Here are a few images from our 30th Anniversary celebration on May 15th and all the amazing work we got done around campus!
Showing posts with label 30th anniversary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 30th anniversary. Show all posts
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Yestermorrow 2010 and the next 30 years
The following speech was presented by Executive Director Kate Stephenson at the 30th Anniversary celebration on May 15, 2010
Yestermorrow 2010 and Beyond
For those of you who I haven’t met yet, my name is Kate Stephenson, and I am the Executive Director here at Yestermorrow. It’s wonderful to see so many familiar faces and at the same time so many new ones. It’s truly amazing to think about where the school has been and all the changes over the past 30 years that make Yestermorrow what it is today. In my experience here at the school over the past 8 years, I’ve been able to be a part of many of those changes and met many incredible people in the process. After hearing John talk about the beginnings of the school, I’d like to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about where we are today, and what the next 30 years of Yestermorrow might have in store.
Today, 2010, Yestermorrow is offering a record 168 classes a year. Our 1,100 students a year come from around the country and around the globe (this year we’ve had students from Germany, Hong Kong, and all over Canada). We have over 150 instructors on our faculty from as far as Hawaii, Ontario, Seattle and Florida. The school’s reach and reputation continue to grow as our graduates help us spread the word about what’s happening here at Yestermorrow.
In addition to our many short courses, we now offer three in-depth certificate level courses – in Sustainable Building and Design, Natural Building and Woodworking. All three programs are currently full to capacity and interest increases every year. We’re seeing more and more students coming to Yestermorrow as a critical stepping stone in their careers, some of them choosing Yestermorrow as an alternative to a traditional college education, others coming as part of a mid-career transition into something new.
Over the past 10 years we have had 127 interns working at the school (myself included). These emerging design/build professionals are in many ways the core of our educational program. They help us keep the school running, are enthusiastic students, and build an incredible skill set and network during their time at Yestermorrow, ranging from 3 to 12 months. Our former interns have gone on to become award-winning architects, skilled furnituremakers, teachers, small businesspeople, treehouse builders, solar installers, and timberframers. In many ways they are the future of the design/build profession, and many of them are now coming back to the School as instructors, helping us build the next generation of faculty.
This year marks a major shift towards reducing our fossil fuel footprint on campus with the installation of two new solar systems- a 100,000 BTU solar hot water system to heat water for the kitchen and bathrooms; and a 28 kW photovoltaic system which will produce over 90% of the electricity needed to power the campus each year. Both of these projects are not only about “walking the talk” and demonstrating what we teach, but they also help improve our organizational sustainability by lowering our operating costs to heat and power the campus.
This year we also celebrate the 10th anniversary of the summer lecture series (although I did find an old flyer in the archives for a 1983 lecture series, so maybe it’s been more than 10 years…). This annual event is an important way for us to reach out to the local community, talk about what we’re doing here, and provide an educational resource for the Mad River Valley. We bring in creative, inspiring leaders from the design/build world to talk about their work on a diverse range of topics. We just published the lecture schedule yesterday, so please pick up a copy in the lobby or check it out on the website. The series starts June 16th and runs every Wednesday night through August 18th.
We also have 14 incredibly dedicated members of our Board of Directors who volunteer many hours of their time to hold the vision for the school alongside our staff, who despite being underpaid and overworked, make this place what it is today, and in hundreds of little ways keep things moving forward every day.
I’ve thrown out a lot of numbers, and that’s one quantitative way to get a sense of what’s going on here, but there are also so many un-quantifiable moments that tell the story of the School. A student comes back to visit with a handful of photos of the house they designed in a Home Design/Build class ten years ago and have finally built. A group of women gathered together at the end of a Carpentry for Women class who had never held a hammer before and have now learned how a whole building goes together. A certificate student launches his own natural building business with the skills he learned here. There are honestly so many stories I have trouble keeping track, because here at Yestermorrow EVERY DAY someone is learning something new and taking that knowledge out into the world and putting it into action.
So… that’s a little bit about where we stand. But the burning question remains: where are we going? In the year and a half since I took on the role of Executive Director, I’ve been getting that question a lot. Everyone wants to know what my vision is for the school. And while I have plenty of vision, I also believe wholeheartedly that this is not a place where one individual’s vision will rule the School. I see myself as a facilitator, an instigator, the person who asks the tough questions, and someone who can rally the people and resources to take Yestermorrow to the next level.
My vision for Yestermorrow is to build on what we’ve created so far, to raise the professionalism of the school, to improve the quality of the educational experience, and to make Yestermorrow a national center for design/build education.
Just after we celebrated Yestermorrow’s 25th anniversary we dove into an intensive year-long strategic planning process. We talked to students, to board members, to staff, to our competitors, and in the end we came out with a plan to:
- Increase the number and diversity of courses
- To build more in-depth certificate and semester programs
- To increase the professionalism of our staff and intern program
- To plan for future campus growth
And four years into this plan, I have to say I think we’re on target. This year we received a $25,000 grant to help us develop a semester-long program in sustainable design/build. We’ve hired Jon Mingle to design the curriculum and plan for the launch of the program in 2011. This is a really exciting step in deepening our relationships with architecture schools and colleges around the country and creating a hands-on program which will be truly unique.
We’ve also spent the last 3 years working to develop a campus master plan which will provide the facilities to make our enrollment goals possible. We’ve set REALLY ambitious goals for what we design and build― to create something beautiful which articulates in practice our mission of teaching ‘good design’, to push the limits of efficiency and on-site energy production towards a goal of carbon neutrality, to create an abundant permaculture landscape, and to incorporate students into the design and construction process. We’ve set the bar high. And as a result, we’re taking things slowly. We have an incredible base of knowledge within the Yestermorrow community, and we need to figure out how to tap it effectively to bring our big visions for the campus into reality.
These are big initiatives for the School, and while we can celebrate many successes, there are also challenges. We still struggle to fill every seat in every class and on average run our classes at only 60% full- so we need your help in spreading the word about the opportunities we offer here. We have a long way to go with our campus―and although after all the work today, I have to say it’s looking much better―but there’s so much more to do. We have a small staff and never enough hours in the day. We need to diversify our sources of funding beyond tuition in order to launch new programs and build new facilities. And in the end, we need to ensure that we continue to offer a consistently excellent education in each and every class. That is what sets Yestermorrow apart from everywhere else.
Yestermorrow 2010 and Beyond
For those of you who I haven’t met yet, my name is Kate Stephenson, and I am the Executive Director here at Yestermorrow. It’s wonderful to see so many familiar faces and at the same time so many new ones. It’s truly amazing to think about where the school has been and all the changes over the past 30 years that make Yestermorrow what it is today. In my experience here at the school over the past 8 years, I’ve been able to be a part of many of those changes and met many incredible people in the process. After hearing John talk about the beginnings of the school, I’d like to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about where we are today, and what the next 30 years of Yestermorrow might have in store.
Today, 2010, Yestermorrow is offering a record 168 classes a year. Our 1,100 students a year come from around the country and around the globe (this year we’ve had students from Germany, Hong Kong, and all over Canada). We have over 150 instructors on our faculty from as far as Hawaii, Ontario, Seattle and Florida. The school’s reach and reputation continue to grow as our graduates help us spread the word about what’s happening here at Yestermorrow.
In addition to our many short courses, we now offer three in-depth certificate level courses – in Sustainable Building and Design, Natural Building and Woodworking. All three programs are currently full to capacity and interest increases every year. We’re seeing more and more students coming to Yestermorrow as a critical stepping stone in their careers, some of them choosing Yestermorrow as an alternative to a traditional college education, others coming as part of a mid-career transition into something new.
Over the past 10 years we have had 127 interns working at the school (myself included). These emerging design/build professionals are in many ways the core of our educational program. They help us keep the school running, are enthusiastic students, and build an incredible skill set and network during their time at Yestermorrow, ranging from 3 to 12 months. Our former interns have gone on to become award-winning architects, skilled furnituremakers, teachers, small businesspeople, treehouse builders, solar installers, and timberframers. In many ways they are the future of the design/build profession, and many of them are now coming back to the School as instructors, helping us build the next generation of faculty.
This year marks a major shift towards reducing our fossil fuel footprint on campus with the installation of two new solar systems- a 100,000 BTU solar hot water system to heat water for the kitchen and bathrooms; and a 28 kW photovoltaic system which will produce over 90% of the electricity needed to power the campus each year. Both of these projects are not only about “walking the talk” and demonstrating what we teach, but they also help improve our organizational sustainability by lowering our operating costs to heat and power the campus.
This year we also celebrate the 10th anniversary of the summer lecture series (although I did find an old flyer in the archives for a 1983 lecture series, so maybe it’s been more than 10 years…). This annual event is an important way for us to reach out to the local community, talk about what we’re doing here, and provide an educational resource for the Mad River Valley. We bring in creative, inspiring leaders from the design/build world to talk about their work on a diverse range of topics. We just published the lecture schedule yesterday, so please pick up a copy in the lobby or check it out on the website. The series starts June 16th and runs every Wednesday night through August 18th.
We also have 14 incredibly dedicated members of our Board of Directors who volunteer many hours of their time to hold the vision for the school alongside our staff, who despite being underpaid and overworked, make this place what it is today, and in hundreds of little ways keep things moving forward every day.
I’ve thrown out a lot of numbers, and that’s one quantitative way to get a sense of what’s going on here, but there are also so many un-quantifiable moments that tell the story of the School. A student comes back to visit with a handful of photos of the house they designed in a Home Design/Build class ten years ago and have finally built. A group of women gathered together at the end of a Carpentry for Women class who had never held a hammer before and have now learned how a whole building goes together. A certificate student launches his own natural building business with the skills he learned here. There are honestly so many stories I have trouble keeping track, because here at Yestermorrow EVERY DAY someone is learning something new and taking that knowledge out into the world and putting it into action.
So… that’s a little bit about where we stand. But the burning question remains: where are we going? In the year and a half since I took on the role of Executive Director, I’ve been getting that question a lot. Everyone wants to know what my vision is for the school. And while I have plenty of vision, I also believe wholeheartedly that this is not a place where one individual’s vision will rule the School. I see myself as a facilitator, an instigator, the person who asks the tough questions, and someone who can rally the people and resources to take Yestermorrow to the next level.
My vision for Yestermorrow is to build on what we’ve created so far, to raise the professionalism of the school, to improve the quality of the educational experience, and to make Yestermorrow a national center for design/build education.
Just after we celebrated Yestermorrow’s 25th anniversary we dove into an intensive year-long strategic planning process. We talked to students, to board members, to staff, to our competitors, and in the end we came out with a plan to:
- Increase the number and diversity of courses
- To build more in-depth certificate and semester programs
- To increase the professionalism of our staff and intern program
- To plan for future campus growth
And four years into this plan, I have to say I think we’re on target. This year we received a $25,000 grant to help us develop a semester-long program in sustainable design/build. We’ve hired Jon Mingle to design the curriculum and plan for the launch of the program in 2011. This is a really exciting step in deepening our relationships with architecture schools and colleges around the country and creating a hands-on program which will be truly unique.
We’ve also spent the last 3 years working to develop a campus master plan which will provide the facilities to make our enrollment goals possible. We’ve set REALLY ambitious goals for what we design and build― to create something beautiful which articulates in practice our mission of teaching ‘good design’, to push the limits of efficiency and on-site energy production towards a goal of carbon neutrality, to create an abundant permaculture landscape, and to incorporate students into the design and construction process. We’ve set the bar high. And as a result, we’re taking things slowly. We have an incredible base of knowledge within the Yestermorrow community, and we need to figure out how to tap it effectively to bring our big visions for the campus into reality.
These are big initiatives for the School, and while we can celebrate many successes, there are also challenges. We still struggle to fill every seat in every class and on average run our classes at only 60% full- so we need your help in spreading the word about the opportunities we offer here. We have a long way to go with our campus―and although after all the work today, I have to say it’s looking much better―but there’s so much more to do. We have a small staff and never enough hours in the day. We need to diversify our sources of funding beyond tuition in order to launch new programs and build new facilities. And in the end, we need to ensure that we continue to offer a consistently excellent education in each and every class. That is what sets Yestermorrow apart from everywhere else.
Monday, May 17, 2010
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU to everyone who came out on Saturday to help celebrate our 30th Anniversary! The work day got so much done I can't even list it all, but I'll try: 3 new perennial beds around the entry, setting up the new herb garden, clearing trees and brush, seeding wildflowers and clover, building trails, stacking firewood, deconstructing and rebuilding the solar hot water heater, putting away the strawbale cube... please forgive me if I've forgotten something. John Connell's history slideshow of the first 10 years of Yestermorrow was funny and informative. The evening presentation of Pecha Kucha with 14 different presenters was also amazing. And the kitchen folks managed to pull off feeding the huge crowd at lunch and dinner. What a great group effort and appropriate way to celebrate 30 years.
-Kate Stephenson
Monday, April 19, 2010
Interview with John Connell on 30 Years of Yestermorrow
In preparation for our upcoming 30th Anniversary Reunion we decided to check in with Yestermorrow's founder, John Connell, on what he's observed about the School over the last 30 years...
What was your original vision for Yestermorrow?
I wanted to teach the butcher/baker/candlestick maker a method of design-driven construction that would allow them to have well designed homes without the cost/annoyance of an architect.
Did you ever think it’d be around 30 years later?
Absolutely. When I was shopping for a campus (there were several potential parcels that I considered) one of the highest priorities was that it should be a situation that we could grow into for at least the next 100 years. At least....
What’s changed the most about the school over the past 30 years?
Many of us old timers lament the loss of design focus that drove the first decade. I guess this is the inevitable price to be paid for being a leader in green and sustainable methodologies. And maybe the pendulum will swing back now that "green" is as common and credentialed as 2x6 studs. Also, we were involved in bigger structures back then. We always tried to build homes or full scale additions. Here again there has been a trade off. By moving to tiny structures we can service more non-profits and municipalities. Still, I think there's something to be learned by wrestling with a real house and a real client's constraints.
What’s stayed the same?
The people! The school is still the net result of an incredible group of outstanding people. It's these people that generate the school's gravitational pull, bringing in more of the same. While the physical plant is important and our facility helps us attract funds and students - it's our faculty and staff that really make the school. If the campus were foreclosed on tomorrow, I know we could start over in a heart beat. We should never lose sight of this fact. It's the staff, the faculty and the interns that really keep the curriculum fresh and the students coming.
When you led the decision to buy the Alpen Inn property, what did you hope would happen to the campus?
Again, my vision was at least 100 years out and I was hoping we would pioneer some really new and brave design/build directions. The economic realities of such a large property have forced us to settle for something a good deal more conventional than I had dreamed. And yet, I still think in 100 year increments (and even 200 years!) so I'm not the least bit disappointed in what we have accomplished in a mere 30 years. There is nothing keeping us from stepping up to even greater design accomplishments if only we will make that a priority. Our campus is an excellent reflection of where we have put our focus - green methodologies both vernacular and high-tech. I love that about it.
How do you think Yestermorrow has influenced design/build education on a national scale? When we started Yestermorrow there were exactly two design/build curricula in the nation's architecture schools. Today, over half the schools have great shops and ongoing design/build programs. Yestermorrow faculty helped set up and run a handful of those programs and many others took lessons from our early efforts. But we are no longer leading the discussions that take place in that national context. We could do well to tune in. Additionally, I find that there are more design/build offerings at the elementary and middle school level. This is an incredibly important development and an arena we need to pay more attention to. Only be educating our entire population to design basics and visual intelligence will we be able to bootstrap the future of our built environment. The "Solar Age" of the late Sixties and early Seventies taught us that even green architecture that works will be razed if it's unattractive or poorly designed.
What do you imagine Yestermorrow’s next 30 years looking like?
Yestermorrow, like many institutions, is looking at a critical moment in its evolution. Every aspect of residential design and construction is under review as we look at the post-meltdown resource limited future. I would so like Yestermorrow to be a place that looks at things that other institutions can't because of entrenched special interests, routine or bureaucracy. If we could grow a school that combined the qualities of the Atlantic Monthly, Wired and Metropolis magazines, I think we might be headed in a promising direction. As an organization matures, it becomes increasingly difficult for it to persist as an innovative trail breaker. Maybe that phase of Yestermorrow has passed. I think not (see above concerning the staff).
But really the answer to question #5 should be, "Surprise me!"
What was your original vision for Yestermorrow?
I wanted to teach the butcher/baker/candlestick maker a method of design-driven construction that would allow them to have well designed homes without the cost/annoyance of an architect.
Did you ever think it’d be around 30 years later?
Absolutely. When I was shopping for a campus (there were several potential parcels that I considered) one of the highest priorities was that it should be a situation that we could grow into for at least the next 100 years. At least....
What’s changed the most about the school over the past 30 years?
Many of us old timers lament the loss of design focus that drove the first decade. I guess this is the inevitable price to be paid for being a leader in green and sustainable methodologies. And maybe the pendulum will swing back now that "green" is as common and credentialed as 2x6 studs. Also, we were involved in bigger structures back then. We always tried to build homes or full scale additions. Here again there has been a trade off. By moving to tiny structures we can service more non-profits and municipalities. Still, I think there's something to be learned by wrestling with a real house and a real client's constraints.
What’s stayed the same?
The people! The school is still the net result of an incredible group of outstanding people. It's these people that generate the school's gravitational pull, bringing in more of the same. While the physical plant is important and our facility helps us attract funds and students - it's our faculty and staff that really make the school. If the campus were foreclosed on tomorrow, I know we could start over in a heart beat. We should never lose sight of this fact. It's the staff, the faculty and the interns that really keep the curriculum fresh and the students coming.
When you led the decision to buy the Alpen Inn property, what did you hope would happen to the campus?
Again, my vision was at least 100 years out and I was hoping we would pioneer some really new and brave design/build directions. The economic realities of such a large property have forced us to settle for something a good deal more conventional than I had dreamed. And yet, I still think in 100 year increments (and even 200 years!) so I'm not the least bit disappointed in what we have accomplished in a mere 30 years. There is nothing keeping us from stepping up to even greater design accomplishments if only we will make that a priority. Our campus is an excellent reflection of where we have put our focus - green methodologies both vernacular and high-tech. I love that about it.
How do you think Yestermorrow has influenced design/build education on a national scale? When we started Yestermorrow there were exactly two design/build curricula in the nation's architecture schools. Today, over half the schools have great shops and ongoing design/build programs. Yestermorrow faculty helped set up and run a handful of those programs and many others took lessons from our early efforts. But we are no longer leading the discussions that take place in that national context. We could do well to tune in. Additionally, I find that there are more design/build offerings at the elementary and middle school level. This is an incredibly important development and an arena we need to pay more attention to. Only be educating our entire population to design basics and visual intelligence will we be able to bootstrap the future of our built environment. The "Solar Age" of the late Sixties and early Seventies taught us that even green architecture that works will be razed if it's unattractive or poorly designed.
What do you imagine Yestermorrow’s next 30 years looking like?
Yestermorrow, like many institutions, is looking at a critical moment in its evolution. Every aspect of residential design and construction is under review as we look at the post-meltdown resource limited future. I would so like Yestermorrow to be a place that looks at things that other institutions can't because of entrenched special interests, routine or bureaucracy. If we could grow a school that combined the qualities of the Atlantic Monthly, Wired and Metropolis magazines, I think we might be headed in a promising direction. As an organization matures, it becomes increasingly difficult for it to persist as an innovative trail breaker. Maybe that phase of Yestermorrow has passed. I think not (see above concerning the staff).
But really the answer to question #5 should be, "Surprise me!"
Thursday, February 04, 2010
30th Anniversary Logo Competition Winner
Yestermorrow is excited to announce the winner of our 30th Anniversary logo competition. Peter M. James of Silver Spring, Maryland was the designer of the winning entry. Peter is a graduate of the 2008 Community Design/Build class and is an architecture student at the University of Maryland. Peter will receive a free one-week Yestermorrow class in recognition of his efforts. We received a dozen very creative entries and want to thank everyone who submitted a design. The winning design will be printed on our 2010 t-shirts and used in other 30th anniversary materials.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Requesting Submissions for "30th Anniversary" Logo
In 2010 we will be able to add to our list of accomplishments thirty years of inspiring people through hands-on education in building and design. Thus, in effort to celebrate our coming of age we are now soliciting design submissions for our 30th Anniversary logo. The prize for a selected design, aside from the glory, is a free one-week Yestermorrow class! The guidelines for entries are as follows:
-Your design should be inspired by Yestermorrow and incorporate some mention of the 30th Anniversary. Additionally it should take the opportunity to riff on, adjust, or completely rethink the logo, suggesting a coming of age.
-Your design should be printable on t-shirt (one-sided). It should be monochromatic or two-tone. And be universally attractive, something that everyone non-Yestermorrow folk would want to wear.
-It would be great if your submission is in some Adobe format (like Photoshop, Illustrator, or PDF). Submissions should be no larger than 5mb. If selected we will contact you for a higher resolution copy.
-Your design should be completely original.
Have fun, and we look froward to seeing your entries. Deadline for submission to http://www.blogger.com/jose@yestermorrow.org is (extended to January 31st, 2009).
(We can send you an Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop t-shirt template to get you started and/or our style guide)
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