Kind of a Miracle: The Unlikely Story of the Community College of Vermont

This is the story of an insurgency in higher education - an adventure in giving people of all backgrounds, especially those without many advantages, the chance to change their lives. It's a history of Vermonters who refused to be told "no" - who developed a community college unlike any other, challenging the higher-ed establishment as they invited adults to learn and earn a degree at any stage in life, no matter their circumstances, supporting them all along the way. Rich with personal stories, profiles, humor and humanity, this acount of the creation, growth and survival of the Community College of Vermont is an inspiring tribute, as veteran Vermont editor Emerson Lynn writes in his Introduction, to "the power of people who refused to give up." And as today's colleges and universities struggle with pressures to somehow become more affordable, flexible and accessible at different stages of life, Kind of a Miracle offers ideas, examples and hard-earned lessons. Because, in the end, this just might be a story of creating the college of tomorrow.

About the Author :
This is Doug Wilhelm's 19th book. His most recent novel, Street of Storytellers (Rootstock Publications, 2019), won three national honors and one New England gold medal for independently published books. His middle-school novel The Revealers (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003) has been the focus of reading and discussion projects, most of them all-school reads, in more than one thousand schools. A former Vermont reporter for the Boston Globe, Doug still lives in Vermont, where he is a full-time self-employed writer.

Review :
"Employing historical research, dozens of personal interviews, and engaging writing, Wilhelm gives us the history and impact of a statewide grass-roots college made by Vermonters for Vermonters. It's a school no one believed could survive, but one that has, over the last half-century, deeply enriched the cultural life and economic vitality of this small state. It's an important story - and a fascinating read." Tom Slayton, former editor of Vermont Life and author of Finding Vermont and Searching for Thoreau "Kind of a Miracle is the inspiring story of an institution built from the ground up - and of the value in adhering to a clear mission, of experimentation, and of leaders and teachers who are from and for the communities they serve. CCV has been a pioneer in competency-based education, credit for prior learning, distributed libraries, serving refugees, dual enrollment, distance education, and stackable credentials. This book deserves to become a classic in the higher education literature." Dr. Barbara Brittingham, president emerita New England Commission of Higher Education