The Event
On the morning of Friday, May 20th, 2022, highschool students from all over the Northeast Kingdom gathered (in front of their screens!) to attend the Northeast Kingdom Collaborative’s first ever Youth Convening.
For those familiar with the legacy of the NEK Collaborative’s work in the Kingdom, you’ll know what our convenings generally look like; regional leaders putting their heads together to discuss issues, advise one another’s projects and find middle ground for region-wide solutions. Housing, education, broadband and tourism, to name a few- all top-notch topics for sectors that the Kingdom continues to struggle with.
Yet the voices of the Collaborative’s partners are always informed by years of professional experience, leading and transforming their respective sectors as adults. What population has historically gone unheard at these conference rooms, zoom calls and cafe tables? The voices of youth in the Kingdom are due for representation- and the NEK Collaborative is their willing medium.
After a few guiding questions presented by the NEK Collaborative, conversation and experience-sharing took off. Here is what the youth of the NEK had to say about their experiences.
What have been some positive experiences of growing up in the NEK?
Students generally emphasized the strength of the relationships fostered in small town communities, between not only fellow students, but also those of teachers. In communities such as these, the youth feel the appreciation and support of their teachers strongly.
The NEK connection to the outdoors, too, was at the forefront of the student’s praises of the Northeast Kingdom. Both recreational connections to the land in the form of easily accessible trail systems and bodies of water, as well as educational opportunities, such as the Lake Region’s science pond, were placed at the forefront of the teenager’s recounted experiences.
What have been some negative experiences of growing up in the NEK?
The natural isolation of the Northeast Kingdom, however, could not go unnoticed in the youth’s recounted experiences. While the opportunities for naturalistic connection were strong, other activities, such as shopping, socialization with new faces and enjoying any diversity of foods were profoundly limited- particularly prior to students gaining mobile autonomy with their own car, which was, even then, limited by their distance. Moreover, while there were definite boons to small community life, extremely small class sizes served, at times, to deny students a peer group that shared their interests or priorities. Community events, such as Glover Day or the Danville fair, as well as community sports programs were named as events that were particularly effective at offsetting NEK isolation.
The winter, it was agreed, was particularly desolate for students who were not satisfied spending their winters skiing, ice fishing or snowmobiling. Additional community events and spaces, such as winter fairs or indoor basketball courts, were named as potential balms to this ennui.
Moreover, there exists a gap in educational opportunities discussed; while some schools offered dozens of AP courses and college courses, other students found themselves exhausting their schools’ higher education options by the end of Junior year.
How has COVID-19 positively impacted your, or your community’s, experience?
By the account of the students, the experience of remote learning was, in fact, widely looked upon as a positive academic experience. One shared that they were capable of completing in three hours what had, during in person learning, taken seven. Another said they were “In a better place, academically, after COVID.” Additionally, by and large, it was felt that- due to the isolation and small size of the Northeast Kingdom communities- the local impacts of COVID-19 were not felt to be drastic.
How has COVID-19 negatively impacted your, or your community’s, experience?
The transition from grade to grade- particularly that as a student taking no AP/honors classes to one taking many, or else from middle to high school- was made all the more difficult by the tumult of transitioning to, and from, hybrid school models. Once the transition to the hybrid educational mode had been acclimated to, the primary loss was considered to be that of community spaces afforded by in-person schools; cafeteria lunches and hallways were missed- although even this has named silver linings, giving students more time to spend time with those who they consider their closest of friends. Of additional concern was the damage done by COVID-19 to the sense of the community in the NEK, one student saying, of their beloved community events, that “bringing things back has been harder than continuing”, expressing their concern for the return of community spirit in the post-covid normal.
Why would you return to, or remain in, the NEK?
The majority of attendees, having been raised in Vermont, did not intend to leave permanently, should their options afford a return. Reasons included natural beauty, family, small town spirit and the increasing possibility of having a career while working remotely. The sentiment was, broadly, that their post-high school years would be spent exploring and experiencing other ways of life, while their heart remained in the North of Vermont.
Why would you hesitate to return to, or remain in, the NEK?
Those who did not intend to stay in the Northeast Kingdom gravitated towards two main reasons: either they were repulsed by the issues they had experienced in the Northeast Kingdom as youth, being lack of social/community/entertainment activities in the winter and the geographic isolation in general, or those difficulties they foresaw in realizing their future careers while based out of the NEK. A lack of career opportunities with significantly fulfilling specificity resonated as a potential issue across the convening.
