The Vermont Semester is in its second season. The group is now finishing their 300-mile ski across Vermont. Twelve incredible young people from Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Maine, California, Pennsylvania and Canada are being guided through a winter wonderland with the great skill and pride of Chris, Ashirah and Stefan. Every two weeks the semester crew sends a beautifully written trail update to the world. You can read updates and follow the group’s progress on our website www.kroka.org.

This year the semester journey is being documented by National Geographic writer Tom Clines. We are looking forward to a great story about our program being told to the world. A wonderful group of parents has joined our community helping with semester logistics, events, fundraising and sometimes even supplying our crew with hot chocolate along the way!

Chris and Ashirah have prepared to teach the semester for the past two years and have greatly contributed to the development of the academic curriculum. Our curriculum has been further recognized by the Vermont Department of Education. We now can issue high school credit to all of our students through Kroka. This is much easier for us to administrate and as we move forward I’d like to express my gratitude to the Oak Meadow School which has helped the Vermont Semester to stand on its feet by recognizing our curriculum and giving credit in the past. And we have another exciting academic development! We have our first college student – Ilene Price, who is working on her college credit in partnership between the Vermont Semester and Sterling College.

I am also excited to tell you about hiring a Semester Coordinator, Lisl Hofer. Lisl’s decision to join the Kroka family is a great gift to all of us. Here is a little bit about her.

Finally I want to thank all of the teachers, volunteers, sponsors, layover hosts, parents and friends who work so hard behind the scenes to make the passage of the group through the Vermont hills smooth and joyful.