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Previous | Next Jane Engelman '08 Traveling the world gives student a real-life introduction to organic farming Some call it alternative, some call it progressive--to some it's crazy. Whatever it may be, Jane Engelman's education cannot be confined within walls, and her search for a different kind of learning has led her from the volcanoes of Central America to the sandy soils of Australia. "I took time off from school because I wanted to explore a different education than what I had been in for so long," she says. "I also wanted to put myself in a challenging situation that I wasn't used to and see how I reacted." Jane's first test was a five-month field study program in Costa Rica. While living with a host family in the capital, Jane took Spanish language and culture studies courses with the Institute for Central American Developmental Studies, and then moved in with a different host family in a tiny agricultural community at the base of a volcano. She describes that experience as a "big smack in the face for my introduction to organic foods-and then I saw men in full-body suits spraying chemicals everywhere." An eight-week internship took her to different farms, one of which hosted a program that gives kids at least one nutritious meal a day. Jane learned about Green Mountain College while in Costa Rica, and she applied while abroad. Jane, however, was just getting warmed up. One month after leaving Costa Rica, she was aboard yet another plane, this time bound for down under. She got to know her sulfates as a winemaker's apprentice in New Zealand. For four months, Jane lived in a town with a population smaller than Poultney, Vt., where vines grow in red sand instead of soil. (She later used her knowledge to plant a few vines at GMC's Cerridwen Farm.) Upon returning to the States, Jane worked as a summer counselor at Farm and Wilderness, a day camp in Plymouth, Vermont. After a jam-packed year, Jane began her GMC career. "I knew immediately after stepping out of the car that this was the place I wanted to be," she said. The farm was definitely a big draw. Now a sophomore, Jane upholds her education ideals as a Progressive Program student, where she enjoys having more control over the path her schooling takes. As a liberal studies major, she is leaning, unsurprisingly, toward a focus in agriculture, food systems, and sustainable community development. Agriculture was not always a part of life for this Evanston, Illinois, native, however. "I've always really liked plants," she notes, "but growing up in the city (just outside Chicago), there wasn't a lot of agriculture around. As I became more conscious of what I was eating and where my food comes from, I became interested in agriculture." |
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