Our Alumni and Friends Newsletter connect our growing community of past Putney Students with news about alum as well as fun and interesting happenings across campus.
Featured
March 2025
Yesterday was Town Meeting day. And while our students are currently on spring break, the issues the town of Putney wrestles with remain relevant to life on campus. Small communities are like families-at our best, we laugh together often, occasionally disagree, and ultimately take care of each other. Thank you all for being a part of the Putney family. May your maple trees run with sap this spring, and may the emerging blooms brighten your day.
Archives
2025
January 2025
Recently, at the beginning of a Long Fall trip, Kate Knopp (Putney’s assistant head of school and dean of faculty) said to an assembled group of nervous teenagers,”How we spend our days is <pause> actually <pause> how we spend our lives.” Did the teenagers get it? Maybe. Kate was talking mostly about phones, as we were about to embark on a tech-free trip into the woods. But her point was bigger than that, of course. Look up and see the owl. Help someone every day. Engage.
2024
November 2024
Thursday morning, November 7, the school came together to sing. We do this every Thursday. Students and faculty filed in after milk lunch. We sat in a circle, in community, seeing each others’ faces in the late morning light. Our hearts lifted as our voices rang, and squeaked, and lost and found the beat. We came together in singing, as we have always done at Putney. The voices of the generations—your voices—were with us in that space, too. Thank you for being a part of this community and for the ways you stay connected to the school and to each other. May we all continue to feel this connection, deeply.
September 2024
Putney has launched its 90th year of educating students, and they arrived on campus with that heady mix of excitement and nervousness that we can all remember from our youth, no matter how remote those days are for us. We loaded onto buses and headed into the woods for a few lovely days of Long Fall, hiking up mountains, fishing on a quiet lakeside, and embracing creative cooking. The threads of the Putney experience remain strong throughout the decades, and we continue to see the good that our students and alumni bring to the world. We wish you a happy fall, and we hope to see you at Harvest Festival!
March 2024
Welcome to spring! The bustling energy of the season is palpable, with students back from March break, sunny days with frisbee on the lawn, and probably a snowstorm sometime in the next week or two. We're excited to share the latest from the school with you: new dorms (now inhabited!), Putney events (Pete Stickney!), alumni in the news, updates on the Sing it Forward campaign and the Annual Fund, and more. Life at Putney hums along, and we always love hearing from you. Stay well, and enjoy the sunshine.
January 2024
Winter invites a deep sense of inquiry, as focus often turns inward during the shorter days. Reflection remains an important part of what happens here on the hill, as is our communal sense of connection and the care we have for each other, this place, and the world around us. We are grateful for the wider connection and awareness that all of you offer. The dimensional mosaic that is the Putney community is strengthened by all the many ways we tend to and care for both our inner and outer landscapes, including each other. Thank you for being an integral part of Putney's ever-evolving story.
2023
November 2023
Greetings from Putney! On this hill, now framed in late fall shades, the first snow has fallen and melted, days are short, darkness is deep, and students and faculty are busy finishing up the fall trimester. As a community, we’ll gather tomorrow with gratitude for our annual March of the Turkeys and we will gather with recognition of the privilege of being able to do so, and send love, light, and hope out into the world.
September 2023
Another school year begins! The students bring such joy to our campus. They packed up and organized for Long Fall with good cheer, and were off enjoying the forests and lakes last week. As they return, we look to the academic work in earnest. In this newsletter, we offer information about the current art exhibit in the Currier gallery, Harvest Festival 2023, and upcoming alumni gatherings.
April 2023
Salamanders are moving toward their vernal pools, peepers are peeping, seeds have been planted, and the emergence of spring offers the opportunity for greater community connection.
2022
October 2022
The first in-person Harvest Festival since 2019 was a success! We welcomed alumni, families, and friends back to campus for food and drink and games and music and fun. Check out the photos here of Harvest Festival. Students are back on campus from their mid-fall Break and in just over a week will participate in this year’s first Jean Hinton Rosner Memorial Work Day.
Fall 2022
There is energy on campus! Our new head of school, Danny O’Brien, began his tenure this summer as construction on two new dormitories began. Students are packing for their Long Fall trips, and the cows are moving from their summer pastures. Harvest Festival, the first since 2019, is in the works. With gratitude and joy from Putney to all of you!
Winter 2022
Today is Jean Hinton Rosner Memorial Work Day! Hello from a campus alive with students, faculty and staff, forsythia, crocuses, rakes, shovels and chainsaws. Some students are rebuilding Arms Cabin today. Stay tuned—we will share a photo and update of the new cabin in the next newsletter. We are preparing, in our cyclical way, for all the events of the spring and summer, but with renewed enthusiasm. We will host our first reunion since Covid this June, and we are delighted.
2021
Fall 2021
We're excited to introduce you to our next head of school, Danny O'Brien, who will take over in July when Emily Jones steps down after 15 years at Putney. As we head into the holiday season, it's a reminder to reflect on how much we value our community here on the Hill. We hope Putney will always be a part of each and every one of you, even when you're miles and memories away from campus.
Summer 2021
With the arrival of hot August days, we’re seeking out Vermont’s best swimming holes and ice cream spots. The weather is also a gentle reminder that our students will soon be making their way to the Hill. We are hopeful that fall will feel more like a “normal” year at Putney with the return of traditions like Harvest Festival.
Spring 2021
The days are getting warmer and longer here on the Hill, and we are once again preparing for the end of the school year. Though we will miss them dearly, we can’t wait to send our students off into the wider world to make their mark.
Winter 2021
While we have worked hard to make the most of this cold weather, from kicking off Dorm Olympics with a skate to once again turning the pasture behind Noyes into our own private slopes, we couldn’t be happier to have spring just on the horizon.
2020
Winter 2020
We have reached the end of a strange and challenging year. Our students continue to be a great source of inspiration — and we are pleased to report they have all returned home safely.
Fall 2020
In a time of social distancing and increased isolation, many of us are finding more need for community than ever before. With this in mind, we are initiating an email newsletter to alumni and friends as a supplement to the Putney Post that is printed twice annually.
