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Rutland Magazine76
S c h o o l N e w s
H ay e s Foundation
on september 14, 1980, sens-ing that his death was near, Walter Hayes, Jr. handwrote his last will and testament. For several days, he had been
feeling ill and wanted his family’s wishes set down on paper before he passed on. in his will and testament, Hayes wrote: “My estate and my mother’s, as we agreed, is to be put into a non-profit corporation for the purpose of providing educational assistance to the young of the Rutland County area in Vermont. We agreed that we would espe-cially like to help the exceptionally bright at the elementary grade level.” two days later, Hayes was dead, but the legacy of his family lived on in the creation of the Hayes Foun-dation in 1982.
by Sandra Stillman Gartner
seeking & Rewarding Motivated students
77Summer 2013 77
LocaL StudentS benefit from hayeS Supportleft: rachel ross (far left) with other Green across the pacific students and an adult leader (far right) in July 2011 on the Kowloon side of the city of hong Kong, with the hong Kong skyline in the background. photo provided by rachel ross
above: at farm & Wilderness summer camps, the focus is on community, home-grown fun and living closely with the natural world. there are five overnight camps for children ages nine through seventeen, a day camp and a family camp. the 4,000 acres include extensive shoreline on Woodward reservoir for swimming, canoeing and exploration, and also a camp on Lake ninevah. the working organic farm offers opportunities to campers, and each camp has its own small farm. three generations of campers have learned a lifelong love of nature and the joy of a simple, participatory life here in the Vermont woods.photos provided by f & w
Rutland Magazine78
hayeS foundation SupportS LocaL StudentStop: elizabeth bushey (shown with another participant, Wang Shang from Guangzhou, china), was part of the summer 2012 exchange program in Vermont organized by Green across the pacific, a program whose mission is “to improve cultural and en-vironmental awareness and cooperation around the world.” She received a grant from the hayes foundation that enabled her to take part in the program. bushey, a sophomore and honors biology student at mill river
union high, has been accepted into the summer 2013 program, scheduled to travel to the city of Guangzhou in the province of Guangdong, china. She had been working to earn money to cover the $3,000 tuition and $2,200 air fare when she broke her back last december after falling 25 feet from a climbing wall. She is recovering and expects to start work again, but is asking the community for help in meeting the costs of the trip to china. anyone wanting to support bushey can send a check to Green across the pacific, 1594 north orwell road, Shoreham, Vt 05770, noting “elizabeth bushey” in the check memo. photo provided by green across the pacific
left: odyssey of the mind, supported by the hayes foundation, led these students at mill river union high to work creatively on their own invention, which won them honors at a national odys-sey of the mind gathering. photos provided by nanette dubin
79Summer 2013
For the past 30 years, Carl Buffum of Wallingford, a relation of the Hayes family, has been chairman of the board that oversees the Hayes Foundation and its summer and school year programs for gifted children of Rutland County. Buf-fum, a retired schoolteacher and potter, said, “originally, another Hayes relative suggested donating money to a school for band uniforms. i knew this wasn’t what Walter and his parents had in mind for the foundation.” as chairman of the board of the Hayes Foundation, Buffum was responsible for making sure the vi-sion continued.
in January of 2013, Buffum retired from the board and the position of chair. Rebecca Majoya, who is executive director of the Mentor Connector, re-placed him. the Mentor Connector is a Rutland County program that brings together adults and children who share a supportive relationship on a weekly basis. Majoya said, “although Carl is no longer on the board, he will be staying in touch with us.” there are six mem-bers on the Hayes Board and the group meets four to six times a year.
“the mission of the Hayes Founda-tion to help youth who are bright and motivated to excel melds smoothly with the mission of the Mentor Connec-tor,” Majoya said. “the mission of the Mentor Connector is to match youth with an adult who is a role model.” ac-cording to the new chair, young people often need to be exposed to new expe-riences to discover what they are good at. Majoya added, “Many kids are ‘twice exceptional,’ which means they have a weakness and a strength. the school sys-tem is obligated to assist with the weak-ness, but not obligated to give challenges where they are strong. Both Hayes and mentoring address this need.”
Recommendations for students to par-ticipate in the Hayes program come from teachers, school counselors and parents. in the early days, programs took place during the school year and were set up for both individualized and small group settings. the topics covered included archeology, stargazing, writing, electron-ics, science and math. one year a stu-dent wanted to read about handicaps and met with a local mentor, who had
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been dealing with personal challenges in his own life.
in 1990, the Hayes Foundation switched its focus from school year to summer programs, because students had more time for additional activities when they had vacation. the summer pro-gram began with nancy Bell, artist and nature advocate, mentoring 25 children in a day camp setting. several years later, the Hayes Camp moved to the Walling-ford Lodge at elfin Lake and became a two-week overnight experience.
Buffum hired a staff, which included a coordinator, teachers, counselors and cooks. around 35 to 40 students ranging from eight to fourteen years old would participate. He said, “some of the ac-tivities could be done together, and oth-ers were divided by age groups.” every summer there was a particular theme that Buffum would select with input from the Hayes board. one reason the Hayes program has been so successful is because teachers/counselors design an activity that matches their interest and style. they are working with young peo-ple who are both capable and motivated to learn.
Walter Leach, a stained glass artist, came from england to present a sum-mer program on the Medieval age. He taught the campers natural dyeing and papermaking, and together they cre-ated a stained glass window. a field trip to new york City included a visit to the Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of art and the Cathedral of st. John the divine. Buffum said, “Following that particular camp, 15 students went to england on a van trip where they visited medieval sites throughout the country. it was an incred-ible experience for all of them.”
the cost for the Hayes programs are covered by the family and from grants awarded by the foundation to those who need help with tuition and expenses. in 2010, things changed again at the Hayes Foundation and it hosted the last over-night summer camp in Wallingford. “When we got ready to plan our 2011 season, the costs were prohibitive. there was a rate increase for rent, insurance, cost of living and administrative posi-tions. it was time to re-think how we
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could honor the Hayes mission and not dry up the foundation money,” Buffum said.
the Hayes board went forward with a focus of providing grants for students to do intellectually challenging programs during the school year and summer. the grants are awarded for unusual self-designed projects or intensive study in selective programs. there is no deadline for applications, unless a particular pro-gram has one.
some examples of programs include the following: enrollment at simon’s Rock at Bard College for high school students earning college credits; Green across the Pacific (a Chinese and Japa-nese cultural exchange program); and the Vermont division of odyssey of the Mind (an international competition where students do creative problem solv-ing around a specific challenge).
the summer study grants submission deadline is mid-May. the school year grants, which begin in september, are done on a rolling basis. around a dozen grants are awarded each year from the Hayes Foundation. the Hayes Founda-tion has also given money to summer camps for students who need subsidies in order to attend. “For 30 years, we have followed the wishes of the Hayes family,” Buffum commented. “if Walter Hayes was alive today, he would be very pleased about his legacy, and especially where the Hayes Foundation is heading in the future.”
Majoya added, “i plan to make Hayes more visible in the Rutland community. We will be more present on PeG tV, in the newspapers and in the schools so people can know what we offer and how to connect with us. there is a myth that a child has to have a certain iQ or be un-imaginably bright to get assistance from Hayes, but that is not true. if a young person is motivated in a certain subject and wants to gain more in that area by attending an event or a camp, we are here to help reach that goal.”
For more information on the founda-tion and its programs, please visit www.thehayesfoundation.org or call (802) 353-0480.
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