Alternative Pathways in Vermont Adult Learning

How do schools deal with students like “Corry?” He is a self-described “real Vermonter” who dropped out of a favorite forestry class because the teacher made him take off his hat. Corry hunts coyotes for bounty and talks poetically about being in the woods at dusk as the deer come out. He is by no means an underachiever; he wants his high school diploma, but can’t stand to be in school.

I write individualized graduation plans for students who need alternative routes to earning their high school diploma at Vermont Adult Learning (VAL) in Middlebury. As a High School Completion Plan Manager of ACT 176, I’ve come to realize that helping Corry earn his high school diploma is the easy part. What he really needs is a community mentor—a game warden or a professional taxidermist—somebody who can show him that there is work to be had doing the things that he loves.

Being connected and finding work is especially hard for students who have tenuous relationships with their schools and who have no job experience or soft skills training. Most of my students in Addison County want to be connected to those around them and they want to have a job, but they do not have basic training in networking, job searching or communication.

As a 2012 Rowland Fellow, I plan to design internship opportunities for VAL students so they can earn school credit—and money—while learning professional skills that will nurture their passions and help them succeed after graduation. I want to set up cooperative learning opportunities within the Addison County community wherein a student can shadow, intern, and apprentice with an organization while earning high school credit for his or her experiences. The ultimate goal is to get students like Corry connected to his community and prepared for a life of work and self sufficiency after he graduates.