Mike Schloat '01

I give to Williams annually to help sustain the College’s ability to deliver on that most unique of Williams relationships, that of the student and the teacher. Forged around the seminar table and in the laboratory, these bonds persist well after graduation for many Ephs, and sometimes in the smallest or most surprising of ways.

A few autumns ago, my family ventured to Williamstown for a hike up Pine Cobble and lunch in town to celebrate my birthday – a magnanimous gift from my Middlebury Panther wife! While we were loading our toddlers into Baby Bjorns and carrying backpacks near the Pine Cobble trailhead, who appeared from the mouth of the trail but David Dethier, Professor of Geosciences. I had taken a semester of geology with Professor Dethier in the fall of my senior year, a course I loved, a discipline I discovered just a hair too late to enjoy the full Williams treatment. Nevertheless, he recognized me on the spot and chatted with us for a few minutes about birthday hikes, parenting, and teaching. Then, we trod on, up the hill and off to lunch.

Three days later waiting in my mailbox was a thick padded envelope from Williamstown, with a birthday present enclosed from Professor Dethier. The present, a copy of his son Dylan’s book, was a touching reminder of the purple ties that bind. And just one of the many reasons I commit to giving back to Williams each and every year.