Learning to Listen

Aylie Baker '09 finds a lifelong passion in audio storytelling

Middlebury. It was at once intimate and unfamiliar, changing yet comfortable. It was a world where I would shoot a basketball and learn to throw clay, write for the paper and try my head, and feet, at modern dance. It was the place where I learned to listen to myself, and more importantly, to others.

As a basketball player from a small town in coastal Maine, I never imagined beating top-ranked Bates my junior year or topping Wesleyan in one of the lowest scoring games in NESCAC history. More than that, I never envisioned myself joining an Argentine men's team in Buenos Aires, as the sole female player.

"Though I was a student on financial aid, I never felt encumbered by it. The generosity of others goes a long way."

I would never had predicted that it was Middlebury that would lead me to recording youth radio stories in refugee camps in Northern Uganda...that through Middlebury, I would spend a week listening to the lives of an indigenous community in the mountains of northeastern Argentina, or have a five-hour dinner conversation with an eighth generation family faming in Starksboro, Vermont.

Joining a team of student journalists to ask the question, "How did you get here?" of our Middlebury peers, I found myself opening new doors and unearthing new questions. The audio-visual exhibition was extremely moving; the testimonies of the different students were profound, unexpected, and earnest.

Though I was a student on financial aid, I never felt encumbered by it. The generosity of others goes a long way. Through grant to pursue a Kathryn Davis Project for Peace, the support of the Dr. Michael Kolligian '44 scholarship, and finally the support of a Watson Fellowship, I felt encouraged to pursue my dreams.

As I embark on what is to be the most challenging journey of my life-a Watson Fellowship to visit different islands around the world and explore the use of audio storytelling to build community and great dialogue about sustainability, I feel ready. Middlebury gave me the skills to use my academic studies as a springboard to engage with my community and with my peers to find solutions.

I've learned that Middlebury isn't just a town or an institution, but a living, breathing place. Its stately halls echo with the footsteps of those who came before me and those who will follow. It's a place where people from all different backgrounds, from all over the world intersect, if only for a moment.