Friday, May 30, 2008

Eco League of Our Own


Maybe it's the summer urge to roam . . . or the commencement nostalgia of my own college travel experience with the Audubon Expedition Institute . . . or my review of the STARS draft credits on Education and Research (pdf). Whatever it is, I'm impressed again this morning by GMC's involvement with the Eco League, and I'm particularly struck by recruiting power of such a great program.
From GMC's Eco League website:
Stretching from Anchorage, Alaska, to Bar Harbor, Maine, the Eco League allows students to spend up to two nonconsecutive semesters of study at any of the five colleges [Green Mountain College, Alaska Pacific University, Prescott College, Northland College, and College of the Atlantic], or in any of the international exchange programs offered by an Eco League college. Best of all, students can participate in Eco League without transferring schools; the program is set up to allow seamless exchange of students, with students continuing to pay tuition to their home college.
The Eco League got started in 2004, and seems to be steadily gaining popularity on Green Mountain's campus. Six of our recent graduates participated in the exchange, and several more of our current students have attended other Eco League schools. Servin' It Up's own Dawn Sarli even made the trip out to Alaska Pacific back in her college days.
The Eco League is another expression of a greater commitment to student learning for the environment. I've written here before that sustainability professionals are eager to celebrate successes at other institutions -- even "rival" institutions -- because our hope is for progress in the field. The Eco League takes this a step further, focusing on educational opportunities for the individual by providing easy access to the resources of otherwise "competing" institutions.

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