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Ten Students Receive 2007 Land
Stewards’ Awards
The Vermont Land Trust’s Land Steward
Award is giving annually to graduating seniors of Vermont’s technical
career centers who have shown exceptional commitment to land stewardship
in the fields of forestry or agriculture.
"There is a tendency for the many
challenges facing Vermont's agricultural and forestry sectors to eclipse
signs of hope,” said Gil Livingston, president of the Vermont Land
Trust. “One source of hope and optimism is the corps of excellent
students who are focused on farming and forest management. The Vermont
Land Trust is pleased to participate with others in honoring these
students because the long-term value of our land protection success
depends on this next generation.”
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Al Karnatz of the Vermont Land
Trust with Adam Marszalkowski and Ashley Severy at the
Marszalkowski Farm. |
The ten students are:
Adam Marszalkowski, Panton
Adam’s family owns and leases 1,500 acres on which they grow soy and
corn. He works with his dad, his younger brother, a friend and a
part-time helper, so Adam’s contribution to the farm is substantial. “I
like the end of the year because you get to see what your hard work and
labor accomplished,” said Adam. He has held both reporter and secretary
offices in FFA and has competed in many organization contents, winning
in agricultural business management and agricultural sales at the state
level. Adam will be attending SUNY Cobleskill for Agricultural Business
Management. After college, he plans on returning to Vermont to work with
his dad on their farm.
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VLT's Donald Campbell with
Anthony Solari and his teacher Mark Skakel; the skidder
bridges that Anthony helped build are pictured in the
background. |
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Anthony Solari, Rutland
Anthony will be graduating from the Stafford Technical Center, where he
has worked hard in both academics and extracurricular activities.
Anthony has a strong connection to the environment and has helped his
class organize field trips. He has been working for Central Vermont
Public Service assessing right-of-ways as part of his co-op project. At
school, he has been building skidder bridges. The bridges will be loaned
to local loggers and will reduce silt and debris in steams. “I believe
that Anthony, with his intelligence, caring attitude, work ethic and
love of the outdoors is destined to do great work in the Natural
Resources field,” said his natural resources teacher Mark Skakel.
Ashley Severy, Middlebury
Growing up on her grandparent’s farm, Ashley developed a love for
agriculture. She has been showing dairy heifers since she was
5-years-old. Ashley will be graduating from the Patricia A. Hannaford
Career Center, where she has been active in 4-H and FFA — for which she
is currently serving as the Vermont State Association Vice President.
She spends one day a week working as an intern on a dairy farm. Ashley
will be attending Cornell University where she will study Animal
Science. After college she hopes to be the herd manager for a dairy
farm.
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Brian Heffernan of Bristol. |
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Brian Heffernan, Bristol
Brian is active in FFA. He placed first-individual in the state FFA
Forestry Career Development event last January. He is on the Sustainable
Firewood Production committee of Vermont Family Forests. Brian is also
an entrepreneur who owns his own firewood processor, skidsteer, log
skidder and chainsaws. He is actively thinning a sugarbush as part of
his Co-op Education Project. The sale of the logs and firewood are
helping him pay for his equipment Brian will also be working for Canopy
Timber Alternatives in Middlebury doing log scaling and grading. “I
really like to be outdoors,” said Brian. “There's no better place than
the woods.”
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Cody Montgomery and his family. |
Cody Montgomery, Braintree
Cody will be graduating from the Randolph Technical Career Center.
Cody’s class manages the four Randolph town forests. As part of his
class work, Cody has completed many planting, thinning and trail
projects. Both Cody’s father and grandfather were loggers. “Since I was
old enough to be in the woods, I always helped my dad out,” Cody said,
speaking about how he helps his father produce firewood. Cody will be
attending the Castleton State College Environmental Studies program with
a focus on forestry. “I love being outside. I love leaving the woods in
better condition than when I found them,” Cody said.
Justin Perry, Hardwick
Justin will be graduating from the Green Mountain Technical and Career
Center, where he is president of the FFA chapter and is very active in
school forestry projects. He will be receiving full certification with
the Vermont Loggers Academy and the Logger Education to Advance
Professionalism (LEAP) program administered by the Northeast Forest
Stewardship Project. Justin has worked on a Christmas tree farm, a dairy
farm and has been a boiler at a local sugarhouse. After graduating he
plans to continue working on the land.
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Marc Best receives his award
from Kris Hammer of VLT. |
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Marc Best, Bradford
Marc will be graduating from the River Bend Career and Technical Center,
where he has been a founding member of the Oxbow Environmental
Coalition. He has done many community service projects ranging from
Japanese Knotweed eradication to trail and conservation work with the
Bradford Conservation Commission. Marc and two other students founded
the Oxbow Environmental Coalition. The coalition has increased
composting and recycling at the school and has organized tree plantings.
Marc has found a lot of satisfaction working with the coalition. “I can
see a direct impact of what I’ve done in the community” he said. Marc
will be attending Clarkson University in the fall. He hopes to have a
career that gets him outdoors. “I want to come back to Vermont to do
whatever I can to conserve the land,” he said.
Matthew Lewis, Springfield
Matthew will be graduating from the River Valley Technical Center, where
he has been active in his FFA chapter. He has done many community
service projects ranging from stocking fish on the Black River to
promoting agriculture at the Vermont Apple Festival. Matthew has worked
at Dutton Farm, a small family livestock farm, for the past four years.
He says he has learned a lot from his work there. “The best part is that
it’s never the same task,” said Matthew. “It’s always something
different.” Those tasks have included haying and working with beef cows.
Matthew also enjoyed taking horticulture in his senior year. “I’ve
learned a lot about tree harvesting, and the environment and how to
preserve it,” he said. Matthew will be going to college for
construction, but his ultimate goal is to have a small livestock farm of
his own in tandem with his work in construction.
Ora Howe, Brattleboro
Ora will be graduating from the Windham Regional Career Center. He was
elected chapter president of the FFA and achieved a fourth place finish
in the Vermont FFA forestry contest. Ora’s connection to the land
includes timber stand improvement on his family’s 60 acres, reclaiming
pastureland, participating in a rain garden project in Dummerston, and
working on his uncle’s dairy farm. Ora will be attending SUNY Cobelskill
to study machine technology. He said he is fascinated by how equipment
works. While his interests span from agriculture to forestry to
mechanics, Ora especially enjoys working in the woods. “I grew up in the
woods,” he said. “My dad was a logger for a while. I think he passed
that down to me.”
Thomas Hardy, Derby
Thomas will be graduating from the North Country Career Center. Thomas,
an Eagle Scout, has done pond and brook conservation, cleared brush and
trees and built bridges on his family’s land in preparation for the Cub
Scout day camp. He loves to sugar and helps two friends in their
sugarhouses. Thomas recently started a job at Newport Farm and Garden.
He hopes to someday own his own sawing business.
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Thomas Hardy of Derby with his
family. |
The Vermont Land Trust is accepting
donations from those who share an interest in acknowledging student
achievement and encouraging future land stewards. Donations may be sent
to the Land Stewards Fund at 8 Bailey Avenue Montpelier, Vermont 05602.
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