Benjamin was home-schooled through his junior year in high school for most of his academic studies. “In my sophomore year of high school, I attended Stafford Technical Center’s (STC) forestry program and then in my junior year I attended STC’s welding program and took two dual enrollment classes at the Community College of Vermont (CCV) which transferred seamlessly to Vermont Technical College (VTC). For my senior year of high school, I applied for and was accepted into the VAST (early college) program.”
He chose Vermont Tech because they had an early college program (VAST) and a forestry degree program, which he was interested in and was relatively cost effective and not far from home.
“I chose to major in Forestry because I have worked in the forest ever since my first paying job at the age of nine. I worked for a forester for a couple of years prior to attending VTC.”
One of Ben’s favorite faculty, Robbo Holleran, teaches Forest Management and Timber Harvesting with almost 40 years of practical experience as a Consulting Forester in VT.
Benjamin’s parents helped him apply to Vermont Tech, but they did not have to do much searching because they knew of a number of other families who have gone to Vermont Tech.
“During my time at VTC, I was offered a job by one of my professors. I currently have a job with a consulting Forester, and once I am done with school, I will work for him full-time and then get my Foresters License. I also do tree removal, sugaring, welding, small engine repair, and some work for my father on the side. I am currently employed as a Forestry Technician for New England Forestry Consultants.”
Benjamin also likes to build things from scratch. “When I was 11-12 years old the neighbor kid and I built a 10’x12′ log cabin on our property by hand. I like to make new and improved handles for old axes, shovels, and other hand tools. Most recently, I have built an over the road self loading log trailer.”
“Here is some free advice in no particular order that you would do well to listen to. Living off campus, cooking your own meals, and buying lightly used books over new will save you money. Remember you are not at college to just get a fancy piece of paper, you have paid good money to learn all that you can. If you are not going to do your best to learn all that you can while at VTC, then save your time and money and get a job until you have the mindset to put in the effort. You are paying the same amount of tuition from 12-19 credits so take as many credits as you can each semester and you will finish early. If you plan to go into forestry you need to come to class prepared for any possible weather, for the duration of the class.”