My years at Marlboro College were the most important of my life. The college was a place that accepted people who were different and who felt that they didn't belong at other schools. So long as you were a student who loved books and were passionate about learning, there was a place for you there.
Professors engaged with us students as equals, listened to our ideas, and became like aunts and uncles to us. I learned how to think independently and to think clearly. My professors and the other students changed my life completely around.
I didn't love Marlboro only for the independent study aspect of its academics, which they claim will be recreated at Emerson College in Boston. There was something about being at a small college on a mountain in Vermont with a small group of adults and kids who were dedicated to reading the classics and arguing about ideas. The clarity of learning transformed students' lives and prepared us for graduate work better than many other undergraduate programs.
I would love to rewind the years of my life and be back at Marlboro College again. Of course, with our scientific understanding where it is currently, journeys across time aren't possible.
I had hoped, though, that this most precious of colleges would continue on into the future for other students who, like me, would best be served by a close-knit community of scholars in the mountains of Vermont.