Teaching is inherently optimistic because education is an investment in the future. In May, that future can feel particularly close as students prepare to graduate and move into the next phase of their lives. For some students, that transition is a little further off. UVM recently had a particularly poignant juxtaposition, as local kindergarten students came up to campus during the last week of finals. 

Ms. Benz and Ms. Blair, teachers at Sustainability Academy in downtown Burlington, brought their three dozen kindergarteners on a walking field trip to the University of Vermont. An annual tradition for that grade meant a big hike, seeing the campus, visiting the education department, touring a dorm, and stopping by the STEM complex. Physics Professor Luke Donforth was on hand to talk to them a little about science and indirectly reinforce the opportunity to see themselves as college students in the future. 

“It’s great to have them up on campus. And it’s lots of fun to share a demo or two; we talked about weather and clouds, fire and safety, said Dr. Donforth. “We also talk about how it may be years down the road, but they can come to college and study a wide variety of things and how that opens up options for them.”

In their daily closing circle, the majority of the kindergarteners said that the cloud experiment, where a bicycle pump is used to make a cloud appear inside a bottle, had been their favorite part of the day. While they may not have hung on to every aspect of the discussion of pressure and moisture involved, they will hold on to the sense of joy and wonder. And the college students, watching the young children from the sides as they go to their final classes, can reflect back on their own path as they prepare for the future.