Alumni Notes
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Past Alumni Rendezvous
On Columbus Day, 2005, we held our 1st Alumni Rendezvous at the West Monitor Barn. We had around 100 alumni spanning the past 20 years attend. The reunion included the construction of six log lean-tos in our woods behind the West Monitor Barn, a Saturday evening barn dance, an Alumni meeting, fantastic meals, catching up with old friends, and a lot of fun!
In 2006, we held our second annual Alumni Rendezvous at the West Monitor Barn on Columbus Day Weekend. Events included short work projects, apple cider pressing, dinner and barn dance as well as the 1st Annual Cross-cut Saw Competition!
Alumni Stories
We are enthusiastic to feature any stories or news regarding alumni life on our website, please send information to alumni@vycc.org or using the alumni contact form.
Here's a snapshot of what some VYCC alumni are up to these days:
Bliss Dennen: "I worked at Silver Lake State Park in the summer of 1996, I was on a Watershed Restoration Crew in the summer of 1997, and I was on a Wilderness Crew in the fall of 1999. Although there will always be a special place in my heart for tree revetments and mattocks, I slowly came to realize that my life's work would be spent at the interface between business and the environment. I moved to California, taught Outdoor Education for a while, and then spent three years learning the ropes and ladders of Corporate America. Hungry to gain the education I needed to grow my career, I returned to school to get my master's degree in Environmental Science & Management from UC Santa Barbara. I specialized in Corporate Environmental Management, wrote my thesis on California's Energy-Water Nexus, and completed an internship in High Tech Energy Efficiency at Pacific Gas & Electric. I am now contemplating my next career move. I would love to reconnect with the people from my three crews, so if you're out there then FIND ME!"
Mary McQuiggan: "I hope the VYCC summer is going well. I'm in Boston this summer developing a youth curriculum for the Urban Ecology Institute and leading four crews in greenspace development and tree planting. It's been a challenging summer so far, I'm not much of city person but I know I'll walk away from the experience feeling good about my work. I miss VYCC! I am excited that my sister will be joining a VYCC crew this summer and I'll be there to help send her off!"
Jeff Helms: "I was on the Roving Parks crew in 2004 and on the Wilderness Crew 2 in 2005. Also I was on the Roving 14 crew in the second session in 2005. I really liked doing trail work for the VYCC and camping out in the wilderness. I am currently working for a metal fabricator, NSA industries where I tig weld on the production line. I have been there about two years now. In my spare time I do lots of hiking. I also ski patrol for a mountain near by during the winter. I love you VYCC!!!!!! Think snow!
Brooke Donoghue: "Hi VYCC! The first time I worked for VYCC (2004) was on the Woodstock Community Crew, and my crew leader was Heather! I had a lot of fun. And this summer will be my fourth summer working for the VYCC. I am a senior at South Royalton High School, and I am graduating in June! This experience working for the VYCC has been truly amazing, and I plan to keep working for you guys, it's a great thing to do. I get to meet lots of different people and the staff at VYCC are amazing as well. Thanks for giving me a chance to work for you guys! I love it."
Amy Grotta: "I was a wilderness crew leader in 1993 and 1995. After working for VYCC I spent two years in the Peace Corps in Paraguay, and then moved to the west coast to attend graduate school. I am an Extension Forester for Washington State University in the Seattle area. I married my co-crew leader, Dave Dreher in 1999 and we have two kids, Anna (b. 2002) and Eben (b. 2006)."
James Chitwood: "Hello VYCC! I was on two of the 2003 wilderness crews and loved every minute of it. I'm in the Army Infantry now and am currently deployed to Afghanistan. I think back on that summer a lot. I fell in love with nature and Vermont that summer. I was born in Georgia and moved to Vermont when I was fourteen. My father told me about the VYCC a year before I was eligible to apply. The very next year I applied, and the rest is a memory. My experience with VYCC is what has helped me decide that Vermont is where I will return and attend college when I am done with the Army life. I would like to give you more information but duty calls and we have a re-supply chopper inbound on our location and I must go. I look forward to hearing from someone and would like to get more info at a later time. Thank you for the services you offer to your alumni. "ALL THE WAY!""
Katherine Bittner: "I was on the Wilderness Crew in Jamaica State Park in 2000. Since then I have graduated from the University of Richmond, VA in 2005 with a degree in international studies. Then I spent a year volunteering in Central America with a community development NGO for women."
Sarah Beth Zisa: "I was on a Wilderness Crew and a Roving Crew in the summer of 2001. I loved VYCC! I am currently a graduate student in environmental policy at Brown University."
Aaron Fishbone: "I was on a Roving Crew in the summer of 2002. Since then I have done trips with the Student Conservation Association, Outward Bound, and NOLS, and VYCC was in some ways the most rewarding of all. Since graduating from UVM I have been living in Washington D.C. working to develop youth programming. I have worked overseas setting up and teaching at youth advocacy, human rights, and NGO capacity building projects. I am currently employed by two organizations - the Open Society Institute and the International Debate Education Association."
Edward Canapary and Andrea Wieschenberg Canapary: "We worked for the VYCC for 2 seasons as Wilderness Crew Leaders 1993 and 1994. In 1995 we worked in the office planning and directing the field programs. Next we moved out to California and worked with a Corps based out of Yosemite National Park. Edward is now working for the National Park Service in the Trails Division. He does trail assessments and some avalanche work. We have 2 daughters (Maya and Dawn). In the spring I teach a Natural Resources class to the CCC (California Conservation Corps) crews that come to Yosemite, and I work at a town library."
Carol Haskins: "I worked at Branbury State Park 1998, 1999 and 2000 - a lot has happened since working for VYCC. I finished my bachelor's in Environmental Science in 2002 at University of Maine - Farmington. After that, I worked at a compost lab, a summer camp, and then the Maine Conservation Corps, where I served 2 terms as a Watershed/Environmental Educator and Volunteer Leader at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Now, I am working on a drinking water study with the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in the Augusta, Maine office."
Alantha Garrison (formerly Williams): "I was on the Burlington Community Crew in 1999. I then moved out to Colorado and got my degree in Geology with a minor in Biology in 2003 from Western State College of Colorado. I now work as an Engineering Geologist in Los Angeles County, California, and help plan where development is going to be built and the limits of the development. I feel grateful that I was able to be a part of the VYCC because it taught me to respect my environment and love everything about it!"
