Southern Vermont College

Here we go!  Despite earthquakes, hurricanes, and crumbling national debt ceilings, it appears everyone has made it to campus safely and ready to begin another academic year at Southern Vermont College.

And what a great start it’s been.  Along with SVC’s largest incoming class ever, returning students were welcomed back to many campus changes as well.  Our Library received a fantastic make-over, with a more contemporary looking space, meeting the growing need for study groups and social learning.  The College has purchased a number of new vehicles for athletics and student life transportation, adding not only safety factors, but air conditioning as well for all those long trips!

By the end of September, Hunter Hall will have a new café available for light meals and snacks every evening until midnight.

But the most exciting news this time of year is always hearing about how students spent their summer months.

Business and Criminal Justice majors share their experiences working internships. Nursing students discuss their clinical practicum at hometown hospitals.  Some students talked about working on farms for the first time in New York and Vermont, life guarding from the coast of Maine to the Jersey Shore, and others served as camp counselors across the country. One student returned to China this summer for a month after having spent a semester internship there last fall.

Then there are all those students who remained on campus over the summer mentoring dozens and dozens of high school students; running SVC’s Upward Bound Program, coaching a variety of sports camps, and coordinating our Healthcare Academy Program, sponsored in partnership with Wheelock College in Boston.

For many students, learning continues after the end of the academic year.  Most of this experiential learning is not connected to academic credit.  Students seek out and take advantage of these opportunities because of a driven desire to take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it into the real world.

This is what is exciting about education – putting together what we’ve learned into practical use.  It makes coming back in the fall to all of those classroom hours, exams, and papers worthwhile.

Here’s to another fun and exciting academic year.  Cheers… here we go again!