Playing for Credit: How I Accidentally Graduated from UVM in Five Semesters
It is December 2020 and I just graduated from the University of Vermont (UVM) in five semesters here in Burlington, Vermont, including a study abroad semester. I didn’t set out to complete this four-year degree in the efficient manner that I did. However, now that it happened, I want to share the story of how many little and seemingly incidental decisions along the way led up to this point. A significant part of how I completed a degree in five semesters at UVM was deeming any and all opportunities to accumulate credits as valuable and worth pursuing. For me, these random credits came prior to, and throughout my college experience. The first college credits I gained came before any real college experience. During the winter of 2016, my junior year of high school, I embarked on a five-month long wilderness adventure program with 12 other students at Kroka Expeditions based in New Hampshire. The semester was a self-powered circumnavigation of Vermont via