Featured Alumni Profiles
Mary McQuiggan
Mary McQuiggan has participated in VYCC in a number of ways since her first crew in 2002. Mary was a Corps Member on five VYCC Wilderness and Roving Crews, from 2002 to 2004 when she was a student at Montpelier High School. She loved the combination of physical conservation work and the focus on creating a team and a community. Mary is pursing additional interests at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York where she is in her third year, majoring in Landscape Architecture. She regularly leads outings with Cornell's outdoor programs, including leading trips for first year orientation and completed an Outward Bound course in Northern Minnesota last winter using dog-sleds to winter camp.
In the spring of 2006 Mary became a Crew Leader for VYCC, passing on her enthusiasm for doing excellent conservation work to her Corps Members, while showing her gift for creating specific and meaningful connections with individual Corps Members. Mary said about her experiences with VYCC, “My passion really lies in some combination of conservation, human rights, and design. I feel that VYCC creates a much stronger tie to the environment and reaches more youth who will probably never have the opportunity to be a part of (similar outdoor programs) because of the cost.”
Todd McKinney
Todd McKinney led two Wilderness Crews in the summer of 2005, bringing a background in Outdoor Education to VYCC from his experience as an Adventure Specialist and School Program Instructor at the Sargent Center for Outdoor Education in Hancock, New Hampshire. Each crew that Todd led for VYCC was filled with laughter and hard-work in equal measure! He had the ability to work through challenging circumstances and see the humor in anything and pass these skills onto his Corps Members as they learned technical skills. In the fall of 2006, Todd decided to head back to school and is in his first year at Minnesota University at Mankato, getting his Master’s Degree in Experiential Education. Todd’s experiences with on-the-ground, hands-on learning with VYCC, as well as his other experiences, helped solidify that this was the direction he wanted to continue to move in.
Adam Miller
Adam Miller, originally from Virginia, was a Crew Leader of the Burlington Community Crew in 2004. Adam came to the VYCC having gained crew leading experince as an AmeriCorps member for the Youthworks Program of Northwest Youth Corps and an NYC Trail Crew Leader.
In 2004 Adam and his co-leader led a group of Burlington youth for 7 weeks. They brought this group of strangers together in a tight-knit community and facilitated educational activities, while managing six different work projects in those seven weeks. Some of the projects the worked on included: the relocation of 4000 ft of the Boundary Trail in Indian Brook Park in Essex Junction; the construction of 220 feet of puncheon bridges in the Dorset Nature Park in South Burlington; and 10560 feet of trail enhancements in Ethan Allen Park in Burlington.
Adam currently lives in Burlington where and works with another great Vermont non-profit Recycle North. Adam is the currently the YouthBuild Job Site Supervisor for Recycle North where he helps low-income young people ages 16-24 work toward their GED or high school diploma while learning job skills by building affordable housing for homeless and low-income people.
Mike Elliot
Mike’s hometown is Moretown, VT and to date he has been on four crews in three seasons with VYCC. In 2004 he started and completed the Montpelier Community Crew and then lent a hand and finished the summer on the Emerald Lake State Park Crew. In 2005 Mike returned to the Montpelier Community Crew, and spent the 2006 season on the North Hero State Park Crew. Mike also has volunteered a lot of time through the years to help out at the VYCC Headquarters tackling tasks from office administration to helping to edit the WoRD book. Thanks, Mike.
Daniel Chrisman
Dan Chrisman is one of five interns from Mount Mansfield Union High School that is participating in the pilot year of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Internship Program. The program is a partnership between the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, UVM Extension and the Smokey House Center. Dan is from Jericho and, despite it being his senior year, chose to extend his school day by participating in the program.
The interns began the program in November and Dan was the first member of the crew to receive rock-star status on his weekly evaluation. He continues to work hard as a member of the crew stepping up to solve problems and take a leadership roll when needed. As an intern Dan is learning skills that he hopes to apply to his future in the landscaping business.
Recently the crew visited a local blacksmith in Huntington to repair some of VYCC's broken tools. When asked about the experience Dan responded, “This makes me want to experience more things that go on in my community that I never knew about. This will stay with me forever.”
Katie McKay
Katie, originally from Utah, came to work for the VYCC in the summer of 2005 spending two years as the Ranger at Elmore State Park. Katie brought her education and experiences to the VYCC to help her excel as a State Park Ranger. She graduated from Utah State University with a Bachelors degree in Parks and Recreation and then worked as a Ranger Assistant and Off-Highway Vehicle Specialist at Hyrum State Park before coming to the VYCC. Katie also brought a depth of knowledge and experience in accounting and money handling that helped her manage the park efficiently.
During Katie's two seasons as the VYCC Ranger at Elmore State Park, she supervised AmeriCorps Members, Corps Member, and Corps Members in Training, deftly adapting her leadership style to work with the particular needs of each group, all while managing the park to a level of excellence. After completing her second season with VYCC in 2006, Katie returned home to Utah where she is working at the Hardware Ranch Wildlife Management Area.
Josh Mashtare
Josh got his start with the VYCC in the 2006 season as a Corps Member at North Hero State Park. Josh, a Vermont native, originates from Alburg and worked on one of the first non-residential park crews run by the VYCC. He excelled in his role as a Corps Member and increased his park management skills and knowledge greatly while at North Hero. For his Conservation Leadership Project Josh put together a book called “The Flowers of North Hero” that was thorough and detailed gaining him praise from his leaders and all the HQ staff alike. Josh is currently finishing high school and looking forward to returning to North Hero for another season.
Katherine Buell
Katherine Buell is a past Crew Leader with the VYCC with two field seasons under her belt. Prior to joining the VYCC family, Katherine had gained much field experience with the National Outdoor Leadership School in Baja, Mexico, as well as studying psychology in London, England, and working at a Massachusetts Audubon Society residential camp. During her time as a Crew Leader, Katherine was able to travel all around Vermont, working in locations such as Weissner Woods and Sterling Gorge (Stowe), Pine Hill Park (Rutland), Little River State Park (Waterbury), and in the Moosalamoo region of the Green Mountain National Forest. At all of these locations, Katherine developed her technical trail skills, and was able to add creativity to projects such as bridge building, mountain bike trail construction and maintenance, installing rock structures such as stairs, crib walls, and waterbars, as well as general trail maintenance. Throughout her experiences at VYCC in 2005 and 2006, she gleaned a strong passion for conservation work, as well as an appreciation for the thrilling and rewarding feeling of educating youth in an intense setting. These experiences now urge her to pursue new jobs that offer the same level of excitement, education, physical fatigue, mental challenge and ability to love the mission of the work she's doing.
This journey has currently culminated with Katherine relocating to the Pacific Northwest. After leaving her second season with the VYCC, Katherine worked as a crew leader for Earth Corps, a non-profit organization that does environmental restoration in and around Seattle. She is currently the Trail Specialist for Mountains-to-Sound Greenway, another non-profit that protects green-spaces and trail systems along the I-90 highway corridor from Puget Sound to the Cascade Mountains. Here, Katherine plays a large technical and logistical role in supervising and supporting major trail projects. Though we'd love to have her back to lead more VYCC crews with flair, we wish Katherine the best of luck with her new adventures!
Erin McCreary
We’d like to recognize the all-star Corps Member, Erin McCreary. Erin has been a member on a whopping four Roving Crews over the past three years. In 2004, Erin was a member of Roving 5, where she completed rock work on both the Elmore Mtn. Trail and at the Smuggler’s Notch Campground where stone staircases were installed by the crew. As a returning Corps Member in 2005, Erin had the opportunity to revisit and build upon previous work at Elmore Mountain, complete erosion control on Mount Ascutney, work on the Peacham Bog Trail as well as partake in new trail construction at Queechee Gorge while participating in back-to-back Roving crews that summer. Once again, Erin fearlessly returned to the VYCC in 2006 to be part of the Moosalamoo Leadership Crew in the Green Mountain National Forest.
Leaving VYCC behind for the time being, Erin has found at new home at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard, where she is currently studying Human Evolutionary Biology and Psychology with a focus on the Mind, Brain and Behavior. Learning from the busy days of VYCC schedules, Erin balances rigorous studies with participation on the Radcliffe Varsity Lightweight Women's Crew team, volunteering as a supervisor at a student-run homeless shelter in Harvard Square, and was just recently chosen to become the next Director of Volunteers for the shelter. She also mentors a 6th grade girl at a local public elementary school who is in a classroom for kids who have learning challenges/disabilities AND she trained this past fall to be a bike mechanic at a student-run bike shop on campus.
This summer, Erin hopes to either complete a summer internship with China Care volunteering at a Chinese orphanage for 5-8 weeks or she will participate in Bike and Build, a non-profit organization that leads groups of college students on a bike trips across the United States while stopping to work on various Habitat for Humanity projects. As you can see, VYCC alumni go on to do many diverse and varied and wonderful things. We wish Erin the best of luck on all of her future endeavors!
Jesse Rogers
Jesse Rogers joined the VYCC in May 2006 as an AmeriCorps National Direct Member. He started his ten-month term of service with the VYCC freshly graduated from Plattsburgh State University of New York with a Bachelors Degree in Environmental Science. During the summer months Jesse was a member of the crew that operated Lowell Lake and Jamaica State Parks in southern Vermont. While working at these parks, in addition to assisting with park operations, he led naturalist programs and organized activities including weekend campfires for park visitors. During the early fall, Jesse was assigned to the Lakes Inventory Crew during which he traveled to remote parts of the state inventorying bodies of water for the state. Jesse's continued interest in environmental science inspired him to select the Department of Water Quality as one of his sites for his Independent Leadership Project. In addition, Jesse provided much-needed service to local communities with the Vermont Foodbank and ReCycle North. As a participant on the Disaster Relief Crew in December 2006, Jesse took the initiative to coordinate and fundraise for another crew to go to Mississippi in February 2007 to continue to assist with recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
Shannon Tarrier
Shannon's participation in the Agriculture and Natural Resources Internship Program is her second experience with VYCC. During the summer of 2006, Shannon took part in the Lake Elmore Corps Member in Training (CMiT) Program. As a CMiT, she helped with park operations and worked closely with a fun team of five members and a leader.
Shannon enjoyed her time at Lake Elmore so much that she applied for the new program at her high school, Lamoille Union High School (LUHS), which is the result of a partnership between VYCC, the UVM Extension, and the Smokey House Center. Shannon is now a member of a four-person crew at LUHS that focuses on completing hands-on agriculture and natural resources projects in the local community.
Shannon has excelled in many areas in this new program. Most notably, she has stepped out of her comfort zone and used tools or taken part in new experiences that she may not have tried before. For example, during a recent workshop, Shannon was hesitant about using an ax. However, after careful directions and a little encouragement from instructors, Shannon soon mastered using the ax safely and efficiently. She now enjoys using many tools that may seem unwieldy to others and considers broad hatchets and fros some of her favorite tools.
When asked how VYCC has influenced her choices in life Shannon replied, “VYCC has made me think more about my actions and how they will affect my future. I have also learned that little groups can make a big impact on a community and the world.”