“I grew up in Vermont on the other side of the state in the Champlain Valley. After graduating from Dartmouth and beginning my professional career in the Upper Valley, I got to understand more about the communities and landscape, engage with individual towns and local groups. I found that I was able to form relationships with the people who have lived here for a really long time as well as recent transplants. Working in the local community was a pretty big shift in perspective from being a student. It solidified the uniqueness of this area and helped it to feel much more like home.
The Upper Valley spans state boundaries yet its communities connect in a way that differs from each of the states. Currently, I work at Willing Hands, a non-profit organization that helps provide fresh food to people who struggle with food insecurity. We work with Upper Valley food producers and farmers that cultivate land on both sides of the river. It’s part of their livelihood to work within a variety of neighborhoods and communities. I like that aspect of this place. I think it comes naturally to a lot of people here to create bridges instead of finding divides.
If I could go back in time, I would tell my college self to look beyond the boundaries of Hanover and try to complement the inward focus that can take over during that period of life. Once I stepped out of that bubble, it was kind of eye opening. I discovered that, wow, there were a lot of things that I could have been a part of that I didn’t realize. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to live in and learn so much more about this area over the years.
My family is super important to me. I now have three pretty young kids: a fourth grader, a second grader, and an infant. We love to be outside, to ski and bike and hike. We try to camp and travel and just enjoy all the different seasons. I feel like this is a really wonderful place to have a young family; there are so many ways to stay active. Part of work-life balance for me, is trying to be as flexible as possible, to be there to pick up the kids and try to have a bunch of these experiences. I feel extremely fortunate that my husband and I are able to do this right now. When the kids are so little everything changes so fast. So, I know it is fleeting that we will have some of this time together. Having been a college student and then a young adult here, seeing the Upper Valley through my kids’ eyes is really neat. I have realized that this place has a lot to offer that I didn’t understand as well before I had kids.
In the next year, my goal is to connect even more. I want to keep the intergenerational connection strong with my kids and my parents and my grandmother, who live on the other side of Vermont. My grandmother is 96 years old, and I am trying to make sure her great grandkids form memories of her while she is still around. I think the goal is to find some regularity in my schedule to foster that connection.
I live by the value of doing as much as I can for others, taking care of friends and family. I think that is one of the reasons I have followed a nonprofit career path. Being able to do something, even if it seems little, for my community makes a lot of sense. I also want to set an example for my kids, so they may choose to do something like that with their lives as well.”
- Sara Cavin, Thetford, Vermont
