Sally Roggmann Collins (1960) and Michael Collins (1961) recently retired after 40 years of teaching, counseling and school administration.During those years, Sally served children as a teacher and counselor and is continuing to serve as a volunteer mediator.

Sally spent periods of five years helping to develop a village school near Kathmandu, Nepal – a life-affirming event for her.

Mike had the honor to serve as a member of a team that developed the nation’s first public boarding school, The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, N.C. That school’s model stimulated other states to engage in similar efforts to strengthen science, mathematics and technology instruction in out nation’s schools.

Sally and Mike now live in Traverse City, Mich. during summer months and Hendersonville, N.C. through the remainder of the year.

Married in 1960, they are the parents of two daughters and have four grandchildren, all of whom reside in North Carolina.

Sally and Mike enjoy travel, having spent extended periods in Mexico, Nepal and other parts of the world.

In recent years they have hiked areas surrounding Mount Everest as well as the Camino de Santiago of northern Spain and look forward to continuing such activity now that retirement provides more time.

We met at Castleton when it was known as Castleton Teacher’s College. At that time, the college enrolled approximately 400 students. We were both first generation college students as seemed to be the situation for most.

We understand that many current Castleton students are the first among their families to enter college, a remaining and commendable hallmark.

During our era, Castleton provided the financial, social and emotional support we required. We continue to value the interest shown all students by the instructors and administrator of that time.

Our teachers including Paul Sweitzer, Winthrop Tilley, May Segal, Chandler Mosher and Jim Gilbert are among those whose daily presence in the classroom, as well as the dining room, reinforced the ideal of a “living and learning” environment.

In what other colleges would a mathematics professor chase down a national defense education act, as did Charles Wright for us and many other financially pressed students?

Of course, we also relied on Dean Florence Black for direct advice and admonishment as required!

The interest shown by these and others at Castleton had served us as a guide and our own interactions with generations of students. We are pleased and proud to learn of the progress CSC has made, programmatically and financially.

This profile statement could not end without encouraging our fellow alums to continue providing financial resources to Castleton. The state of Vermont appears to provide a small but critical portion of the budget required for annual operations. At many colleges, financial support apart from tuition comes from gifts of all sorts, most significantly annual giving. If each alumnus would provide a small percent of his or her estate to the Castleton endowment, imagine the cumulative effect such an effort would create over a single decade!

Castleton State College is a special place and we are thankful to have it in our lives. We wish all current students benefit similar to those derived from our years there.