter sporting events held around town and on campus. Students partook in obstacle races, snowshoe races along Storrs Avenue, cross-country and alpine ski races around campus and ski jumping competitions. This interest in winter sports marked a new era for Middlebury; David Stameshkin wrote in his Middlebury history, The Strength of the Hills, 1996, that, “before World War I, Middlebury students apparently did not, at least in any organized way, take advantage of the snow that blanketed the Champlain Valley and Green Mountains for months each winter.”
This change was prompted almost entirely by the Middlebury Outing Club, which formed in 1917. These outdoor enthusiasts recognized the need for more Middlebury sports competitions, even encouraging young men to attend Dartmouth College’s administration-run Winter Carnival in order to “bring Middlebury to the front of New England,” according to a Jan. 24, 1917 article in The Campus. Men competed in dashes, cross-country skiing, and obstacle races.
The college inaugurated the event as “Winter Holiday” in 1920, and it proved a great success. The students were so smitten with the idea of a winter celebration that The Campus predicted optimistically, “Next year, with a little more work and more enthusiasm, we might turn the snow and cold of the winter months into advantage for the whole college.”
A small percentage of Middlebury students continued to compete enthusiastically in sporting events around New England. In 1922, The Campus reported that Middlebury men had proven themselves, “the foremost collegiate snowshoers in the country” after a race at McGill. Finally having picked up some athletic steam, Middlebury christened the Winter Holiday “Winter Carnival” that same year.
Even though ski carnivals were increasingly common in New England, no one was sure that Middlebury’s event would catch on. The Campus appeared especially concerned that Winter Carnival become a tradition, arguing that, “If the Winter Carnival is established as an annual fixture in Middlebury’s program of college activities, it will aid in developing spirit and, we hope, will speedily place the Outing Club’s teams on par with those of our New England and Canadian neighbors.”
The Middlebury student body, however, remained fairly disinterested. There was very little student interest in sports besides hockey, and from 1924-1934, the Winter Carnival remained relatively small.
A piqued interest in skiing was what ultimately sparked lasting Winter Carnival enthusiasm. The ski program was lackluster through the 1920’s; the ski coach hired in 1926, for example, evidently had no experience in skiing. However, the 1932 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid drew students’ attention, and interest in skiing took off. As W.C. Heinz commented in a column in The Campus in 1936: “Yes sir. Middlebury, it seems, has truly taken the time off to keep abreast of the time and go ski-crazy. An hour after the snow stops falling, Chapel Hill and all surrounding slopes are a maze of crisscross tracks and odd patterns… So it goes — Middlebury eats, breathes, walks, talks and lives skiing.”
The Mountain Club took the reigns on organizing the first recognizable Winter Carnival in 1934, which they modeled after Dartmouth’s successful established one. The Carnival included as one of its most popular events a 27-meter ski jump on Chipman Hill.
Skiing helped launch the first Winter Carnival, and the Winter Carnival’s success likewise helped promulgate interest in skiing; the ski team enjoyed its first paid coach in 1937 (presumably one that knew about the sport), and even hired a coach from Europe. In 1939, Middlebury won its first Carnival.
Although the Carnival remained relatively sedate — though ever popular— through the 40s, 50s and 60s, “the 70s and 80s was a pretty wild scene,” said Dean of Cook Commons and Assistant Professor of American Studies Karl Lindholm ’67. With only one Public Safety officer on campus, “students ran the campus,” Lindholm remembers. Middlebury’s Winter Carnival was an event attracting students from all over New England. Although it did not compare in size to Dartmouth’s Winter Carnival, which attracted national attention and even a visit from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lindholm, who also served as Dean of Students from 1976-91, remembers having to send out notes to other schools asking them to discourage their students from coming. The event was getting too big and too rowdy.
Although the raucousness of the Carnival varied through the years, one consistent characteristic of the event was that it was always sure to see many new faces on campus; in addition to visiting friends, students were required to invite a date. Often, these dates came from other schools.
Friends and dates were attracted to the event because of the wide array of organized events, school-sponsored and otherwise. One of the most popular school-sponsored events was the Klondike Rush, a Sunday event held after the Winter Ball that featured a band, games, dancing, and a bar. The event historically attracted some big name live music performers; The Shirelles, The Kingsmen (whose hit song was “Louie Louie”), The Simon sisters (before Carly Simon hit it big), the legendary Dizzy Gillespie and even B.B. King all made appearances.
This year, Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) revived the Klondike Rush tradition as part of its effort to create a 2011 Winter Carnival that hearkened back to the olden days. MCAB Traditions Chair Liz Gay ’11 said that she came up with the idea of recreating the once-popular event after looking through old programs in the library archives, where the Klondike Rush always seemed to be advertised.
“We knew we couldn’t do it as a Sunday event on that large of a scale, so we modified it and wanted to bring it back and do something new,” Gay said.
This year, the Klondike Rush included a live student band and Two Brothers Tavern catering in Pearsons lounge, with students playing parlor games and roasting marshmallows. Although MCAB was unsure of how successful the event would be, they were happily surprised: there was a consistently long bar line, the lounge was full, and the event brought more students into the Winter Carnival fold.
“It was really nice because Orange Crush seems to be kind of a lot of underclassmen and the Klondike Rush was a lot of upperclassmen so it was a nice way to balance that,” Gay said. “Everyone I talked to really seemed to enjoy it.”
Although some of the other traditions MCAB brought back as part of its tribute to Winter Carnivals past may not continue next year, MCAB will probably work to, “reinstate [the Klondike Rush] as a tradition,” said Gay.
The Winter Carnival king and queen, another tradition revived this year, was a favorite tradition through most of Winter Carnival’s history. However, like the ball, this tradition lost steam in the late 1960s. Lindholm, who was on the court in ’66 and ’67, felt that, “That was about when [the tradition] was petering out, to be honest. We were beginning to develop the skepticism of the late 60s and 70s, and it seemed a little bogus to us. I have a feeling that the Winter Carnival king and queen was more of a concept of the 50s.”
The Winter Ball also fizzled in the 1960s alongside the king and queen concept. Much of the ball’s struggle to survive in the past may have been related to the fact that eleven fraternities on campus would throw their own parties; throwing a formal ball “wouldn’t have worked,” Lindholm said, with the amount of other social options on campus. Now, perhaps, without fraternities to throw reliable parties, the popularity of the event has increased; it is now one of the most anticipated items on today’s Winter Carnival program, representing one of Middlebury’s largest ticketed events and selling about 1,500 tickets each year.
Throughout the 40s, 50s and 60s, “almost literally, all the men were in frats,” Lindholm said. However, with the outlawing of fraternities in 1991, the MCAB had to create other social opportunities for students.
“[The changes were] a function of the new fragmented infrastructure,” Lindholm said. “Student activities tried to find a much more varied social calendar, even at Winter Carnival.”
The revival of the Ball was a product of this effort, and in order to keep the ball popular, MCAB has continued to innovate. One more recent idea has been to, “get more interesting music for the ball, trying to incorporate a concert sort of aspect to it to draw people who might not just want to go to a dance but might want to go to a concert,” Gay said.
Another product of MCAB’s expanded role in Winter Carnival planning has been Orange Crush. Seven years ago, Middlebury booked Orange Crush for its Thursday night slot, and they have since become such a fixture that the event has sold out every year.
“We were actually talking to Orange Crush this year and they said, ‘You wouldn’t believe how many Middlebury weddings we perform at,’’ said Gay. “It’s their biggest performance of the year.”
An event in which Middlebury student interest appears to be waning, however, is ski racing. Student interest in skiing has been historically strong; Lindholm remembers that since, “ski racing was huge,” a line of 10 full buses would drop students off at the Snow Bowl each day of Winter Carnival. However, attendance at ski races is undeniably lower than it has been in the past, and Lindholm sees this fact as a natural progression as Middlebury students have become more diverse.
“I think what’s happened at Middlebury is heterogeneity,” Lindholm said. “It’s hard to find a single galvanizing event at the college socially. There are people who contend that Middlebury is not nearly diverse enough and that may be right, but it’s a relative term. It’s a heck of a lot more diverse than it was 20 years ago.”
Other changes may have been due to evolving attitudes during the Vietnam era, during which, “students wanted to get rid of the hundred years of conventions,” Lindholm said. “People argued during Vietnam, everything that was had to go. I think Winter Carnival was probably affected by that great disillusionment among students.”
Ultimately, although different events have come in and out of fashion and Winter Carnival has morphed throughout the years, Lindholm finds the changes understandable.
“It doesn’t seem to me a central social galvanizing event that it once was, but that’s okay,” he said. “It’s what it was in many ways, but it’s inevitably different.”
As far as being a single unifying event, Gay has found that MCAB has had some success in motivating participation the last few years.
“It’s about] really motivating people to go to the ski races and inspiring that kind of spirit on campus and that’s something hard to do,” Gay said. “But I think we’re getting there … people seem to be pleased with the events so far.
Like Lindholm, Gay recognizes the importance of a unifying event for the student body and the changes Winter Carnival has undergone through the years. She sees the theme this year, however, as one way to draw attention to the value of traditions.
“I think it’s just sort of that it is an aim to really unify the student body and because there really aren’t a lot of events like that at Middlebury,” she said. “We’re obviously a really old school and a really established school, but our traditions aren’t really that deep-rooted; students don’t know a lot about our traditions and a lot have kind of fizzled. This [revival of traditions] was an effort to sort of remind everyone of an older Middlebury, which is just sort of a nice idea.”
For fun facts about past winter carnivals click here.
(02/24/11 5:20am)
In 1970, Middlebury’s admissions office had a challenge on its hands: fill the space left behind by an extraordinarily high number of juniors abroad. The administration proposed that the College fill these beds each spring by increasing the number of admitted transfer students. Fred Neuberger, dean of admissions at the time, had a slightly different vision.
“I told them, ‘I could get you hundreds of great freshmen,’” he said. “I went back to my office and told the guys, ‘We can add 30 more.’ It didn’t take my people five minutes before they each had a stack of folders on my desk. From day one, it was a howling success.”
Thus, the era of the “Feb” quietly dawned on Middlebury. Speaking largely in absolute terms, Neuberger described an intuitive, uncomplicated approach to the new program, praising his former colleagues for deemphasizing any potential difficulties.
“You could sit there and see all kinds of problems,” he said. “‘How are we going to house them? What are we going to do about roommates?’ You could find all kinds of problems if you wanted to, but nobody did.”
Moreover, he considers the development as entirely independent of other institutions’ influences.
“I had no interest in what anybody else was doing,” he said. “I cared about what we were doing. It was probably one of the few things at Middlebury where nobody worried about what they were doing at Dartmouth or Williams.”
While this process seems to correlate regular admission with higher achievement, given the quality of the applicant pool, Neuberger maintains that discrepancies between the initially admitted students and the additional 30 were trivial.
“These were all folders that people really wanted to take,” he said of the first Febs’ applications. “They probably had some little flaw along the way that knocked them out of the first group, but right from day one, they were the people who ran their schools, and everyone thought they were great.”
Today, of course, February admission is no longer simply an extension of the acceptance list, but the result of an entirely separate sort of consideration.
“There are what we might call ‘Febby’ qualities,” said Bob Clagett, current dean of admissions. These qualities, largely intangible and transcending quantifiable measures, come through in the student’s more personal submissions, such as the essay and letters of recommendation.
“We know when they come in February that they’ll hit the ground running and be able to contribute to the College academically and certainly personally … There’s just a sense that there are really impressive personal qualities that we would love to have in the student body.”
To dispel any rumors, Clagett said, Febs are no less likely than “Regs” — students admitted in September — to receive financial aid, and their scores and grades are “absolutely comparable.”
Indeed, as the student body welcomes new Febs into the climate and conventions of Middlebury each year, it simultaneously benefits from the sudden infusion of fresh faces.
“Having these 90 to 100 students coming in and living all over the community reinvigorates this place in all kinds of ways,” Clagett said. “It’s a whole new group of interesting personalities who will make Middlebury a more interesting place.”
Clagett is particularly proud of the way the February admission program fosters an appreciation for one’s education.
“For too many students, getting into college — getting into ‘X’ college — has become an end in itself,” he said. “I think people lose sight of the fact that it’s actually a means to an end — going to some fine institution and hopefully coming closer to realizing one’s potential and discovering what one’s academic interests and passions are.”
The concept of the “Febmester,” he said, “put Middlebury on the map of being institutionally in favor of students taking time off before college.”
Neuberger and Clagett share faith in the program’s staying power, and not simply because it perpetuates itself with each Feb class that graduates.
“In all the years I’ve been here,” Neuberger, who is now retired but still resides in Middlebury, said, “I’ve heard glitches about everything. I haven’t heard any glitches about February admission … I can’t imagine why they’d drop it.”
According to Clagett, “I have no reason to believe that our commitment to the Feb program will change.”
Despite the numerous advantages of February admission, certain aspects of the admission process indicate that a significant number of applicants still do not see it as desirable — or at least as desirable as fall admission.
As Cloe Shasha highlighted in her March 2010 Campus article, “[The] College excludes Febs from diversity stats,” because it is much less likely for students of racial minorities to be admitted as Febs unless they specifically indicate that preference. In an effort to create a racially diverse student body, Clagett says, the College tends to offer these students September admission, as this is historically correlated with a higher chance of matriculation.
“It’s not as though I think that students of color might not profit equally from a semester off,” he said, “but one of our challenges is increasing the multicultural diversity. We want to make our offers of admission comparable to everybody else’s.”
This measure demonstrates a tension between presenting February admission as attractive and dealing with the reality that people do not always realize its merits. One obstacle in marketing efforts is other institutions’ tendency to offer second-semester admission as a second-choice option. The University of Southern California, for example, allows first-years to enroll in the spring instead of remaining on a wait list.
Thirteen years ago, in an attempt to strike a balance between a cap on the number of incoming students and a desire to fully utilize the available space, USC’s admissions department considered creating a waiting list for undergraduate applicants. According to Kirk Brennan, associate dean and director of undergraduate admission at USC, the idea was short-lived.
“Waiting lists are good for schools, but not for students,” he said. “We wanted to focus on students.”
Each spring, the student population of 32,000 was decreasing by approximately 400 to 500, which Brennan largely chalks up to independent decisions to graduate early. Much like Middlebury’s situation, this open housing opportunity led to an innovative solution.
“Because we have this extra space, why don’t we just offer students a spot in the spring instead of putting them in limbo on the waiting list?” he said. “That way, they have a place to call home if they want, and if we do find that we have room in the fall within this new cap, then we’ll invite them to switch over to fall.”
The university makes great efforts to welcome their “Feb” class, providing them with an orientation experience much like that of their fall-admission peers. Brennan feels that the extra attention paid to the spring admits’ applications lends them a degree of emotional support from the admissions staff.
“Although they might feel like they’re second class, we feel like we fought the hardest to keep them,” he said.
Still, the knowledge that September admission is certainly offered to those students if possible gives this approach to second-semester admission a tinge of undesirability — one approach among others, that could potentially influence how Middlebury’s program is viewed.
Fortunately, there seems to be no shortage of applicants who not only possess what Clagett refers to as “Febitude” but also have at least a vague idea that being a Feb is something special.
According to Brennan, when spring admits arrive at USC, they may “feel a little different, and we want to make sure they don’t feel that way.”
In contrast, if Will Bellaimey ’10.5’s graduation speech last month is any indication, for Middlebury Febs blending in is by no means a priority.
“In just a few days,” he said to a chapel full of fellow graduates and loved ones, “people will be shuffling into Proctor, feeling worn out and grumbling about how short the break felt, and then suddenly, they will appear: a gigantic nuclear swarm of enthusiasm just so excited to be actually eating in Proctor.” The new Febs.
This zeal for life, reinforced each year as Feb leaders share their values with their protégés, is one mark of the archetypal Feb. As Bellaimey put it,“Febs are just excited to be.”
According to Clagett, Febs tend to be disproportionately represented in leadership positions across campus and their GPAs have been higher on average than Regs’ as of late; yet given the nature of their selection and culture on campus, these descriptors ring hollow in comparison.
Perhaps Neuberger’s description was most poignant in its simplicity: “They’re great kids.”
Future Febs, interpret as you wish.
For more on Feb-hood, see:
Don't You Wish You Were Febulous
CS Monitor: Is a dream college worth waiting for?
(02/24/11 5:03am)
It is natural for human beings to look towards the future, to dream of what tomorrow, or twenty years from now may bring. We work for the future, save for the future and plan for the future. It is impossible to conceptualize life without an assumption of a future, and having been born with the ability to hope, we usually endow that future with the possibility of improvement and the attainment of our goals. While expectation for the future may be common to all human beings, it has been especially incorporated into the American consciousness. The idea of the United States is associated with that of a ‘better tomorrow’ and the clichéd concept of the American dream paints a picture in which one’s children will have a better life than oneself. While the United States has not always lived up to its principles and traditions, it has continually looked towards them for guidance and insight.
Today, the federal government seems to have lost sight of them. It acts as though there will be no accountability, no further generations and no future of any kind. By attempting to give the dream of prosperity to the present generation it makes their dreams of the future unattainable. It seems to forget that even the over-rosy depiction of life in the American dream included work in the present to pay forward future fortune.
Since the House of Representatives released its budget proposal, rumblings and murmurings of unhappiness have filled the air. However, whether you think this bill is a politically motivated tragedy or believe (like me) that it is a very small step in the right direction, whether you are concerned about the cuts to Planned Parenthood and the Environmental Protection Agency or are waiting with trepidation to see whether President Obama will actually veto the bill, your concern only grazes the surface of the real budget issue. In the end, after all the political promises, back room deals, taxes and loans, the United States only has a certain buying power beyond which it cannot borrow or spend. In a capitalistic society, even the government cannot borrow without security or interest and today we have a national debt that, at $14.1 trillion, is utterly out of line with the buying power of the United States. In the end, whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, whether you care about the welfare, Head Start, healthcare or national defense, the programs that concern you will be superseded by the national debt. It is the reason the budget proposal tries to cut so deeply. For while paying for discretionary programs is negotiable, paying interest on the national debt is not.
Unlike the future of all the other programs that the federal government usually pays for, the future of national debt interest is not uncertain: it is rising steadily. Today, net interest payments equal $207 billion; but by 2021 it will have risen to $840 billion (according to the White House Office of Management and Budget Office). It will have outstripped the costs of all discretionary spending (which includes education, transportation, federal regulatory committees such as the EPA and almost all else which Congress has direct control of) and even of Medicaid. It will be exceeded only be Social Security which will cost $1.26 trillion by 2021 and defense spending which will cost $914 billion. Even compared to these last two expenses the interest due to the national debt is shocking for while the defense budget will only have increased by $6 billion, the debt interest will have increased by $633 billion, more than one hundred times as much. It must be admitted that the United States economic future looks bleak when interest on preexisting loans accounts for a vast percent of total expenditure.
However the first impression of the picture just painted is rosy in comparison to what this really means. The estimated interest cost of $840 billion by 2021 is just that: the cost of interest. It does not include even a penny paid towards the actual debt. And without paying down the actual debt, that number can do nothing but rise with inflation and interest rates, eating away more and more of the money Congress has to spend upon educating our children, defending our country, refurbishing our healthcare system, subsidizing our energy prices or paying for research in medicine, or technology. By 2021, if the interest on the national debt were spread between every single citizen of the United States, we would each have to pay $2,500. If the debt itself were spread among all of us we would have to pay $44,900 each. Thus it is not that the foreseeable economic future of the United States is bleak, it is non-existent. Our generation, our children’s generation and even our grandchildren’s generation will be paying the debt of our parent’s generation. Not only is there no future, there is no present, there is only the past.
(02/17/11 5:02am)
As Vermont addresses its $150 billion projected budget shortfall for the 2011 fiscal year, it will likely make the biggest cuts to human services, a sector that represents nearly 40 percent of the state budget. Toward this end, Vermont has plans for serious health care reform. Governor Peter Shumlin recently unveiled his propositions to reform Vermont’s current health care system; he wants to transition to a single payer system, possibly by 2014.
The governor’s plan emphasizes implementing a “real” single payer system, a publicly financed structure into which all Vermonters pay, so it is not attached to employment. The proposal will first create the health care exchanges mandated by the federal reform. The exchanges are intended to streamline paperwork and availability of information regarding insurance policies in the state. From there the plan would be to transition into a single payer exchange, which would negotiate insurance premiums. Having a single payer system spreads health care costs, which lowers premiums and prevents insurance companies from denying care.
The eventual transition to a single payer system would allow tighter control of health care costs, and would provide coverage for all Vermonters. Supporters of the proposal also argue that high health care costs are prohibitive to businesses operating in the state, and that controlling these costs is essential to encourage business growth and job creation. The projected savings for the first year, however, are at $500 million. While not an insignificant amount, it represents a small dent in Vermont’s overall budget shortfall.
Vermont’s reform plans come at the same time as state courts around the country are hearing cases about the federal health care reform passed in the fall. Cases have been brought against the federal reform in 26 states, but Vermont is not one of them. These cases argue that requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance is unconstitutional, although a single payer system would save individuals, businesses, the state and the federal governments money. A single payer system would be more efficient and less expensive, while providing care to the more than 50 million Americans without health insurance. Caring for the uninsured contributes significantly to rising health care costs, costs state governments (and Washington) can no longer sustain. But the single payer system does raise the specter of socialized medicine.
The governor’s proposal also includes the creation of a Vermont Health Reform Board, which has some legislators worried. The board would develop a state health care budget, assess hospital funds and help set insurance rates. Its five members would be appointed by the governor, as is currently done with Vermont Fish and Wildlife and other state boards. Several state senators have expressed concern that this board would be too powerful, but the legislature would retain the ability to make final decisions, while the board would help to determine best practices and conduct oversight.
The Shumlin administration would like to see the legislature pass this bill during the spring session, but lawmakers are unsure. I urge the legislature to put this issue near the top of its agenda, and to engage in a discussion over the concrete benefits and drawbacks of the plan. The prospect of health care coverage for all Vermonters and health care savings is too great to wait for next year’s session.
(02/10/11 5:56pm)
Despite the recent announcement that the 2011 Solar Decathalon competition will not take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., members of the Middlebury design team are moving forward with optimism due to a recent $150,000 anonymous donation to the project.
Between now and the competition in late September, team members are challenged with designing, constructing and transporting a solar-powered house. The Solar Decathalon is sponsored by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory and features houses from 20 collegiate teams from across the world.
Park Service rejects competition permit
Team members received the news that the competition would not be held on the National Mall while at the International Builder’s Show in Orlando, Fla. in mid-January.
Seven team members traveled to the exhibition to network with representatives from the green building business and showcase the model of their home, Self Reliance. Team members were encouraged by the positive reactions they received from professionals in the business.
“Homebuilders were especially impressed with our model because they could actually see a market for it,” said Student Project Lead Addison Godine ’11.5.
Astrid Schanz-Garbassi ’12, who works on communications for the project, valued the “thick wad of business cards” that she brought home from the conference in addition to her interaction with other attendees.
“It felt really good to get people excited about the project [and to] express ourselves and explain what the project is all about,” said Schanz-Garbassi.
“It was [also] helpful to talk to corresponding team members on other teams,” added Schanz-Garbassi. “I talked to a lot of communications, events planning, public relations and community outreach people about what was working for them [and] what hasn’t worked out for them and I feel like we learned a lot from each other in that respect.”
Although the conference itself was a positive experience for team members, the unexpected announcement that the U.S. National Parks Service did not approve the permit for the competition to be held on the National Mall sent a shockwave through all teams present.
“We were pretty disappointed,” said Godine. “It’s really late in the game to be changing something like that … and it just came out of nowhere. We had no idea that this was possible. We thought it was all done months ago.”
The Parks Service cited the need to “protect, restore and improve” the Mall as the principle reason for the rejection. This announcement was soon followed by the news that China’s government plans to host its own Solar Decathalon in 2013. Many solar industries have already shipped operations from the U.S. to China due to higher government subsidies for the industry and lower manufacturing costs.
“When our government takes an event like the Solar Decathalon off the National Mall, it says something about its priorities,” said Godine. “That’s really the most disappointing thing, I think, is the [implications for the] future of green energy in this country.”
“The Mall is a place that’s high-traffic — people stumble upon the competition, they don’t have to seek it out,” added Melissa Segil ’12, event planning lead for the team. “It’s a high-profile place that you’re going to see. Other places may not have the same ease of access and this is something that we want the public to really be in touch in with.”
Despite the loss of their ideal site, team members remain hopeful about the larger impact of the competition.
“Maybe this is an opportunity,” said Schanz-Garbassi. “[They’re] closing one door — being right in front of the White House — but maybe opening another door and getting another city involved.”
The Solar Decathalon has been held in Washington, D.C. four times since 2002. Although The New York Times reported that the DOE is considering sites in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and St. Louis, for now, the team members must keep moving forward with the current plans for construction and transport.
“We won’t be able to adapt until we know [the final site], so we’re continuing to work,” said Godine. “There’s lots to do.”
Team receives anonymous donation
In late December, student leaders of the Middlebury Solar Decathalon team received the news that an anonymous donor had given $150,000 to the project.
President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz delivered the news of the donation in person to students at the Harris Farmhouse, the project’s headquarters on campus.
Segil was not at the Farmhouse for Liebowitz’s announcement, and heard about the donation through Godine.
“I [went] upstairs and [said], ‘Addison, someone said you have news for me?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I’ve got about 150,000 pieces of news for you.’”
Leaders explained that the donation has provided the team with enthusiasm and reassurance.
“People are still buzzing about it,” said Fundraising Lead Kris Williams ’11.5. “The whole team was just floored. If you realize somebody believes in what you’re doing enough to give you $150,000 to do it, that’s all the affirmation you need. It’s an incredibly generous gift.”
Liebowitz commended the greater effects of the donation in a recent press release.
“[The donation] speaks to the donor’s recognition of how important it is for our students to have opportunities to harness the power of their liberal arts education for the greater good — in this case, to meet all the inherent challenges and design and build a house that is affordable and sustainable.”
The donation will fund a significant portion of the team’s $500,000 fundraising goal. The team also received the 2011 Senior Class Gift of $100,000.
Williams commended the Senior Committee on their work in fundraising.
“[Student donations are] way ahead of what they’ve seen in previous years,” said Williams.
Williams explained that although the team is “testing the waters” by applying for foundational grants for the project, most of the funding so far has come from developing personal connections with donors.
“A lot of the work is networking [and] it happens a lot slower than people might think,” said Williams. “It’s not like you just send a letter out with a dollar amount and you get it. It’s about building a relationship,”
With construction groundbreaking quickly approaching, Williams has begun to alter his fundraising strategy.
“We’re really starting to push for in-kind donations, which are donations of materials and services,” explained Williams. “My role shifts a little bit from having a big emphasis on cash donations — which are still very much needed — to focusing on finding suppliers for the materials that we expect to use.”
“Fingers crossed” for smooth progress
During Winter Term, students in the Construction Documentation course worked on solidifying details for the interior design and exterior landscaping, among other aspects of the project.
“It [was] a smaller class — 7 or 8 students — so communication [was] really smooth,” said Godine.
Communications and Outreach Lead Katie Romanov ’11.5 explained that students also worked with the Education Studies department to design lesson plans about green building.
“We’ll be doing interactive activities with lower, middle and upper schools in Addison County,” said Romanov.
The larger impact of the project is important to many team members.
“[Solar Decathalon] is really about sharing the solution and ideas with other people, and that’s what’s going to give this project its strength. We want to provide a solution that other people can adopt in their own lives — that’s how we’re going to change things,” said Williams.
The students on the project team hope to share their vision with the greater Middlebury community through spring fundraisers and events. On March 1, the Middlebury Farmer’s Diner will host team members and supporters and will donate 10 percent of the evening’s proceeds to the project.
Team leads also plan to hold a faculty open house to help professors learn more about the project and develop ways to integrate the project into their curriculum.
Romanov explained that a coffee table book about the project is already in the works.
“[Submissions are] open to the greater Addison County community [and] to the on-campus community,” said Romanov. “Some professors will be assigning creative writing [pieces] to investigate things like, ‘What does home mean to people?’ and, ‘How have human-environment relations developed over time?’”
There is an open call for written submissions through March 15. The book will also include pictures, sketches and other artwork about the project.
The construction of the house will begin during Spring Recess under the supervision of Construction Lead Alex Jopek ’11. The team recently put out a call for student applications for three construction positions.
In the meantime, students will continue to move forward on the design of the house. The team must submit the final set of plans for the project in mid-March.
“We’re crossing our fingers, but we’re pretty confident,” said Godine.
(02/10/11 5:03am)
John Graham dreamed of building an organization that provided a variety of basic services to those in need, and he did indeed make his vision a reality. The John Graham Shelter Home located in Vergennes, Vt. and the non-profit group HOPE (Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects), which is based in Middlebury, were the results of Graham’s work. Jeanne Montross, executive director of HOPE, works closely with her board of directors, whose members include Special Collections Librarian and College Archivist Bob Buckeye, Donor Relations Events Manager Andrea Solomon and Professor of Anthropology David Stoll.
Montross, a native of Salisbury, Vt., has been HOPE’s director for 10 years. Born and raised in New Jersey, she graduated from the University of Vermont (UVM) after majoring in psychology. She then worked in counseling at UVM and North Country Community College, and was part of a court diversion program in Middlebury. When HOPE moved to its new location, 282 Boardman St. at the John V. Craven Community Services Center, in 1999, Montross jumped on board and was quickly crowned director.
“Jeanne is a real go-getter and a huge asset to HOPE,” said Solomon, who serves as the chair of fundraising committees and organized the “Model Citizen” Fashion Show last November, which raised approximately $3,000 for HOPE. “She is a tremendous advocate for anyone in need and dives in at the ground level.”
The organization’s mission is to reduce the effects of poverty in Addison County by providing basic services to residents, including food aid, shelter and budget counseling. Montross also said HOPE seeks to educate individuals. Instead of simply giving families instant meals to prepare, for example, the organization urges people to select a recipe from the many HOPE provides and bring home fresh produce to cook wholesome, healthy dinners.
“We also want to beef up our gleaning program,” said Montross, who has worked with Corrine Almquist ’09 and Jessie Ebersole ’12 on this project. In 2009, the gleaning program donated 8,000 pounds of food to HOPE.
“Corinne brought truckloads of pumpkins to us this fall, which volunteers brought home and mashed up. People then came to the food bank and took the mashed pumpkins, as well as spices, and make pumpkin pies for the holidays.”
HOPE receives very little government funding; money comes from grants or is donated by local residents, businesses and other organizations, like United Ways. Since it is not a government program, the organization works to provide a variety of services, regardless of whether it has a specific program. For instance, if someone needs a new well pump, HOPE will determine if the project is viable and, if deemed necessary, will attempt to find the funding to install the pump.
“We try not to say ‘no’ to anything, but we need to use the community money carefully,” said Montross.
The John V. Craven Community Services Center also is home to the Vermont Adult Learning Center, which offers computer classes, as well as daycare services. The Addison County Transit Resources (ACTR) shuttles drive to and from the center throughout the day, so individuals have easy access to the facilities.
“I believe that we are part of a community and need to be responsible for one another,” said Buckeye, who has been chair of the board of directors for the last 11 years. “There are those who have had unexpected difficulties and setbacks. There are those who have had little chance from the beginning. We do not ignore them, walk over them on the street as it were.”
It is clear that HOPE’s services help many. Over 500 people come to HOPE’s food shelf each month. Families are allowed to bring home enough food for three meals for three days for each member of their household. In 2009, the food bank dished out enough for 43,000 meals to impoverished individuals. People must fill out an application that analyzes both their income and their expenses to determine if they qualify to receive food from the emergency food shelf. Local community members, as well as nearby supermarkets, like Hannaford’s, donate much of the food. Montross was proud of the College’s December food drive, too.
The executive director has looked into buying food wholesale, but fears it is too expensive, as she must buy a minimum of $5,000 worth of goods. In the past, volunteers would pack bags and bring them to needy families, but HOPE determined this was an inefficient system, so people now come to select their own food, all of which is carefully weighed by HOPE.
The organization has a walk-in freezer and cooler to keep food fresh. All goods must be organized and packaged in the food warehouse. Student help is needed in the fall especially when the produce from the gleaning program is delivered. The food shelf accepts donated food year round, and juices, canned fruits, vegetables, soup and dairy products are particlarly needed.
“It feels like HOPE really reaches to people that need help,” said Solomon, who often volunteers with her three children at the food shelf, as she wants them to see they can make a difference by giving back locally. “There is a strong pull towards helping people in our community and to make a big difference right here. It is not AIDS research, but that does not necessarily feed local needs.”
Stoll, who got involved with the organization because Buckeye mentioned that HOPE wanted to start working with local Mexican dairy farmers, could not agree more. A fluent Spanish speaker, Stoll was the perfect choice to join the board to help with this particular project. Happily though, Stoll said he has done little with this specific program because most of these farmers are currently employed.
“Who is going to take care of people who are sick and destitute?” said Stoll. “HOPE is interesting because it straddles the boundary between public and private.”
The organization also partners with its thrift store, RetroWorks, which is an important source of revenue for the non-profit. Last year, the shop earned $230,248. Everything from clothing to 90-cent cups to woven placemats is donated and sold. Montross is especially excited fabout the upcoming vinyl record sale at RetroWorks, which will be held later this spring.
Extra clothes that are not sold are sent to a warehouse in Canada, where, along with leftover shoes, stuffed animals and purses, they are either sold to thrift stores or sent to developing countries.
“That way everything is kept out of the landfill,” said Montross.
RetroWorks, which is open to the public, welcomes customers Monday through Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Donations are always welcome. Neat Repeats, a store in Middlebury, partners with HOPE and donates much of its inventory to the store. Call (802) 388-3608 (ext. 24) for more information.
Plans are currently underway for fundraisers, similar to the fashion show held in November, to raise money for HOPE. Montross also hopes to start winter-ready automobile programs in which individuals donate snow tires and anti-freeze to those who cannot afford these items. Additionally, she wants to organize home repairs. In the past, mission groups have helped with such projects, but Montross said they proved to be too large a strain on resources and was difficult to staff. Instead, she seeks to train local volunteers to make the visits.
Montross also aims to expand HOPE’s reach across Addison County and to lend aid to towns over the mountain, like Hancock, Starksboro and Grandville.
In addition to its food services, HOPE collaborates with other organizations, like the Counseling Services of Addison County and the Addison County Community Trust, on housing projects. Since 1985, HOPE has built 200 homes in Addison County. The Hill House, located on Route 7, was refurbished in 2008 and is now a safe haven for those who were homeless. People can stay at the house for up to two years. While HOPE officially owns the facility, the Counseling Services staff and run the building.
Visit http://www.hope-vt.org or call HOPE at (802) 388-3608 to learn about ways to volunteer. Solomon also said students should talk to Tiffany Sargent, the Director of the ACE Office, if they want to get involved with HOPE.
“I measure myself against how the disadvantaged measure me,” said Buckeye. “There are people who need assistance. We provide it as best we can.”
Last year, 47 families received help from HOPE and were able to pay for their rent and mortgage, while another 80 families were offered money for utilizes. In addition, 256 gasoline vouchers were issued, enabling people to get to work, to school or to a doctor’s appointment.
In HOPE’s pamphlet, Montross says, “HOPE does not operate alone — it is part of a caring community in which many people take seriously the responsibility of caring for others …We do the front line work, but you are behind us, making it all possible. Thank you.”
HOPE's Homepage
(01/20/11 5:24am)
After a rough opening week of the season, the Middlebury men’s hockey team seemed to have found its footing, going 4-1-2 in its next seven contests leading into last weekend’s pair of NESCAC home games.
“No specific changes were made, but players just prepared better for each game,” said assistant coach John Dawson, commenting on the team’s recent success. “We practiced at a higher level and played more consistently throughout the games. The players have worked hard, and when you do that, things start to come together.”
However, a tie with Trinity on Friday night and an OT loss to Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon may be significant setbacks in what is becoming an up-and-down season.
Friday night’s matchup saw first-year goalkeeper Nick BonDurant ’14 get his fifth start between the pipes against conference foe Trinity. Before the game, the hockey program kicked off its Alumni Weekend by honoring the 50th anniversary of the 1960 – 61 team with player introductions.
The Panthers got on the board early as Ken Suchoski ’11 scored an unassisted goal off a coast-to-coast rush a mere 2:49 into the contest. Trinity answered late in the second period when Jordan So stashed in a rebound at the 17:34 mark off a rebound from a Regnars Alksnis shot from the left point. Middlebury outshot the Bantams 36-19, but the dearth of scoring is a continuing frustration.
“It is always disappointing when you don’t win and don’t get the results you wanted,” said Dawson. “We had chances to score and take more control of the game, but we just couldn’t execute the plays. Trinity’s goalie certainly had a good night.”
For Saturday’s matchup, BonDurant was in goal again for the Panthers, as they faced off against a Wesleyan team that has never defeated Middlebury in 35 previous tries (0-32-3.)
After a scoreless first, Wesleyan capitalized on several Panther penalties, including a game misconduct for head contact by Louis Belisle ’14, and they established a 2-0 lead heading into the final frame. Middlebury answered early, however, as Martin Drolet ’12 scored his sixth goal of the season on a rebound from a J.D. Vermette ’14 shot, also assisted by Charlie Strauss ’12. Drolet would tie the game seven minutes later as he scored his second of the game with another assist from Vermette.
Wesleyan answered three minutes later to take a 3-2 lead, but 20 seconds after that Tucker Donahoe ’12, assisted by Tom Cantwell ’12, tied the game back up at 3-3 on a tough angle shot. A flurry of activity in the final minutes produced no goals, and the game was pushed to OT. The final frame only lasted 31 seconds, however, as Wesleyan forward John Guay scored his second goal of the game to give Wesleyan its first win over the Panthers in school history.
“Our kids competed and it just wasn’t enough,” said Dawson. “All the games in our league are tight, close, competitive games. Wesleyan is a good team. They have been in every game they played. They just made one more play than we did.”
One important trend that has developed this season is the platoon in goal between BonDurant and John Yanchek ’12. Bondurant has six starts with a 2-3-1 record and a .910 save percentage. Yancheck is 2-1-2 in his five starts, posting a .891 save percentage.
The weekend puts the Panthers back below .500, at 4-5-3, with several top 10 opponents left on the schedule. The team hosts a pair of home contests this weekend, with New England College on the ticket for Friday night and St. Anselm on Saturday afternoon.
(01/20/11 5:18am)
Coming off wins against Bates and Colby, the Panthers looked to continue their success against Hamilton on Saturday. The men scored a narrow 122-109 victory while the women defeated the Continentals 156-87. The women’s team (4-3) is over .500 for the first time this year and the men’s team (3-4) has won three in a row.
The men started off strong on Saturday, taking the top two places in the 400-yard medley relay. The first individual win of the day for the men would come when Nick Daly ’12 won the 50-yard freestyle by only 0.12 seconds, checking in with an impressive 22.02.
All-American John Dillon ’11 captured the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:58.82, winning by a large 3.5 second margin.
One of the highlights of the meet for the men was in the 200-yard backstroke, when Harry Anixter ’13 and Kazu Asaga ’12 took the top two spots.
“Harry continued his improvement in the backstroke events, proving that he is an elite backstroker who will be a force to be reckoned with in February,” said Dillon, the NESCAC record holder in the event.
The meet was extremely close heading into the last two races, but Captain Matt Vukich ’11 came to the rescue with a solid win in the 200-yard breaststroke. His win solidified the victory for the Panthers as the meet would have otherwise come down to the last relay.
The women’s meet, while not as close at the end, was equally exciting. The Continentals won the first relay and three of the first six events, keeping pace with the Panthers in the first half.
However, the women began to pull away with a surprise win in the 200-yard butterfly by Captain Emily Whitaker ’11. The women would go on to win three of the last five races, capitalizing on their depth by taking first and second place in the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, and 400-yard freestyle relay.
In addition to Whitaker, Jen Friedlander ’13, Katherine Loftus ’12, Alexandra Edel ’14, and Alyssa Ha ’11 each won individual events for the Panthers.
On the diving side, the men gained many points because Hamilton did not have a diving team. Skylar Dallmeyer-Drennen ’14 and Omar Carmical ’13 turned in good performances competing against each other.
For the women, Gemma Collins ’12 had another impressive meet, winning the 1-meter event easily. Her score of 259.00 is currently the third-highest in the NESCAC this season.
“Once again, [our] top-end talent as well as our deep roster enabled us to outlast our NESCAC competitors,” said Coach Peter Solomon. “It was great to see how the team has responded these past two weekends in close competition.”
The Panthers travel to Union on Saturday as they look to keep their winning streak alive in their second-to-last meet before NESCAC and NCAA Championships.
