At The Preserve, a Day of Service Carries a Vassar Legacy Forward
Nora Misut ’30 chose to enroll at Vassar in part because of the opportunities for hands-on learning she’d find at the College’s 500-acre Preserve. On September 11, Misut was part of a team of student volunteers who did conservation work at The Preserve alongside members of the Hudson Valley chapter of the Student Conservation Association (SCA). “I love the outdoors,” she said. “I’ve been interested in environmental preservation for a long time. I’m at home in the trees.”
Working in several teams, Misut and the other volunteers cut down invasive vines that were hindering forest growth, built boardwalks on some trails, and planted native vegetation. The two-day event marked the third time that the Student Conservation Association, an AmeriCorps organization, had chosen The Preserve as the site of its annual Patriot Day of Service, established to honor those who perished during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC.
Libby Young, Program Director of the SCA of New York, said the group has chosen to do some of its conservation work at The Preserve to honor an alum, Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam ’55, who wrote her senior thesis on the need to address the deterioration of the nation’s national parks. Putnam’s idea led to the creation of the SCA, and since its founding in 1957, the organization has attracted more than 70,000 young people who help care for state and national parks and other public lands throughout the country. “It’s great to see the impact our group is making in various parts of the Hudson Valley and to be a part of Liz Putnam’s legacy,” Young said.
Keri VanCamp, Director of The Preserve at Vassar, lauded members of her staff for organizing the event. “These days of service embody The Preserve’s ethos of learning by doing,” VanCamp said. “It’s what The Preserve is all about, and we all can feel Liz Putnam’s spirit with us here today.”