Approximately 50 DREAM mentors from Vermont and New Hampshire converged upon Camp DREAM in Fletcher, Vt., last Saturday for the fifth annual DREAMstock, a weekend conference of workshops, networking and "work projects."
DREAM is a non-profit mentoring program that pairs college students with children living in low-income housing developments in 13 Vermont communities. DREAM currently has 11 chapters at nine colleges and universities in Vermont and New Hampshire. Dartmouth has two chapters, one that works with kids from Hollow Drive and Northwoods, Vt., and one with children from Windsor, Vt., according to Chad Butt '04, programs director of DREAM Program Inc.
Students attending DREAMstock participated in several workshops, including a forum for deciding how DREAM should react to the recent controversy over new Burton snowboards that display images of naked Playboy models and drawings of self-mutilation, Dylan Nelson '09, who attended DREAMstock, said.
The DREAM chapter at the University of Vermont participates in Burton's "Chill" program, which provides free snowboards, snowboarding clothes and snowboarding lessons to five or six DREAM children each winter, according to Butt.
Two community non-profit organizations, separate from DREAM, have withdrawn from the Chill program in response to the new snowboards, according to the Burlington Free Press.
"We don't want to support that in any way," Nelson said about the graphics, "and we especially don't want our kids to be exposed to that."
Another workshop focused on DREAM's goal to be more environmentally conscious. Mentors discussed carbon-offsetting and more efficient ways to transport children to campuses, Nelson said.
DREAMstock included 14 workshops in total, with topics ranging from poverty awareness to strategies for networking with local businesses, according to Butt. Jon Potter '01, one of the founders of DREAM, led a workshop on applying for grants, Butt said.
Discussion at DREAMstock also focused on the creation of two new DREAM chapters in Boston, according to Nelson. DREAM hopes to begin these programs by fall 2009, Butt said.
"This is a result of pull from the community," Butt said. "We decided on expansion into Boston because people from the communities were asking us to come."
DREAM is in the process of establishing a Boston office and does not yet know which specific institutions or communities will participate, he added.
"DREAM is a very rural program in Vermont, so it's important to ask how we can keep it DREAM and also be in an urban environment," Nelson said.
The workshops were especially important for communication between individual chapters and staff members from DREAM's Burlington office, according to Nelson.
"The staff in Burlington essentially runs the operations of DREAM -- finances, stuff like that -- but then each individual college has their own student leaders," Nelson said. "So the staff like getting our opinions because it is very much a student-run organization."
Two new chapters were established earlier this year at Bennington College and at Green Mountain College, and a second program was created at UVM, according to Butt.
In addition to attending workshops, mentors spent time doing "work projects" around the camp, including finishing the construction of a lean-to, searching for a place to teach kids to rock climb and working on a 10-foot tall concrete arch that will be the base of an ongoing art project for DREAM mentees, according to Nelson.
Nelson was one of three Dartmouth DREAM mentors to attend this year's DREAMstock. Although Dartmouth usually has fewer attendants than other schools, mostly because the camp is far away from Dartmouth, this year's turnout was relatively low, according to Butt.
"I think it's just hard to get Dartmouth students off campus for things on the weekend," Nelson said. "We're also far away -- it's about a two-and-a-half hour drive."
Dartmouth's other two participants were Bill Gerath '11 and Ned Kenney '10, a co-chair of one of Dartmouth's DREAM programs.
