Faculty Member Mark Cline Lucey Produces Wind Documentary

Mark Cline Lucey, Chair of the Social Studies Deptartment, has taught Social Studies at Vermont Commons School since 2004. Always looking for new ways to engage his students, Mark began to introduce videography into his classes, encouraging the students to create short doc- or mock-umentaries about history or current events.  Little did he know the degree to which he himself would become enamored of this media form. It naturally followed that while thinking of a sabbatical he would gravitate toward honing his own already considerable videography skills.

Sabbaticals at Vermont Commons School are semester-long and are offered to faculty who have taught at VCS for over 10 years. They are an opportunity for the faculty member to dive deeply into an area of interest to them. While their chosen interest may not figure prominently in their educational discipline, the belief is that their own personal growth and time away from the daily rigors of teaching will return them to the classroom filled with new insights, energy, and widened experience. Such an opportunity can only reap benefits for our students and community.

During the Fall Semester of 2017, Mark researched, filmed, and edited a full-length documentary on wind power in Vermont.  One year prior, Mark had led an Encounter Week where students explored all the aspects of documentary making.  They decided they would focus on wind power. When they left that fall morning on what would be a week long road trip around Vermont, to a one – including Mark – they believed that there were only upsides to wind power; renewable, pollution-free, and those beautiful windmills! What they found on that trip was a much more complex situation, one that can pit community member against community member, individual against the state, David against the Goliath of industrial wind power.  Mark found he had to return and explore the topic more deeply than one week would allow.  The resulting film, “WIND: The Struggle for the Character of Vermont”, is a nuanced and very balanced look at the ramifications of wind power in Vermont. Look for it at a theater or venue near you, click on this link and watch at your leisure, or just stop by VCS and watch it during Common Hour on April 11th!