What Students Really Say About Farmington


Did you come to Farmington as an Environmental Science major?
Yeah. Although initially I wasn’t going to do Ski Industries — I thought it was just about skiing and I’m a die-hard snowboarder. I was psyched when I found the program includes snowboarding, too.

So what brought you to UMF?
Being close to Sugarloaf. I wanted to be near the mountains so I could go snowboarding all the time but I thought going to school out West would be too hard if I wanted to get home easily. I figured UMF wasn’t too far, but not too close — it was the perfect location. That was the number one reason I picked this school.

Did you look at other schools?
Yes, but only in New England.

Did you visit Farmington before coming here?
Yes. It was great. This is going to sound weird, but I when went to Java Joe’s coffee shop downtown they had some Bob Marley playing and I thought to myself, “this is so awesome!” Then I walked around campus and everyone was really super nice.

Did you do a campus tour?
Yes. I took a tour and I had an interview. It went really well and it was all very friendly. I wanted a small school for the individual attention and I thought it would be hard to find that at a big school.

So, how much time do you spend snowboarding?
This is the first semester I haven’t had classes five days a week, so I’m up at Sugarloaf working and snowboarding four and a half days a week.

What do you do for a job at Sugarloaf?
My Ski Industries professor egged me on to work at Carrabassett Valley Academy and introduced me to people up there. So, now I run the CVA weekend program for snowboarding, I have a bunch of different jobs there. Plus I compete in boardercross.

How does the Ski Industries program play into your major?
Well, mountains are usually made of rock so I thought that works with Environmental Science [laughs]. Actually, I want to be an environmental consultant for a ski area.

I’m not about to give up the sport because some people say it can be bad for the environment, so I figure the best way to feel good about snowboarding is to make it a more sustainable activity. I had an idea in high school that I wanted to do environmental stuff and I loved snowboarding so I wanted to try to combine them. And here at Farmington I can do just that — it's perfect for me.

How can you use what you’ve learned in your classes?
I know more about what can be done, environmentally. I’ve done a lot of research on it and because I’ve worked at a ski area I understand the inner workings, so I know who to talk to, what I can do, how to work my way in there to try and change things. And having an Environmental Science degree convinces people that I actually know what I’m talking about [laughs].

Do you have a favorite professor?
Actually, all the Geology professors here are awesome and I usually go to them for advice. They’re down to earth, nice and personable. You can talk to them about school, life, anything — and they’re cool about it.

Dr. Reusch is probably the most enthusiastic professor I’ve had. I took Structural Geology and Tectonics with him and every Friday we hiked Bald Mountain, mapping a different section. It was so awesome.

Do you have a favorite class or a class that had changed your view?
Terrain Analysis with Dr. Eastler. He had a completely different classroom approach than I’ve ever experienced and it worked well for me because I’m very visual and hands-on and learn better that way.

Every week he gave us a set of aerial photos and we had to trace the different geological patterns, the things on the surface you can see, and then you can understand what’s underneath it all. All these things I never even thought about before. You drive around up here and the mountains are pretty and all, but you never think about why they’re there. It made everything more 3-D for me and pulled loose ends together. It was very cool.

Were you successful in that class?
Yes. It involved a lot of math and I’m not very good at math, so I tried to work through it. I think relating it to science made it easier for me. Sitting still in math class doesn’t work for me.

What about post graduation plans?
My best friend and I are going to drive out to Alaska but after that, I don’t know yet. I want to make it back here by the end of September because Farmington is hosting the Collegiate Geology Conference for New England, which is a huge deal. It’s hosted each year by a different school and next year is our turn. They’ll do field trips every day and see various geological hot spots in the area.

What are the geological hot spots around here?
Oh, there are tons of them. Believe it or not, the western mountains area of Maine used to be underwater! There are actually oceanic fossils in the area — whole shells from when this used to be an ocean. We’re on the edge of where the sea level was, so there are inter-tidal zones and ripple marks, all kinds of sand striations from the tides. And there’s also an enormous rock in nearby Phillips, Maine, that was dropped by a glacier. It’s this huge rock in the middle of the woods, about two stories high.

So what makes Farmington unique?
It is SO close to Sugarloaf. There’s no other school in Maine that’s that close and it makes it easy for us to get jobs up there. And I like Maine — it’s a beautiful place.

Also, the school here is so intertwined with the community, unlike other colleges that are set off on their own and where you have to drive into town. Here you can just walk everywhere.

And finally, you get to know your professors here really well, to the point where you can hang out with them sometimes.

Have you studied abroad while you’ve been here?
Yes. The Geology Department here does a May term program every year. I went to Ireland and Scotland last May Term. The professors took us around to meet people and we did a bunch of cool hikes. It was beautiful ... lots of sheep.

The trip to the Isle of Sky in Scotland was amazing. We hiked for several days and created an incredibly detailed geological map of the area we had hiked — this ridiculously large area. Then we compared our field map to the real geological survey map and it was an exact match! This was the highlight of our trip because we took everything we learned in the Geology classroom and labs and put it together in this huge field project. It was awesome.

Coming from New Jersey, what differences did you find living here?
I don’t know, I just don’t feel it's as community-oriented at home. Maybe Maine is used to the small town thing where New Jersey, for the most, part doesn't have that small town vibe. Here, when you’re walking around on the street or on campus you know everybody or if you don’t know their name you recognize them. At home in New Jersey, you don’t get that too much.

Aside from snowboarding, what do you do for fun?
Yes I go snowboarding a lot but I go kayaking a lot, too. I even built a kayak and I have it up here. When it’s warm out we go swimming in the rivers, go hiking, travel places, do weekend trips to Vermont.

How would you describe UMF to someone in high school?
It’s very small — probably smaller than you think it would be. But it’s extremely friendly and beautiful. The school will cater to what you want to do even if it’s a little different than what they offer exactly because there’s plenty of opportunity for individual projects.

Even though you’re required to take certain classes they’ll also let you steer toward what you’re interested in. And there are plenty of student clubs and organizations where you’ll get to hang out with people who are into the same things as you are.