Graduation 2023

Graduation day was another gorgeous day in what was a gorgeous Spring here in VT!  I'm so proud of these young women.  Lucy Ambach (Molecular Biology and Biochemistry) and Manya Kula (Psychology) were both honored with Magna Cum Laude status, and both Laney Sullivan (Economics) and Addie Mahler (Joint Environmental Studies/Biology) were Summa Cum Laude, so right off the bat that's an impressive group of seniors!

On top of that, Laney received high honors by the Econ Department and was also the recipient of the D.K. Smith Economics Prize.  This is an award given to the student who writes the best senior thesis in the Economics Department.  WOW--well done, Laney!!

Addie also received department honors in both departments.  Additionally, she was awarded the Michael Moss '16 Prize in Environmental Studies.  This is an award to recognize a graduating senior whose academic success stems from a passion for the outdoors and the natural world, whose motivations transcend a job search or class ranking, and who demonstrates a genuine love for wildlife.  Very cool!  And, to top it off, Addie was selected as a Phi Beta Kappa recipient, so kudos to her for that wonderful list of honors.

Pictured here are the original class that started four years ago, so we all had a fun dinner out in town during senior week!  I'm going to miss this group, but fortunately Kelly will be back as a super-senior in the Fall!

And, as a throw-back, here's the picture from our opening BBQ their freshman year at the Knoll.  Finally, the last picture of the group is from Senior Night at our last home match of the season this Fall.

More Spring Awards and Presentations

Addie, Kelly and Laney all had thesis or senior work presentations this Spring, but at a later date than my previous post around the time of the Spring Symposium, and all three were fantastic.  Addie's was an oral presentation, and Laney's was a poster presentation, as was Kelly's.  Kelly did another presentation on her thesis work, this time in poster form, and it was fun to see the adjustments she'd made from the earlier time of her oral presentation for the Spring Symposium.  

I'm not sure you can read the titles of all of these presentations, but Addie's was for Environmental Studies and Biology, and both Laney and Kelly's were for their Economics majors.

I'm so proud of all of these seniors for their incredible careers, both academically and athletically!

Then, the other award that was presented at the Student Leadership Awards Ceremony this Spring was to Catilin Smith.  Caitlin received the Franklin G. Williams 1913 & Sara H. Williams 1912 Memorial Award.  This is awarded to sophomore student on the basis of deep human qualities of natural kindness, perceptivity of the needs and feelings of others, and an abiding sense of personal responsibility.  Caitlin is a very deserving recipient of this award and I was honored to be there to see her receive it.  

Spring Happenings: Symposium, Poetry Readings, and Archery

Spring is a wonderful time of the year.  Obviously, I love the Fall and being in season, but Spring in VT is also a gorgeous time of the year, and there's always a lot going on as the semester wraps up.  There will be more updates, but we've had students present their work at the Spring Symposium, the Black Studies Student Work Gallery, and even some more recreational events like learning Archery from Coach Sarah!

First we had presentations at the Spring Symposium from Kelly and Lucy, both of whom crushed it!  Lucy presented her information in poster form and talked to small groups all after noon about her research.  Kelly presented her research for her thesis as a pre-cursor to presenting and defending her thesis.

Next, Reya wrote a poem for her Black Studies class and then performed a reading of it at the Black Studies Student Work Gallery.

AND, finally, Gabbie and Steph had a little free time and asked if I would teach them Archery.  Now, I'm no pro, but I do teach Beginning Archery for PE and I have to say, they were quick studies!!  I mean, I'm sure I'm a good teacher (ha ha), but look what they did after about 15 minutes!  

So fun to engage with my players outside of the normal sphere of our learning environment, and I love to see them explain what they've been working on academically and also see the adventurous spirit of wanting to learn a new activity!  More updates to come...

February Graduates: Unique Tradition at Middlebury

 

February Graduation: A Unique Tradition

I hope you enjoye reading about this uniquely Middlebury Tradition!  This year this special celebration was moved to campus due to the extreme winter conditions and high wind/low temperatures warning.  It's a bit more of a "ski down" on the mountain, but for some, the gentle hill in front of the Chapel was probably welcomed!

Here's the write-up in the Campus, our college newspaper.  Feb graduation to continue with some restrictions in place - The Middlebury Campus

Post Season Awards

We had many nice honors and awards this season, starting with the All-NESCAC awards.  We had NINE members on the Academic All-NESCAC Team also, which was great!

NESCAC:

Gabbie--2nd Team All-NESCAC

Britt --All-Sportsmanship Team

NESCAC All-Academic:  

Lucy, Manya, Laney, Britt, Lexi, 

Katie, Kelly, Caitlin and Steph. 

Katie and Kelly were both honored by NEWVA (New England Women's Volleyball Association) and the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) and Gabbie and Laney were honored by NEWVA.

AVCA:

  

  Kelly was 1st Team All Region

    Katie was Honorable Mention All-Region

    Kelly was Honorable Mention All-American

NEWVA:

    Kelly and Gabbie were 2nd Team All-Newva

    Katie was Honorable Mention

    Laney was selected for the Senior Classic, honoring the region's top seniors.

Kelly joins a very select group of MCVB alums selected for Honorable Mention All-American, so an extra congrats go out to her for that nice honor!

MCVB Wraps Up 2022 Season with Banquet at Fire & Ice

Always fun to celebrate our season!  I miss the team once the season is over and we don't get to hang out every day.  We have class photos here as well as our Team Award winners.  Our banquet is a time to celebrate our Team for this year, and our seniors.  We keep it pretty simple, because that's who we are, but we had our dinner this year at Fire & Ice Restaurant, which was different but nice! 

Our Seniors got their Middlebury Fleece Blankets with their number's embroidered on it, which I think they all enjoy! Then, we have pictures of each class in reverse order, and the freshmen are awarded the Varsity M for their first year on varsity!

For our Team Award Winners, we had ties for two awards this year.  Our Panther Pride Award for the best teammate went to both Kelly and Lexi (the Black Mug).  Our Yellow Jersey Award (think Tour de France) for consistent daily effort  went to both Campbell and Kelly (the Yellow Jersey.  And, our MCVB Spirit Award went to Britt and she got the pen set for her desk!  

It's always fun to read what their teammates write about them when they're voting and we read off a few of those replies for each person. when handing out the awards.  It was a fun night to celebrate everyone on the team, including my assistant coaches Brian and Jill, our Trainer extraordinaire Beth, and our Faculty Affiliate Melissa.  Thank you one and all for another fantastic season of Volleyball fun!!

MCVB Alums Visit Campus

We LOVE when our alums visit us either here on campus or when we're on the road, so I wanted to highlight a few recent visits!  We had a surprise visit from a couple of somewhat recent alums in Emily Kolodka '18 and Becca Raffel '18 over parents' weekend.   

 

I've already written about some of these others, but to put them all in one spot, Isabella Marcus '22, Shea Golden '21, and Ali Wheeler '22 saw us down at MIT.

And Corley Doyle and Maggie Wise (both '22) visited over Homecoming! 

SO fun seeing ALL of them--thanks for coming and continuing to support
MCVB!!

Additionally, here are a few other photos of Alums who've visited over the last couple of years:

KT Lillich '97 visited over reunion this past June with her son!  And, Jaime Wong Larson '06 visited later this past summer with her son and husband, who is also a MIDD Alum!