David Malakoff '86 gives the
Keynote address at the 2007
Convocation Ceremony
Braving the cold waters of Frenchman's Bay, COA students, faculty and staff pose
before taking the plunge in the annual
Bar Island Swim 2007
Stacie Brimmage '08 enjoying her
polar bear dip |
COA Opens 36th Year of Classes
by Donna Gold,
Director of Public Relations
College of the Atlantic begins its 36th year of classes with some 110 incoming students,
continuing a trend of increasing enrollment.
The school year officially opened on Wednesday, Sept. 5, with a convocation featuring David
Malakoff, a 1986 COA graduate, who is currently the supervising editor and correspondent for National Public Radio's science desk. President David
Hales and Bill Carpenter, COA faculty member in literature and creative writing, one of the college's first four founding faculty members also spoke
at the ceremony.
At 4 p.m., following convocation, 95 COA students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees and
friends jumped into the Atlantic Ocean to swim to Bar Island. This was the largest number, ever, of swimmers attempting to brave the frigid and
choppy waters in the 17th annual Bar Island Swim. The swim is a rite of passage for the fall term of the college, a metaphorical introduction to COA,
where students become invigorated by immersing themselves in both work and play.
The swimmers jump off the college pier to swim to Bar Island and back, watched by COA's
Capt. Andrew Peterson and a host of boaters who are ready to assist anyone unable to complete the cold journey. Students return to hot chocolate and
a traditional barbecue.
Included in this year's first-year class are students who have volunteered at a wildlife
rehabilitation center, worked with Habitat
for Humanity in New Orleans, attended the Gay-Straight Alliance Network's Youth Empowerment
Summit, worked alongside archaeologists on Mayan ruins in Belize, converted a car to run on vegetable oil and collaborated with Caribbean youth for
cultural and environmental conservation. Additionally, the class includes artists, dancers, musicians, actors, photographers, poets, humane
society volunteers, National Honor Society members, student council presidents, student ambassadors, FIRST Robotics teams members, Model United
Nations delegates, wildlife trackers, athletes and naturalists.
Fourteen percent of the incoming class are international students; 17 percent are from Maine
and 15 percent from the mid-Atlantic states. Some 48 percent come from the New England states.
Thirty-five years ago this month, COA's first class held 32 students. Then, as now, COA
offered one undergraduate degree, in human ecology, integrating knowledge from all academic disciplines and personal experience to investigate and
improve the relationships between humans and our social and natural communities.
COA was founded on the premise that education should go beyond understanding the world as it
is, to enabling students to actively participate in shaping its future. COA's distinctive interdisciplinary education approach develops the kinds of
creative thinkers and doers who are able to lead all sectors of society to promote sustainable ecosystems while meeting compelling and growing human
needs.
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