Vermont Academy Mobile Field Station

Education for Life—One Student at a Time

Mobile Field Station

| N O BOU N DA R I ES

Let’s take a trip! Grab your coat and step outside—feel the sun on your face and inhale.

Pristine Vermont air with the first nip of fall sends your brain a wake up call. On the inside, you do a little happy dance and think: Today’s potential is boundless. We’re going on a weekend kayaking trip on the Connecticut River. Along the way, we’ll see bald eagles, Great blue herons, and osprey. Don’t be surprised if a few deer and beavers also stop what they’re doing to check us out. You’ll become an expert paddler, take a few water samples, identify native bird and mammal species, and discover the history of the New England landscape.

Jump in the Mobile Field Station! We’re heading on a freewheelin’ learning adventure that is Vermont Academy.

HONORING AND MAKING ACCESSIBLE THE EXTR AORDINARY ECOSYSTEM OF NATURE’S LIVING CLASSROOM IS YOUR GIFT AND LEGACY TO VERMONT ACADEMY.

The CL ASS OF 2014 MOBILE FIELD STATION provides the means for our students to examine nature’s seasonal lifecycle with all of their senses; seeing, touching, listening, smelling, and tasting. Students bring their individualized perceptions and analysis to their interaction with the outdoors, which becomes a critical part of the learning experience.

The dedicated 14-passenger bus, trailers, and laboratory and recreational equipment will enable us to explore the best outdoor experience that Vermont and surrounding New England has to offer.

M E ET CHR IST I NE A R MIGE R A ND NAT E W IL L I A MS Vermont Academy values its people most who—through boundless intelligence, passion, and commitment—make it a very special place. No two examples shine brighter than Christine and Nate.

“Stuck indoors and staring at textbooks, it’s easy to forget that science is about being outside.

Out in nature, we experience new things, break through our preconceptions about how the world works, and have those “ah hah!” moments that change us forever. At these times, we connect with life around us. At VA, our students learn to track animals through the woods, examine the diversity of trees in a New England forest, and visit sustainable farms and solar energy projects that make Vermont the socially and environmentally progressive place that it is. Through these experiences they develop a heightened awareness of the natural beauty around them. I want kids to fall in love with science and the outdoors. Helping a student hold on to that part of herself that is curious, eager to ask questions, and ready to seek answers is one of my greatest rewards as a teacher.”

— CHRISTINE ARMIGER

Christine Armiger has been academically and professionally involved in environmental protection and conservation for over a decade. She received a BA in Environmental Science (emphasis Biology) from the University of Montana and an MS in Environmental Studies (emphasis Conservation Biology) from Antioch University New England.

VA Courses: AP Environmental Science, Environmental Issues Analysis, Field Biology, Chemistry Activities: Sustainabilty Coordinator, Farm-to-School program, Belize study abroad program, local and regional environmental concerns.

Christine Armiger collects data on species diversity in the intertidal zone in Acadia National Park, Maine.

BEING OUTSIDE ENCOUR AGES STUDENTS TO DEV ELOP A HEIGHTENED AWAR ENESS OF THE NATUR AL BE AUT Y AROUND THEM.

“Perhaps the ultimate challenge for an educator is to effectively facilitate a lesson for each student’s unique way of processing information and learning. The outdoors provides the optimal learning venue to accomplish this. Being in nature stimulates hands-on learning and engagement with living and non-living objects, all the while offering students various paths of learning—visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. Of course, an integrated approach is ideal. Students can read about American beech bark disease, research symptoms on the Internet, sketch samples, and form a hypothesis to test in the laboratory. However, it’s that moment when they venture into the forest and see an American beech that has succumbed to disease that I see everything click. That’s a beautiful moment. They take measurements, use a hand lens to count the number of white dots plaguing the bark, and inspect the woodpecker holes in the trunk (if we’re lucky, we’ll even see one!) Going into the field and observing science as it happens ties it all together.”

Nate Williams and a student from his Integrated Physical Science class take a break from collecting data on the exposed metamorphic rocks at Saxtons River.

“Outside the boundaries of a confined classroom, our imagination is sparked, and we learn by trial and error, not memorization. Outdoor education strengthens our roots in nature.”

— NATE WILLIAMS

Nate Williams joined VA from Farm & Wilderness, a non-profit organization that specializes in outdoor education, where he learned the value of the outdoors as a meaningful teaching tool and the positive impact it has on various learning styles. Nate combines this concept with the teaching strategies he learned from the Masters of Education program at Castleton State College.

His unique and integrated approach to teaching facilitates three principles: connection to nature, self-empowerment, and play.

— DAVID PERSHA, ’14

VA Courses: Integrated Physical Science, Biology, Outdoors Program Activities: Wilderness skills, rock climbing, hiking, and snowboarding

Collecting data in one of Vermont’s abundant river ecosystems.

Studying local amphibians in VA’s vernal pool and finding a spring peeper.

Conducting a tree plot survey, identifying species of trees, and taking measurements.

OH, T H E PL ACE S W E GO !

OH, T H E PL ACE S W E W IL L GO !

Through their teaching in field biology, sustainability, and environmental science, Christine and Nate take advantage of natural teaching locations around campus, including:

Vermont Academy’s distinctive advantage for field studies and outdoor adventuring is in the many regional locations surrounding Saxtons River, including:

✧ The Saxtons River

✧ The Connecticut River and its Tributaries

✧ Beaver Pond Ecosystem along Pleasant Valley Road

✧ Local Farms throughout Southern Vermont and New Hampshire

✧ Bowles Pond Ecosystem

✧ Solar and Wind Energy Projects in central New England

✧ The Bancroft Field white pine stand

✧ The Forest Ecosystems in and around Saxtons River

✧ Vernal Pools near the Arboretum ✧ The Maple Sugarbush by New House

✧ The White Mountains (NH), Green Mountains (VT) and Adirondacks

✧ The experimental farm by the Observatory

✧ The Coastal Ecosystems of southern NH and Maine At Vermont Academy, we are fortunate to do what we do. We get to know and work with amazing students, and like snowflakes, no two minds are alike. That is the joy of teaching. Every single day, we challenge students to learn, dream, and aspire beyond what they could have imagined when they first stepped on campus.

Your gift of the Mobile Field Station to our students is so much more than a bus, equipment trailers, and lab tools. It is the spirit of no boundaries.

Christine Armiger (center) and her Environmental Studies students get their hands dirty in the medicinal plants greenhouse at Anjali Farms in South Londonderry, VT.

Education for Life—One Student at a Time P.O. BOX 50 0, 10 LONG WA LK , SA X TONS R I V ER , V T 05154 | T 802- 869- 6229 F 802- 869- 6242 | V ER MON TAC A DE M Y.ORG

THE CL ASS OF 2014 PROUDLY PR ESENTS :

Mobile Field Station |

N O BOU N DA R I ES

Components of the Mobile Field Station and Laboratory may be partially or fully funded by individuals, families, groups of parents, and/or grandparents. Please check the component below that you wish to support and indicate the gift amount on the reverse side.

Every gift is valuable and will be gratefully received, recognized, and appreciated for years to come.

MOBIL E FI E L D STAT ION A ND L A BOR ATORY W ISH L IST: 14-passenger mobile field station bus with towing capacity

— $60,000 (Family donor recognition) A mobile field station trailer equipped to store, organize, and transport various laboratory equipment and outing gear

— $30,000 (Family donor recognition)

AQUAT IC ST U DI E S Wader sets Pond nets Aquatic D-nets Specimen collectors Invertebrate guides Portable 1-gallon aquariums Digital microscopes Leaf pack flash cards

Gifts totaling up to: $4,000

M ET EOROLOGY Telescopes Field kits

Gifts totaling up to: $2,250 SOIL SCI E NCE NPK soil test kits Ph tests Soil pit shovels Soil probes Soil type guides

An Outdoors Program trailer to transport canoes, kayaks, life jackets, camping and hiking gear, and waders for aquatic studies

M A M M A L ST U DI E S Wild life cameras Field guides Tape measures Have-a-heart traps

Gifts totaling up to: $1,500

— $10,000 (Family donor recognition)

Gifts totaling up to: $3,000

Gifts totaling up to: $1,500

FOR E ST RY Tree corers Tree core holders Biltmore sticks Distance measuring wheels Wood fiber flagging tapes Perma-tags Diameter tapes Meter sticks Tangent height gauges

E NTOMOLOGY Butterfly nets Entomology kits Magnifying bug jar sets Insect jars

Endowment for the on-going operation of the Mobile Field Station and Laboratory

— $50,000 (Donor recognition) A monetary gift to be used at Vermont Academy’s discretion for the Mobile Field Station OU T DOOR S PROGR A M Kayaks Canoes Life jackets Fishing gear Backpacks Snowshoes Knives Flints and magnesium Write-in-rain journals First aid kits

Gift totaling up to: $23,000

Gifts totaling up to: $2,500 GEOLOGY GPS units Hand lenses Rock hammers Plate tectonics block models Geology block models

Gifts totaling up to: $1,200

WAT E R QUA L IT Y Dissolved oxygen test kits Microbial cycling of nitrogen bio kits

Gifts totaling up to: $2,000 OR N IT HOLOGY Binoculars Ground blinds Spotting scopes Tripods Field guides Birding by Ear guide

Gifts totaling up to: $2,500 For questions on the Mobile Field Station and gifting opportunities, please call 802-869-6261.

Class of 2014 Mobile Field Station and Laboratory NAME

EMAIL

ADDRESS

PHONE

A LT E R N AT E P H O N E

Optional: Add a note to your graduate that we’ll display on our Mobile Field Station Facebook page:

ST EP ONE : Please indicate below the specific component of the Mobile Field Station you are gifting or designate “discretionary” for your gift to be used toward the Station’s highest priorities.

I/We wish our gift to be used for:__________________________________________________________________________________________

ST EP T WO : I/We have enclosed a gift in the amount of: $ _____________________ I/We wish to make a gift of: $ _____________________ with appreciated stock/securities.

Please contact Jay Gundy, Director of Advancement, at 802-869-6261 or jgundy@vermontacademy.org.

I/We wish to make a gift of: $ _____________________ by Credit Card.

Cardholder’s Name _____________________________________________________________________ Card Type __________________________ Card Number ________________________________________________________ Expiration Date _____________ Security Code ____________ I/We pledge to make a gift of: $ _____________________ over a ________ year period as follows:

By June 30, 2014 $ _____________________

By June 30, 2015 $ _____________________

By June 30, 2017 $ _____________________

By June 30, 2018 $ _____________________

S I G N AT U R E

By June 30, 2016 $ _____________________

DAT E

James A. (Jay) Gundy, III, Director of Advancement | Vermont Academy, P.O. Box 500, 10 Long Walk, Saxtons River, Vermont 05154 Telephone: 802.869.6261 | Fax: 802.869.2115 | Email: jgundy@vermontacademy.org | Tax identification number: 03-0179600

The trustees, students, faculty, and staff of Vermont Academy are deeply grateful for your generous support.