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Welcome to Middlebury (March 23, 2026)
Hear from Middlebury’s President Ian Baucom, Elsa Alvarado ‘18, and Bill Shufelt ‘05 on the transformative power of the Middlebury experience.
Nicole Curvin, Dean of Admissions and Vice President for Strategic Enrollment
All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us. There’ll be a few folks joining along the way, but I want to welcome you. I’m Nicole Curvin, I serve as Dean of Admissions and Vice President for Strategic Enrollment, and huge congratulations to the Class of 2030 and 2030.5. We are thrilled to welcome you to the Middlebury community, and I also want to shout out family members, trusted adults, anyone who supported you along the way.
I know this is a long process for many, and we are so thrilled that you considered Middlebury. And, want to also shout out the admissions team, who was really integral, that read 11,458 applications over the last 5 months, and considered and reviewed and examined all of the information that you sent to us.
This program is really designed to be a welcome kickoff. We are going to record the event, so I want to let you folks know that. And so if you want to share this with anybody else, or you want to check it out on the Admitted Student webpage, you’re welcome to do that. We’re also going to close out the Q&A and the chat box, and we’re going to just have a lively conversation and a back and forth, and share some insights with you.
We were so thrilled, as an admissions team, to review and consider who was in the pool.
And we considered the ways in which students were deeply engaged learners. We considered the ways in which students showed up for their communities, and the ways in which, I think, which is most important to me, the ways in which they took joy in the things that they were doing, whether it was writing poems, or playing on a team, or supporting a faith community.
I think all of those are really integral to who we are as a community, and the value of the liberal arts is really deeply embedded in connection and community, and so all of those pieces are really important.
I would say there’s plenty of time for us to do a lot of welcomes, and to welcome you to the community at large, but I want this opportunity to be a moment of learning. We can do a parade more of welcomes and other events.
But I want to give you some chances to think about Middlebury in a deeper way. And this evening is an opportunity for you to be able to hear from our president, hear from illustrious alumni, and really think about not just the facts and the figures, but more the experience of “what kind of community would you be joining?” We know that there are students out there who have fully committed to Middlebury but we know that there are some who are still considering their options, and you’ll have many wonderful options, I imagine. This is an opportunity to really think about outcomes, to think about what the experience in the classroom on our campus in Vermont is like.
And I hope that you take away a few gems, a few insights into what the personal experiences were of our panelists, and more importantly, the ways in which you might connect to the same things as well.
Before I move on, I want to introduce the folks that’ll be sharing their insights this evening.
First up is President Ian Baucom. We are so incredibly amazed and so humbled that he joined us last summer as our president, and he has come in with full force, thinking about strategic vision, thinking about our future, and thinking, I think, most importantly, about the transformational nature of the liberal arts education.
Next up is Elsa Alvarado, Class of 2018. She was a political science major when she was at Middlebury, and she has launched into an amazing career in global affairs, political structures. She has spent time at the Department of Defense and the Department of State, and she’s currently working as a political consultant.
Next up is Bill Schufeld, who joins us as the CEO of Athletic Brewing Company, the fastest growing non-alcoholic brand in the world. And he served as an economics major here at Middlebury, and also played on our football team. I am so thankful that they are spending time sharing some insights into what Middlebury is all about, what their experiences were, and more importantly, how Middlebury launched them into the world. So without further ado, I want to turn it over to President Baucum.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
04:58
Thanks, Nicole, and thanks, all of you for joining us, and let me just say congratulations, you got in. Some of you have known for a little while, some of you I know, Saturday morning, I think starting around 7.15 or so AM, messages started to go out. We’ve been waiting for these days for a long time, but we know we haven’t waited as long as you have. And, I’m the president of Middlebury, and I’m also the father of six kids, so I’ve gone through this 5 times, and I just want to say congratulations to you, and we are so thrilled that you have shown an interest in us.
And we feel so lucky.that we have the opportunity to invite you to join us. So, so thanks. Congratulations, thank you, you’re in, and for some of you, you are about to make what is almost… Certainly, maybe not certainly, but, the most important decision of your life.
You’re about to decide where to go to college.
And what we really want to try to do tonight is just to spend a little bit of time with two of our alums who made that same decision. Made that same decision 20 years or so ago, made that same decision about a decade or so ago, and to do so also from my perspective, I made that decision a year ago.
Just about exactly this time, when I was invited to be president. I’d spent the previous 11 years at the University of Virginia, a place I loved, a fantastic university, and then the opportunity to go to Middlebury arose.
And I needed to make the decision that… that you are all making.
And I chose Middlebury. And it has been the best academic choice of my life.
I’ve been invited into a family, I’ve been invited into a community, I’ve been invited into an institution of higher learning, I’ve been invited into a place with a profound sense of civic responsibility and civic engagement.
I’ve been invited into a place that, at its heart, is about its students. So I can testify to you, with absolute integrity, that given the most important academic choice of my life, I chose Middlebury.
And we hope you will, too.
So, we’re going to spend this in conversation. I’m just going to be asking our panelists some questions, and we’ll have a chance to discuss things together. And so, Elsa, Bill, I want to start with something just clear and obvious. What led you to Middlebury? What guided you in making that decision? How did you get from where you were when you were a senior in high school to choosing to come to this amazing place?
And Elsa, maybe I think I’ll start with you, and then Bill, turn to you.
Elsa Alvarado - Middlebury ‘18
07:52
Sure. So for a little bit of context, I’m a born and raised New Yorker, I’m from New Queens, New York, and I had been used to being in the city my entire life. I’m a public school kid, my classrooms were 40 to 45 students. And I thought I was gonna be in a city for college. I had applied to a lot of schools in New York City, a lot of schools in DC. I was already very passionate about politics.
And my French teacher had told me, you’re a star in French, I know you want to, you know, study abroad one day, you should think about Middlebury. And so I applied to Middlebury, by the recommendation of my French teacher, and it was the only rural school I applied to, the only liberal arts college that I applied to, and I remember getting the letter, from the admissions office when I was accepted, and it had a handwritten letter that said. “we loved your language learning website, we think you would be a great fit at Middlebury,” and they just listed out a couple of bullets of things that, that they liked about my application. And I felt…
that I wasn’t just being accepted because I was accepted because of my grades, like, they really took the time to understand who I was as a person. And I said to myself, I’m probably gonna be in DC for the rest of my life, why not spend those 4 years somewhere totally different? So I think there was an adventurous part of me that was…you know, interested in being in Vermont, a place… a 180 degree difference from New York City.
And so I took the plunge because of the combination of being in a new environment, but also still doing what I loved, which was studying French and political science. But it was definitely that kind of decision that… it took me days to decide that, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
09:33
That’s great. Bill, before you jump in, just because there’s something that’s resonant there. When I was interviewing, for the role as president, the vice chair of the board of trustees, Kirtley Cameron, Middlebury alum, opened that discussion by saying, “hi Ian, I’m Kirtley, do you mind if we call you Ian?” And there was something that just captured, honestly, my heart at that moment.
Because I felt that I was coming to a place where people knew each other by name.
And they knew the person and the story behind the name. And that, I had a chance to be somewhere where people were seen. And Elsa, I hear that, in what you’re saying about that moment where you got a letter back, and it wasn’t just, congratulations, applicant number 475.
It was Elsa.
We want you.
Elsa Alvarado - Middlebury ‘18
10:34
Exactly.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
10:35
We care about you, yeah. Bill, Bill, what led you to Middlebury?
Bill Shufelt - Middlebury ‘05
10:39
Yeah, I… I would love to tie back to that in one second, too, because that’s, like, extremely relevant to my experience. Just in a super quick intro, Bill Schufelt, Class of 2005.
You know, 25 years ago, I was in the same boat as all the students here, receiving those highly coveted letters, and I’m so thankful every day, and more and more with each passing year, the decision I made in that moment.
I grew up in the New York City suburbs. I had a wide range of interests in high school, a very wide net of academic interests. You know, I took Latin and different things with my electives. I was an EMT on the ambulance, I played 3 sports, and basically my mom had always encouraged me to do less. She was worried about me overheating or something, but I just… I had a very wide generalist range of interests and things I wanted exposure to, and when I looked at… I did a big range of school visits to get a feel for all the different colleges, from, like, very narrow like, schools or Ivy League schools, and had family go to both NESCAC and Ivy League, so had a decent perception of it.
And the thought of going to a school and having a very narrow specialty terrified me. And I wanted a school where I could really stretch my imagination, as well as get out there into the wilderness, too. Like, I love the outdoors.
Middlebury sports are incredible, the extracurricular activities, no matter what your level of experience is, like, I… like, it was just kind of the perfect spot for me as I considered that.
And really leaning into the community, I did go on a number of visits for football, which was my primary, the three sports, and at the Middlebury visit, I felt immediately welcomed. People came up to me and were asking genuine get-to-know-you questions and hoped you came to the school.
And I hadn’t actually been at school very long as a freshman, and the depth of those bonds really came through, where, I unfortunately lost my mom to cancer 3 months into my freshman year. Which, my mom was, like, the anchor of our family, like, the optimist, the spirit of our family, and it was so uprooting.
And I looked up at the service, and there were 30 Middlebury people there already, and I’d only known these people 3 months and they’d traveled 4 and a half hours to be there in that moment for me, and I think…
That depth really hit home to me, and honestly, even though college on paper is a short window of time, the bonds I created at Middlebury have lasted lifetimes, literally. And as my career goes on in different directions, I bump into more and more interesting Middlebury people in the world every single year.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
13:20
That’s great. Thank you, Bill, and thanks for letting us know about your mom.
Bill Shufelt - Middlebury ‘05
13:24
Thank you.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
13:25
Sorry for her loss.
I want to take you both back, to 18 years plus about 6 months. So you’ve received the letter, and now you’ve arrived. And family has sent you off, maybe family has been with you to drop you off. You’ve moved into a dormitory, classes have begun. And if you could just kind of cast your minds back to those opening months, or even year, year and a half, as you’re arriving… what impressions were left on you? What… what… is resonant in your Middlebury memory of “I’m here?” What, what, what persists? What, what, what holds on? What, what feels like, okay, this has stuck with me for a long time, and Bill, maybe this time we’ll start with you. Just some early things about what it felt like. We’re going to get into more detail, but what it felt like, and what… What struck you about, “here I am, and this world is unfolding around me, in this space?”
Bill Shufelt - Middlebury ‘05
14:41
Yeah, it was, I think, kind of at once both comforting and somewhat familiar, in a way where, you know, you do naturally bump into a lot of people on, like, similar academic interests, or sports interests, or activities, feeling it out at the dining hall, and, you know.
I generally try to just say hi to as many people and, like, you know, kind of open the surface area up a little bit to get to know people.
But it… it was weird, it wasn’t… wasn’t overwhelming, it was just a lot of opportunity, and…there’s the very obvious, like, class curriculum, and you’re off and running, and you’re scheduled, and then there’s a lot of opportunities to meet different people. But also, it’s the fall in Vermont, and it’s absolutely gorgeous, and you feel like you’re in the perfect place in the world, too.
So, more to do, more excitement, more people to meet, but at the same time, not overwhelming somehow.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
15:38
Great, thanks. Elsa?
Elsa Alvarado - Middlebury ‘18
15:40
Yeah, for me, it was really, eye-opening, because I actually had… did not visit Middlebury before I accepted, so my first day on campus was move-in day. It was my parents and I’s first time in Vermont, so we had no idea what to expect.
And there was a sense of excitement. There was, of course, a little bit of fear, having been in a place where, you know, I was in the city that never sleeps, going to a place where now I could look up and see the stars. So I was very excited during orientation to do all of the outdoorsy activities that I had never been exposed to, like stargazing, like hiking. My trip took us to Treehouse Cabins, where we, volunteered at a local shelter, and I just… I had a list of all the things I wanted to try, because it was such a new environment.
And then the other thing that struck me, once we started meeting our professors, were how small the classes were. That was so different for me, because I was used to, you know, barely getting to know a teacher in New York. Maybe they got to know your name after 3 months.
But my classes at Middlebury, like, my first year seminar, was, like, 14 students, and so the fact that the professor took their time to get to know us, I had never had that experience. So I already started to think about all of the friendships and relationships I could make on campus, because there was the space and the time to do so that I just had… had not had in New York. And that really… that really struck me at the beginning.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
17:10
Thanks, Elsa. It’s actually a perfect segue, because my next question was going to be about faculty and sort of people who made a difference in your life. But just one note for students and families, there, part of the charm and wonder of this place is we really try to experience it together, and so I decided that I should try to experience Middlebury at least for a day, in the same way in which students do.
So I moved into a dormitory for a day, over winter term, and I spent 24 hours living in one of our dorms, and my wife sent me off with a little backpack, and I went into the dorm. I actually remembered, walking in a little bit of that sense of what it was like to be, 18 years old arriving, and not quite sure what it’d be like, not quite sure if I’d have friends, not quite sure if people would talk to me. And… I will tell you, the experience of being in a dormitory on the Middlebury campus, just for me for one day, reminded me of what a marvel a residential liberal arts college is. The highlight was, I went to the cafeteria, I got a tray of food, I sat down at a table, I ended up sitting with a bunch of just amazing student athletes from our football and track and field team. And we sat for about two and a half hours, over dinner in the cafeteria. No one looked at their phones. And we just talked.
And, that… that balance of a little bit of trepidation, a little bit of uncertainty, and a sense of welcome was real for me. I know I’m the president, I know it’s a little bit… I know it’s a little bit false, but… but I’ll tell you those… those students welcome me with open arms, and I think they’re going to welcome you and your students, too.
Elsa, so you, you, you, you led us just to this… this key question of, you know, one of the reasons why you go to a small liberal arts college, is because there is this opportunity to get to know your faculty. We have a 8.5 to 1 – for every eight and a half to nine students, there’s a faculty member, which is just kind of remarkable. Classes are small. You can meet a professor in your first year seminar and take courses with them throughout your time. You can meet someone in your second or third year who has just a huge impact on your life, and that really is one of the transformative and very special reasons to come.
Could you just talk about that a little bit more? And then, Bill, I’ll turn to you as well. Let’s kind of tease that out a little bit. A faculty member, or a course, or it could be a coach, or a librarian, or someone who worked in one of the art museums, a curator, just any stories of people who made that difference in your life.
Elsa Alvarado - Middlebury ‘18
20:15
Absolutely. I would say, for me, my very first J term, January term, I chose a class for government and politics, taught by former Governor Jim Douglas, and I… just the fact that the course was taught by a former governor, I was already invested.
And what struck me was that for every single writing assignment that we had, it was, like, we got to choose what we wrote about. So, whether it was how women got the right to vote in Vermont, or a recent bill that passed, it was a choose-your-own-adventure kind of course, while still having the foundation of understanding the structure of Vermont. And I became really close with the former governor, and he’s still, to this day, one of my closest mentors.
And what struck me was how many classes with him I took, because there were some classes where he would collaborate with a political science professor, and I would take that class as well, or I would become a speaker for his future classes.
So, the fact that I was able to develop that relationship throughout my four years, and even now, having graduated almost a decade ago, has been really, really wonderful, and I would… I just would have never thought that that kind of exposure politically, would have existed in Vermont. But there were so many opportunities like that.
The other example I have is Professor Yuen in the political science department. She taught a class called Weapons of Mass Destruction, and, you know, I thought it was going to be a lecture, and… and we were just gonna understand different, different events in political history that had to do with weapons of mass destruction. But she made the class interactive, where we would play games, and strategic games, and Jenga, and simulate negotiations as if we were the leaders at the State Department doing these things. And so she created stakes for us that made it feel really impactful. I ended up becoming a tutor for her class after, but those were experiences that I still think about even now, because they really prepared me for the career that I have today.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
22:11
That’s great, thanks. Yeah, Bill?
Bill Shufelt - Middlebury ‘05
22:14
Yeah, I… I mean, I don’t want to downplay other experiences I have, but one definitely stands out in my mind. And I would say as a backdrop to this, I would… I’m… I just was never the personality who would go to office hours, or get any extra help, or… I’m a do-your-work-operator and don’t talk to anyone kind of person. In… in my… in some ways. But I was working… I had this incredible professor, Scott Pardee, for corporate finance one year and my economic seminar the next year. He brought amazing experience to Middlebury from… he was a leading executive in financial firms, the New York Fed, and great perspective.
And one of my favorite projects of college was a corporate finance project in his class, and I went in to talk to him about that project as it was taking shape. It was, like, a very, very long multi-month project.
And he asked me, you know, on campus, all the major financial firms come through, and you get great exposure. You get a chance to do that first round of interviews on campus, and then you go to New York City for the Super Days, and so I’ve been going… he asked, like, what I was doing, and I said, “oh, I just got back from, like, the JP Morgan Investment Banking Super Day.”
It’s like, “what have been your favorite parts of economics so far?”
And I happened to mention that I really liked this trading session addendum to, like, a microeconomics course that we had done. And he zeroed in on that comment in a way that would never happen in a 300-person seminar at a large school. And he started pulling books on trading and technical analysis off the shelf, and gave me books that weren’t in the curriculum, and was like, you may want to consider looking at these if, like, that really got your interest.
I’m like, specifically trading was not, like, the hot track for finance at this time. Like, I had left high school wanting to go into New York City finance, and probably investment banking.
And he got me to a firm, Knight Capital Group, that would not have been on my radar, but after being on Wall Street for a few years, I learned it had, like, the top trading reputation on Wall Street. He gave me special skills to ace an interview and get my foot in the door there. And 5 years later, I was at one of the world’s top hedge funds in a path… that I couldn’t have gotten to that hedge fund in another way, really. And it was just, like, really unique customizing… customized coaching, and I ironically later, ran the summer internship program at the hedge fund, Point72, and the acceptance rate is about 50 times as hard as Middlebury, so I was very thankful for the track Professor Pardee steered me on. But that was just one of many examples.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
24:50
That’s great, Bill, thank you. We don’t have time for this tonight, but I’m sure Nicole and her team will keep following up. It’s not just that we have (and we truly do have) faculty members who will just pour themselves into the lives of our students. I hear this with every student I meet, I hear it with every alum, I meet. There’s also an absolutely phenomenal alumni network, and one of the powers of a small place is if you show up in New York, if you show up in DC, if you show up in LA, if you show up in San Francisco, if you show up in Atlanta, if you show up in London or Paris, or Santiago, and you have that Middlebury name, that network reaches out. Artists, climate activists, corporate leaders, governmental leaders, people in elected office, people in civil society.
And I do want to underline that, the power of a small place.
The power of deep and intimate bonds, what can happen, when a whole community is built around this knowledge that we all made this very specific decision to come here. And at the core of it is opening the door of possibility for young people. Just 100%. That’s why we exist.
Okay, a couple things. We’re going to turn in just a few minutes to life after Middlebury, but I’ve got one or two, two last Middlebury questions. What did you do when you weren’t in class? And this can range from, the serious to the quirky, the, you know, the deeply, you know, civically committed to the, that was just fun, parts of life, that were, that were important.
important to you from, from Middlebury time. So, Elsa, I’ll start with you, and then, and then Bill. Just a couple things you did when you weren’t in class.
Elsa Alvarado - Middlebury ‘18
26:39
Yeah, I’ll say I was a workaholic. I tried to have as many jobs as possible, so my senior year, I had about 4 jobs. I worked at admissions, worked at the library, I worked as a writing and Spanish tutor, and I was also a babysitter for many of the professors on campus. So I was just working all the time, but I also had, you know, I was part of extracurriculars like Alianza, which was, like, the Latino activist group on campus.
I also, like, did a lot of the outdoorsy things, and I would go on the hikes, and I would go to the swimming holes, and go to Lake Dunmore. So I definitely took advantage of the environment that we were in to the max. And of course, I was involved in the political scene, so every election night, I was there waiting for the results, but I was primarily a workaholic.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
27:28
That’s great. Thanks, Elsa. Bill?
Bill Shufelt - Middlebury ‘05
27:33
So, on… on the one hand, got involved in a lot of official school activities. Football team was a big part of my on-campus life, and really, I try to be as involved in that as I can be as an alumni as well, giving back. But also unofficial athletics, too. I played intramural softball, which is a lot of fun. I mean, and there were so many ways in a serious academic setting, like, life is so stressful these days. There are a lot of ways to unplug and relax and find community and learn from other people and build good relationships on campus outside of the classroom, too.
I’m a huge skier, still am, so I skied way too much at Middlebury, but the proximity is world-class. You know, you have 5-plus great resorts that all have special student discounts, including the Middlebury’s own Snowbowl, basically within 30-40 minutes of campus. So I absolutely took advantage of that while I was on campus. And that’s really carried through in my adult life, like, the amount I got outdoors and traveled around the states with friends and went on really memorable experiences, either visiting other colleges, whether in the NESCAC or Ivy League, within driving radius… there’s a real, like, ability to move around. I get up to Vermont all the time with my family still, at least a few times a year. I was there last weekend with my son skiing.
And the more I go around the state, I’m like, I’ve been here. Like, I covered so much of the great state of Vermont that is absolutely gorgeous, it’s challenging in an outdoorsy way, there’s a really good forward culinary scene, because it’s such a creative state, and so there really is so much going on in the state of Vermont, too, that it’s a really fun ecosystem to plug into for the four years.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
29:12
Thank you. One last, while you’re at Middlebury, and Bill, you’ve already shared this with us a little bit, but I did want to ask you a question about moments when life was hard and challenging. College is about realizing possibility, it’s about joy, it’s about fun, it’s about learning, it’s about discovery, it’s about opening. And it’s also about transitioning into early adulthood. And for all of us, there are going to be some challenging moments in that, and how a college and a community helps you think through, and is around you in a challenging time is a key part of this, so…
Bill, thank you for already sharing this story about your mom. I really, really appreciate that. Is there just another moment or time, whether it’s a moment or just kind of something that was challenging, and what you feel like you’ve learned from Middlebury then, and that might have continued in your life? And then Elsa, I’ll ask you the same question.
Bill Shufelt - Middlebury ‘05
30:17
For sure, and thank you so much for the kind words. It’s one of those things with, as you get 20 years in the future and, like, have some perspective on it, it’s like, wow, I really was in the perfect place. It was better for me to be there than at home, even. And… you know, it could have so easily gone sideways and trailed off, and, you know, Middlebury was there to collect me in a number of different ways, whether that was the, like, busy academics, the strength of the football team, friends and family, and those bonds that… I think a lot of deeper bonds were really formed in that period, too, that I’ve carried through to my life.
But switching back to academically, too, I know that the school didn’t just, like, coddle me and let me not go to class and stuff. I… I came to Middlebury thinking I was a great writer. I, you know, had probably, like, most kids going, or most adults going to Middlebury, you’ve achieved a level of academic excellence to get your foot in the door. I thought I was a great writer, and right around that time, I got my first long-form paper absolutely trashed by a professor, one of my freshman year history professors, and it was one of those moments where I really had to take my writing down to the screws and rebuild it up. There was a lot of very thoughtful commentary, and that’s a theme that builds throughout Middlebury, is, like, it’s such a writing-intensive school.
But those skills, I will say, have hit at every moment of my career. Early in my financial career, you know, I tried to make a name for myself by being one of the earliest people on the desk, and I wrote a morning newsletter that ultimately thousands of people started to read and depend on as the first thing they looked at on their phone when they woke up.That is, like, Middlebury punchy writing and, like, effectiveness right there. Senior people in my firm started relying on me to edit their… their client memos and stuff every single morning, too. And that was, like, Middlebury’s liberal arts skills building on their effectiveness, driving me ahead in the room I was in, a 500-person trading floor room.
But then transitioning to athletic brewing and the entrepreneurial journey, writing pitch decks. I was writing pitch decks for a segment that had been totally stigmatized and dead for 80 years, and needed a total transformation, and I was gonna do it in a really expensive way. And so, I’m writing pitch decks, and you know, business pitches, it certainly has helped me every step of the way.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
32:37
Great. Thank you, Bill. And we’re going to get back to the… that’s the pivot next after this. We’ve got two questions left, everyone, just so you know, in terms of watching your time, the pivot is kind of post-graduation to kind of where you are now, but also just if you could take us back to moments like that, or…
Elsa Alvarado - Middlebury ‘18
32:51
Sure. Yeah, I think for me, one of the most rewarding, yet challenging experiences was studying abroad in Paris. I mean, for me, it was the first time that I was really independently abroad, having all of my courses in French, I mean, my brain was exploding every second, just trying to grasp, “oh my god, I’m living abroad, I’m not with my family, I’m not at Middlebury’s campus,” where I had already been over 2 years. Everything was new, and what I liked was that I was able to have this experience and study at Science-Po, but also the Middlebury School in France was there. So even though I was challenged and I was with French students in my day-to-day courses, we still had the Middlebury School that helped us with, you know, like, French grammar skills, or how to, like, you know, order XYZ at a store, or just even trips to, like, better explore Paris in a familiar group. So, while it was challenging, I feel like it really pushed me, and it was one of those experiences that taught me that the best thing we can do is just be adaptable to new and evolving environments, and it led to me not having as hard of a time when I eventually moved to China.
But yeah, I think being abroad is one of those things that’s just once in a lifetime, so I always tell anyone that I can that I really encourage it, especially at Middlebury, since it’s a major part of the culture there.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
34:12
It is, and let me, you probably know this, but, students and families, two things that Elsa has mentioned. We have a winter term, so fall, spring, fall, spring. It’s a month, winter term on the campus. We also have courses off of the campus, that’s part of the curriculum, it’s part of the whole, structure, and we get to offer intensive versions of existing courses, but also a lot of new experimental things, bringing in faculty, bringing in people from the political world, people from government, people from industry, artists, so that’s part of it. And as I hope you know and probably know, one of the things that Middlebury is most renowned for are our schools abroad.
So our heart is the college. Our heart and our core is the residential liberal arts experience in the town of Middlebury in Vermont, but all of our students have access to 30 sites around the world – and I do mean around the world. Europe, Latin America, Africa, East Asia, the Caribbean. So, extraordinary possibility.
Okay, I promise two last questions, because I know for some of you it’s late, and for some of you, you probably haven’t had supper yet. So let me, depending on which coast you’re in or which time zone you’re in.
Could you both talk just a little bit about your path from Middlebury to… to where you are now? Just kind of… you graduate, here you are. How’d you get… how’d you get there, and are there one of two things that you took from Middlebury that are key?
You’ve already alluded to these in many ways, but if you could just talk through that again, I’m going to keep bouncing. Elsa, I’ll start with you. Just remind people what you’re doing now, how you got there, and a couple of key things that Middlebury gave you that helped you.
Elsa Alvarado - Middlebury ‘18
35:58
Absolutely. I really was set on pursuing more education after Middlebury, and I ended up applying for a fellowship, a one-year paid master’s in Beijing called Schwarzman Scholars. I applied as a senior at Middlebury, and I was prepped at Middlebury by professors who gave much of their time helping me prep. I ended up not getting it that year, and then I applied again, and I got it the second time, because I was really persistent. I really wanted to go to China. And so, I was able to work for a year, and then I went to Beijing, got my master’s in Global Affairs, and that basically started my career in the foreign policy world.
After that, I worked on a presidential campaign, ended up being appointed by President Biden to serve at the Pentagon as Director of Strategic Communications. I was there under the invasion of Ukraine, the Afghanistan withdrawal, and it was… it changed my life. That started my career in DC, and since then, I’ve been in the private sector, advising CEOs, nonprofits, advocacy groups on all of their communications, and I hope to one day get back into government, because I really did enjoy serving.
But when I think about the impact that Middlebury had…. I think about the small classes, and how much was the emphasis on the conversations that we had in class, hearing different viewpoints, debating in a respectful way, and… and just being open to perspectives from international students as well. I mean, when I was in China, I was with students who had never visited the U.S, had their own opinions about our history, our culture, our political system, and I think being able to have had those conversations in my undergraduate years, I was even more ready as a graduate student, and especially now.
So, I think that was a really big part, and then secondly, I think just the fact that I always look at things with an international lens, that work started at Middlebury.
I think there’s a misconception that because Middlebury’s in Vermont, you’re really just, like, isolated, and you’re not thinking about… about things that impact the world, but every single day, we were challenged to think about a global impact. And it really left a lasting impression on me.
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
38:11
Yep. Two quick pickups. We have an office in DC, and part of our strategic planning, and this will be true for students who are coming in, is we want to be much more fully present in DC, and I think it is true to say that we are probably the most global liberal arts college in America. And that’s our student body, it’s our curriculum, it’s our presence abroad. So, if that’s something, those two pieces, the DC presence and what it means to be a liberal arts college both grounded in a beautiful place in Vermont and open to the world. I truly think that’s a… that’s a Middlebury advantage, and I mean that. It’s one of the things that led me to Middlebury, in addition to our climate commitments and other issues.
Bill, can you tell us your story of how you got from that — being a senior playing football, studying econ, to actually having innovated… being one of the world’s leading entrepreneurial innovators.
Bill Shufelt - Middlebury ‘05
39:06
Oh, thank you so much. It’s definitely a bit of a wander, for sure, and I think it all stems back to, like, at Middlebury really fostered a… you know, a lifelong love of learning, and really leaned into my generalist interests. You know, I knew when I went to Middlebury, I didn’t want to go a thousand miles deep on one topic. I wanted a really strong breadth of knowledge coming out of there, and that for sure delivered.
And so, yeah, I graduated from college with, like, I became a prolific reader at college, and then that continued on after, which, and then really just, like, I’ve been on the quest of self-improvement, lifelong learning, and I think… that journey has led me on a number of different things. You know, I fell in love with trading and Wall Street. I got my CFA in the years preceding college, as I, like, dove deeper on that interest. And then somewhat moved up the investment process to Point72, you know, one of the world’s top hedge funds, but…
I was on this journey of my own where, you know, it was very self-fulfillment, health and wellness oriented. I was thinking about all the big goals I had in life, and they weren’t all necessarily being met by this career that I had just had 20 years of assumptions that that was going to be my career forever.
And so I, with the encouragement of my wife, followed this new interest, and… That, honestly, was really where the generalist depth of Middlebury’s education and that lifelong love of learning really kicked in. It was, you know, rather than being a very narrow interpreter, I got to explore this depth of all the different topics, whether that’s, you know, very close to relevant things for me, like finance and operations.
But then sales, marketing, legal, HR were all, like, developing passions for myself, and I honestly think that would have been much more difficult coming from, like, a more narrow like, bigger school, or more… with, like, more specialized majors. And I… I will say, in the Middlebury network, there have been two times where the Middlebury network has been super relevant in my career. One was during the financial crisis in 2008. I was trading a financials portfolio at Knight Capital Group, which coincidentally, was about 20 times as busy as any other portfolio for a period of time there.
And the Middlebury network of people on Wall Street and all different perspectives in the financial crisis to get a handle on what was going on in real time, trade notes, do dinners after to dive even deeper after these very stressful work days, and have both community and understanding. Like, it was such a strong moment of the Middlebury network for me in my career at that point.
And then, as I’ve gone into entrepreneurship, it’s been really amazing to see how many other entrepreneurs there are coming out of Middlebury these days. Some of my best friends have gone on to different entrepreneurial pathways and had really exciting journeys. You know, I’ve got two friends in tech, software, AI journeys right now that are really exciting, and, but that’s really just, scraping the surface, so…
Ian Baucom, President of Middlebury
42:14
Thanks. Let me… I’m actually, I think I’m gonna, end with that, so that I keep us on time, but one of the things I’ve been struck by is that there is this entrepreneurial and founders mentality, at Middlebury, and it ranges across broad domains. So, from people who are founding new companies, people who, really like, like Bill, and, Bill, but you’ve done something remarkable. You’ve built a company, and you’ve built a company, you know, whose product people love, and that is also kind of a great boon to public health.
So, you know, and so there’s…There’s, there’s that entrepreneurship, one of the co-founders of Salesforce is a Middlebury alum, people are interested in the arts.
Let me just name one more, and then I’ll move beyond that. Sean Ryan, who is a Middlebury alum has, I think, either 3 or 4 shows running on Netflix right now, so, has really helped sort of create new forms of writing, and who every year brings Middlebury students who are interested in being screenwriters, filmmakers, producers to LA to spend time with, to spend time with him.
And we’ve been entrepreneurial and founders, social, social entrepreneurs, and in activist movements. 350.org, probably the world’s most important climate active movement, emerged from a winter term course at Middlebury.
And so that, that span of market-changing. socially engaged, artistically invested capacity to found things, has… has been, I would say, one of… one of… the unsurprising great discoveries for me, about the magic of Middlebury.
Okay, Vice President Dean Curvin, we said we would go till 8.45. It is 8.44, and so I’m gonna… I’m gonna release this – I’ll spreading things back to you with
Bill, Elsa, just profound thanks to you, and above all, students, families, really, really appreciate your joining us.
You will feel good if you choose us.
And we will honor that choice. So, we hope you’ve given you a little bit more to think about as you make this big, important decision in your lives. Nicole, back to you.
Nicole Curvin, Dean of Admissions and Vice President for Strategic Enrollment
44:31
Yeah, thank you so much, Elsa and Bill, and of course, President Baucom. I feel so lucky and energized every day to be in community with folks who are thinking about the world from every different angle.
So, huge shout out and congratulations again to the Class of 2030 and the Class of 2030.5.
And, you know, stay tuned. We have a lot of events coming up, both virtual and on campus for admitted students, and this is just a launching pad for you to start asking some questions about what you’re hoping to get out of a college experience. So thank you for your time, we really appreciate you, and we look forward to hearing from you again soon.
Take care.
What Makes Midd Unique (April 1, 2025)
Join this session to hear about what makes Middlebury such a unique and special place! Current students and Admissions staff will discuss and field questions on a range of topics. We’ll cover language programs and study abroad opportunities, interdisciplinary environmental studies, February admission, our location and community in Vermont, and more.
The Midd Experience (March 19, 2025)
Join us for an inside look at student life beyond the classroom. This virtual event features representatives from Residential Life, Student Government, and Student Activities, along with student organization leaders. Learn about on-campus housing, student leadership, and opportunities to get involved. Gain insights from current students, ask questions, and explore ways to build your community. Whether you’re interested in leadership, events, or student organizations, this session will help you navigate campus life. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect and prepare for your college experience!