Nathaly Filion '05

Enhancing the diversity of the student experience is an important UVM priority, and Nathlay Filion '05 is one of a group of UVM students who benefit from the Dodge Family Cultural Diversity Scholarship Fund, established with a $500,000 Campaign gift from Anne and Steven Dodge, parents of senior Benjamin Dodge '04. Filion is in the fourth year of a five-year program of study pursuing a dual degree in Integrated Natural Resources and Vocal Music Performance.

"Music and the environment have been my passions for my whole life," she says. A gifted mezzo soprano, Filion has given public performances at UVM and elsewhere in Vermont as part of her music major, and led the audience in the singing of the Star Spangled Banner and the UVM alma mater, Universitas Viridis Montis, at the historic 200th Commencement ceremony in May. She spent the spring semester of 2003 studying the ecosystems of the New Zealand archipelago in fulfillment of the requirements for a course in ecosystem management — "just an awesome experience," she says, during which she developed a curriculum unit for New Zealand elementary school teachers on The Ecology and Mythology of Plants. "The idea was to contribute to the larger effort to bring the indigenous Maori people into the mainstream educational system in New Zealand," she says.

Filion says the Dodge Family Scholarship has made it possible for her to take advantage of everything UVM has to offer, and she's done just that. Since 2001, she has worked as an AdvoCat, one of a group of 50 students who assist the undergraduate Admissions Office in recruitment. As a Resident Assistant in Harris/Millis, she helps create community through social events, community meetings, and educational programming. A native of the Dominican Republic, she's also an active member and past president of Alianza Latina, the student-run organization dedicated to supporting the Latin American community at UVM.

"Finding the right fit in the choice of a college is important," Filion says. " I really feel that UVM has fostered wonderful growth in me as an individual."

The Dodge family first created the fund several years ago to help attract students to UVM who can contribute to the cultural diversity of the student body and campus life. "Steve and I want to help young people who have so much promise and motivation and who might otherwise not have an opportunity to attend college," says Anne Dodge.

Anne says she has been keenly interested in fostering diversity in American society for the past twenty years, a commitment she was drawn to by her strong faith. The gift to UVM, she said, was motivated by a very simple fact: "We saw a need." Helping the University to build its cultural diversity is vital, she says. "The world is a multicultural place, and the opportunity to live and learn in a community of people from varied cultural, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds is an important part of the college experience."

Nathaly Filion '05,
Nathaly leads the audience in song at UVM's historic 200th Commencement