College News

Jessica Ralston of Chester was recently named to the Castleton University President’s List for the fall semester of the 2015-16 academic year. To qualify for this highest academic honor, the student must maintain full-time status and a semester grade point average of 4.0.

Castleton University is small enough to be a community where every student matters, yet offers more than 75 programs of study for undergraduate and graduate students, 27 intercollegiate sports, and over 40 clubs and organizations. The university stresses community service and provides exceptional programs for first year students.

Joshua Lake and Jessica Ralston of Chester are among 12 faculty-student groups to have been awarded grants for their collaborative research projects scheduled for the 2015-16 academic year. The grants range from $500-$2,000 each.  In addition to presenting their work at the Castleton Scholarship Celebration in May, many groups will present their work at national conferences this spring and summer. The projects are: Alexander Adams & Joshua Lake: Clearing the Smoke Screen: an exploration of factors driving support and opposition to legalization of recreational marijuana in Vermont. (Faculty Advisor: Rich Clark, Political Science); Jessica Ralston: Social interactions and call timing in neotropical forest katydids (Faculty Advisor: Christine Palmer, Natural Sciences)

Sarah Rusch of Chester recently became a certified PAC member and victim advocate after completing more than 40 hours of training at Castleton University.

Peer Advocated for CHANGE is a volunteer student group whose members are trained to educate the campus about sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking and harassment. PAC members are also victim advocates who staff a 24/7 hot line, which is available to survivors or friends of survivors.