A 30 Year Legacy

Written by Adrian Owens

Allison Van Akkeren doing what she loves most, exploring the outdoors.

Bigelow Basin, December 1996, Winter Expedition Day 3, late afternoon. Allison was hiking near the end of the Expedition line as the whole group was coming down from the summit and about to make camp. She was hanging at the back so she could slip away unnoticed. Just before the group stopped, Allison turned southeast still carrying her full pack. She was breaking trail on her own now, out to the snowmobile trail for a few miles, eventually along the plowed roads in western Craftsbury and up to the Common well after dark.  This was the plan all along; help out on the trip as support and first aider for students for the first 3 days, and then get back to campus in time to cook (along with the rest of the kitchen staff) the Expedition celebration dinner.

Allison Van Akkeren will retire from Sterling College for a second time from 30 years of working at Sterling College in many capacities – most recently stepping into the pivotal role of Interim Dean of Student in June 2024. A generation of Sterling students have benefitted from her talent and passion, but few know the full scope of her career and the legacy she created. This interview will attempt to fill in some of those details. The vignette above is just one of the many extraordinary efforts she has made for Sterling over the years.

Q: When and in what capacity did you start working at Sterling?

Allison: I began June 1, 1991 as the Director of an on-campus Summer Youth Employment Program called “Ready. Willing and Able” (RWA). At the end of the summer, I was hired full time as a faculty member and Wellness Director working closely with nurse Carol Maroni. I taught courses such as Bounder 1 and 2 with Winter Expedition and Winter Trip, Conservation Skills, Farm and Forest that first year and onward. During the following summers I continued to lead RWA. This work and learning program, similar to Youth Conservation Camps, (I was a Youth Conservation Camp worker in my teens.) brought area disadvantaged youths to work and learn on the Sterling College campus. Most of the campus’s concrete sidewalks were built by this program. I received a Governor’s award for Excellence from Governor Dean for the effective leadership and innovative design of this program. 

Q:  That was back before the BA program and specialized majors. Sterling students earned an Associate of Arts degree at the time. Courses were broadly addressing resource management and environmental stewardship. How has your teaching and Sterling work evolved since then?

Allison: Even before starting to teach at Sterling, I believed in the holistic value of combining education about nutrition, food systems, outdoor recreation, interpersonal skills, science, justice and environmental sustainability. It just took a long time to bring it all together within an institution. 

The first big step was taken when I became Sterling’s Kitchen Manager in 1995, temporarily stepping back from teaching for a year. Changing the Food Service from a traditional industrial style food system to a mission driven system that is in line with the College’s environmental values was a gradual process. Few people at the time thought it was possible to have a year round diet by purchasing mostly local foods. Additionally we looked at the impact of the food system on the environment and made choices based on those environmental factors. I still believe this is an area missing in many of the local food initiatives. I took on the position of leading the kitchen by convincing the administration that I could fill the role of Kitchen Manager without increasing costs, and I did! I was able to significantly decrease overall costs, reduce waste and electrical usage by moving to a whole foods approach. It was my dream that students would come to Sterling for the food and feel a part of the production of the food in the kitchen. After speaking with other Work Colleges I believe we are the only Work College where a kitchen job is a sought after position. Bringing the food service directly into line with Sterling’s mission was a big challenge at the time, but it has been beneficial to students’ education and the College as a whole. The Sterling Kitchen received a Governor's Award for Excellence in Environment for the work done redesigning the food system at Sterling (from Governor Jim Douglas). 

Q: Hearing you say that makes me realize how your redirecting of the kitchen addressed all 3 pillars of sustainability: economic, social, and ecological. Which other classes and skills have you taught at Sterling? 

Allison: Yes, the pillars of  sustainability have been key in my personal life as well as my goals for my work at Sterling College. 

In 1996, I played a key role in adding Nordic skiing to the Winter Bounder curriculum. Then in 1998, my Human Nutrition class was added to the curriculum as part of the initial Bachelor’s Degree majors. Along the way I have taught many classes including Foundations of Science, Bounder 2 and 3 which included winter trip, white water canoeing and rock climbing, Agricultural Techniques, human adaptations to the cold unit,Winter Ecology, and parts of Canoe Trip Guiding.

 In addition to Nutrition, some of the courses I taught repeatedly over the last 20 years are Tools and Their Application, Wilderness First Responder, Wilderness First Aid, Small Group Dynamics, ASOP/Expedition I, Community Building through Winter Recreation, and Winter Sense of Place. More recently, I designed and taught Advanced Nordic Skiing as a stand-alone class, Environmental Education, Flat-water Canoeing, Community Food Action, and Provisioning Your Pantry.

Q: That is quite a range of classes, with many supporting the core curriculum as well as the Outdoor Education major. A course like Environmental Education served students from many majors. Tell more about your teaching in the Sustainable Food Systems Program.

Allison: Even before I started teaching the Nutrition class in 1998, I advised many independent studies in Nutrition with up to five students in what we called a "guided” independent study. So I started teaching “food systems” before there was a food systems program.  

Later, when I was back to teaching and overseeing the kitchen instead of day-to-day management, I supported the creation of the Sustainable Food Systems major with Anne Obelnicki. I oversaw the kitchen at Sterling for about 14 years. My role was to oversee the budget, guide the kitchen to continue to follow the Kitchen Mission, hire and supervise staff, and fill in when staffing was short. We had regular kitchen meetings with students. For two years, Anna Shulz worked in an Americorps position I designed with Erik Hansen with the aim to bring more local foods to the Sterling kitchen and the Craftsbury community. She coined the name for the Kitchen meetings “A Sense of Plate”. 

Food Systems covers a broad realm of skills and knowledge, and I see the education aspect of it as very important. In the Environmental Education class I included not only the traditional nature education topics and teaching as part of the Four Winds program but also involved students in hands-on experience with Farm to School education in the Craftsbury elementary and middle schools. 

I responded to classes moving to a remote format for the beginning of Summer 2020 by creating a new course, Provisioning Your Pantry to help students learn more self-sufficient cooking skills while at home. Liz Chadwick and I sent a package to them with supplies for bread baking, fermentation, jam making, and more. 

Q: I have seen you as a strong role model for women students, and for all students because of your outdoor skills, confidence, hard work, and empathy. Is there a central theme to how you teach?

Allison: There isn’t one single theme, but building community connections is one of which I am proud.  Involving students in the community through classes and work has enriched the Sterling student experience as well as Craftsbury and other towns.  Some of the partners we have engaged with are: Pete’s Greens, the Craftsbury Schools, Shelburne Farms, Green Mountain Farm to School, Salvation Farms, Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Four Winds Nature Institute, Center for an Agriculture Economy, the Hardwick Area Food Pantry, Northwoods Stewardship Center, HungerFreeVermont and many more. 

One collaboration with Salvation Farms lasted for several years. Students in the Nutrition Class produced a fruit or vegetable information sheet with history, storage, recipes and more. These were collated and made into the Vermont Fresh Handbook https://www.salvationfarms.org/resources/#vermont-fresh still in use today. We also did yearly taste tests for the community to test the recipes. I also worked closely with Shelburne Farms with a two year grant bringing Farm to School programming to our local schools. Several Sterling College Senior projects were based on this work. I also designed and implemented a Work College Consortium grant that connected the Nutrition class with the kitchen through recipe development and taste testing. 

Q: Those community connections are powerful. What other legacies of your community food systems work are important to highlight?  

Allison: I choose early on to focus on Farm to School education as an equitable and just avenue to bring local and healthy food education to the community. Over the years I have personally seen a cultural shift in the local schools to an acceptance of a variety of local vegetables. I was on the initial NOFA Vermont Farm to School advisory board in the 1990s.

With Sterling students we hosted a yearly community Harvest Dinner. For over 15 years Sterling students made pies, bread, and cider with elementary and middle school students and cooked stews with local ingredients.  That continued with the Community Food Action class this Spring. Our dinner was scheduled in mid-March just as campus and the whole country was shutting down due to COVID. We quickly pivoted to turn it into a take-out style soup supper that people either picked up in person or we arranged delivery.  That weekly free dinner continued with community volunteers right through the pandemic and transitioned to its current grant funded model serving 200 Craftsbury community members per week.

Q: I’ve seen you at work outside the classroom as much as in. What are some of the co-curricular activities you’ve led that you feel have had a big impact.

Allison: While Wellness Director, I organized a bi-weekly Wellness Series with guest speakers from around the region addressing issues such as sexual identity, alternative healing practices, and nutrition for athletic performance. One consistent joy is utilizing my home and gardens as teaching tools in classes to demonstrate a sustainable living model. I regularly offered extra curricular cooking sessions such as noodle, pie and bread baking for the Sterling College community. 

Many years we had a Farm to School Work Program position. Several of the students who have graduated from Sterling who were in this position have gone on to do similar work in other communities. I was instrumental in supporting a student initiative to create and maintain the ReUse Room. A way for our community to increase our environmental effectiveness while having fun! Support for the ReUse room is now part of the work program. 

Q: What’s next for you?

Allison: It has been a rich and rewarding life at Sterling but for many years I feel like I’ve been doing two full-time jobs; teaching and homesteading. I am looking forward to concentrating on home life and getting our life a bit better organized. I will be teaching the Nordic Skiing class at Sterling this winter and see the possibility of staying involved with Sterling. There are so many things I hope to bring back into my life, I’ve already begun playing my flute again and look forward to more singing. I want to spend as much time as possible outdoors exploring, observing, and learning. I look forward to staying involved in the Craftsbury community and hope that Sterling students continue to visit us at our homestead. I am excited about the possibilities that the future holds.