Transitions Magazine Spring 2013 - Prescott College

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JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION50 Years of True Excellence1962“It’s up to you in ’62to open the door in ’64!”Founding fund for PrescottCollege established.1963Core philosophical and educationalprinciples emerge ata Ford Foundation symposium.1965Ground is broken byTanner ConstructionCompany for thecampus of PrescottCollege.1966The charter class of 80students from aroundthe country (and onefrom Taipei, Taiwan)arrives.1968A new distinctive traditionin higher educationbegins with the firstWilderness Orientation.1976Historic Sisters of Mercy Hospitalbuilding becomes a center for operationsnear downtown.1978Limited-ResidencyUndergraduate Program(ADP) established tomeet needs of adultlearners.1984Current logo icon createdand motto “For the LiberalArts and the Environment”adopted.1988Center for Bilingual Teacher TrainingEducation established to meet needs ofNative Americans in the region.The Tucson Center opens, expanding theCollege mission in Southern Arizona.1991Kino Bay Centerfor Cultural andEcological Studiesin Sonora, Mexico,established.1992Launch of theLimited-ResidencyMaster of Artsprogram.1995Wolfberry Farmestablished 15 milesnorth of Prescott,quickly cementing its reputation as one ofthe top “learning farms” in nation.First issue of literary magazine,Alligator Juniper, published.2005Crossroads Center is completed.1996Students found first collegiateconsortium for sustainability.College also awarded a $3million NASA grant to developregional sustainabilitydecision support systems.First integrative SustainableCommunity Developmentundergraduate program inthe nation established.2003Prescott College formsthe Eco League withschools that share similarecological values.The Ph.D. program in Sustainability Education(first program of its kind in the nation) is launched.A comprehensive equestrian therapy and learningprogram (Centaur LeadershipServices) established.2006Prescott College joins Consortium forInnovative Environments in Learning.The Kenya Project, an ongoing collaboration between theMaasai people and Prescott College, begins. JOURNAL OFSUSTAINABILITYThe Crossroads Center, and later the Welcome EDUCATION Center (2010),become the first buildings on campus with roof-mountedsolar panels.2007A charter signatory to theAmerican College andUniversity Presidents’Climate Commitment.“Social Justice” is addedto the College motto.2008Art Gallery at Sam HillWarehouse opens.The learning farmmoves to Jenner Farmin Skull Valley.F O U N D E D 2 0 0 72010Journal of SustainabilityEducationinaugural editionpublished.2011Natural HistoryInstitute establishedwith plans to opena publicly accessiblespace in 2013.2012Opening of The Villagestudent housing facility,on track for LEED greenbuilding rating.The Ecosa Institute for RegenerativeEcological Design becomes a sponsoredprogram.The Association for Experiential Educationnamed Prescott College Organization ofthe Year.10Transitions Spring 2013
To Do Mighty ThingsThe vast tidal marshes and hardwood swamps of the Delaware Bayshore, February 2013Although Matt Blake ’00 earned a bachelor’s degree a quarter century afterLisa S. Garrison graduated, interweaving threads and a sense of kinshipand place connect the paths of these two Prescott College alumni. Followingtheir respective sojourns and studies in the Southwest, each returned tolongstanding family roots in the Northeast, where they’ve worked on variousenvironmental causes. We asked Lisa and Matt to examine the way theirwork lives have intersected and the role a Prescott College education playedin shaping each of their approachesto learning, leadership, and landprotection.Lisa: When I first met you,Matt, you were managing theDelaware Bay Program of theAmerican Littoral Society, andI immediately realized that youwere a force to be reckonedwith … In my advisory role Lisa S. Garrisonfor the Bayshore Highlands and Matt BlakeFund of the Open Space Institute, I recognizedthe creativity with which you werepiecing together parcels to strategicallyprotect farmlands and forested wetlandsalong the southern coast of New Jersey. Youwere vocal in helping the general public andgovernment leaders understand the value oflaying a groundwork that embodied soundplanning. You were also working ahead ofdevelopment in the most rural part of thestate with the greatest population densityanywhere in the US.You may have endured the occasional firestorm,but you were speaking truth to power(and anyone else who would listen) in a partof the country which, at the time, had relativelylittle history of government involvementin land protection. So I wasn’t atall surprised when I learned you were aDix Wildlife Area, nearBlack-founded Springtown,2012graduate of Prescott College. There aren’t many of us in this part ofthe world, and I immediately sensed you as a kindred spirit.Matt: It was a blessing to encounter someone with similarvalues who understands what I’m doing and how I’d beeneducated. Cumberland County and the Cohansey River is the placewhere you were born and raised and where I spent my childhoodsummers. We both grew up mucking around in marsh and mud,intrigued by insects and birds, hiking in cedar forests, around ponds,along meandering rivers. It isn’t the West, and I can’t say I haven’tenvied friends from Prescott who settled there, but this is a prettyamazing environment. Even when we’ve lost what we should havetreasured, we’ve been able to rally support to turn the tide here.We’ve successfully brought back the Osprey and the Bald Eagle …Lisa: We both brought specific tools here from our time at PrescottCollege—ways of encouraging and framing encounters betweenpeople and the natural world, but also an inclination to apply thekinds of experiential education we’d beenimmersed in at Prescott to a place like theDelaware Bayshore region whose story hasnot been fully told. Taking an interdisciplinaryapproach that combines history, environment,social action, and adventure can be a verycompelling way to lead people into a connectionwith the landscape.We’ve both led tours, for example, to helppeople understand and explore the route ofthe Underground Railroad in this area, inand around the 18th century Black-foundedtownship of Springtown. You did it by land,running annual bus tours that impart a firsthandview of the pathways enslaved peopletook as they came north from the EasternShore of Maryland and across DelawareBay—seeking shelter in the safety of bogs andwoodlands here surrounded by Quaker farms.“As safe as Canada” is the wayone refugee described the senseof sanctuary here.I did it by sea when, over adecade ago, I arranged for theDelaware Bay Schooner, NewJersey’s historic Tall Ship, to sailMaurice River, New Jersey, 2012 out to meet then New JerseySecretary of State Regena Thomas at the mouth of the CohanseyRiver to guide her vessel into port as she retraced the journey ofher forebears from Wilmington across the bay and up the labyrinthof waterways through the marsh. What better way to convey toTransitions Spring 2013 11
Page 1 and 2: Transitions Spring 2013 #
Page 3 and 4: TransitionSPublisherMarjory J. Sent
Page 7 and 8: Transitions Magazine Wins!The Presc
Page 10 and 11: history. Poets and painters, biolog
Page 14 and 15: “The environmental approach Ilear
Page 17 and 18: ADCBEJohn James Audubon Collection
Page 19 and 20: From PC to DCAlumna Julie Brown’s
Page 21 and 22: makers.” National Geographic shar
Page 23 and 24: A Parent’s PerspectivePast parent
Page 25 and 26: Class NotesPlease send Class Note s
Page 27 and 28: Alumni BriefsAlumni and Parent Gath
Page 29 and 30: International Research fellowship P
Page 31 and 32: The Last WordA Guide to Southern Ar

Transitions Magazine Spring 2013 - Prescott College

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