Student View Q & A

Rachel Salois on-site at the Tiny House

Rachel Salois '12

Rachel Salois of Whitefield, Maine, a Professional Writing major, learned that her words have power to last year after she wrote an article for the student newspaper The Current urging her classmates to abandon "their inhibitions about being seen as eco-freaks" and taking action with their passions any way that they could. The essay brought a response from Kyle Dodson, director of Champlain's Center for Service and Civic Engagement (CSCE), who encouraged Salois to follow her own advice. He then helped her hatch the "Tiny House" building project that culminated with her pounding nails and overseeing a construction project in the courtyard outside Freeman Hall during the campus-wide environmental awareness Home Planet week. Her essay about the project appeared in The Burlington Free Press's Green Mountain section. This year she is editor-in-chief of The Current. She spent her summer writing reviews about Tiny House books and articles for the website Small House Style.

Were you surprised at what happened after you wrote the first article?

In the fast-paced, fun, and distracting world of college, it's hard for me to see the panorama of where I've been and where I'm going. However, a year ago I strode onto campus with my hybrid passions of writing and environmentalism leading me and my pathway built itself. I thought that writing with some spunk about student activism might make others see their potential. I had no idea how quickly the article would boomerang back and land at my own feet.

What happened after meeting with Kyle Dodson?

My lunch with him began a seven-month journey of meetings with the CSCE staff; more newspaper articles; a work-study job; and partnerships with an architect, a building contractor, an elementary school, and a high school drafting class. It led me to a self-education in leadership, group work, telephone communication, and construction. It led me to propose a book idea to the Champlain College Publishing Initiative (which evolved into a web site Young Hip Sexy Activism), and finally to building a tiny house on campus during Home Planet week.

How did the ‘Tiny House' project come together?

With a lot of help from the construction crew working over at Roger H. Perry Hall and Champlain's physical plant workers, the building came together and was finished in time to display for the spring prospective student weekend. Then it was disassembled and moved to the Edge Academy in Essex, Vermont, put back together, and now serves as an outdoor classroom for the school.

How has this project changed your life?

I've never been much of a businesswoman, but I often find myself trying to sell people on the idea of a Tiny House. What I really want is to start a trend. The best way to picture tiny houses is as a community, with people working together to have a green lifestyle: gardening, carpooling, and sharing a washing machine.

I'm hoping that when I build my Tiny House, it will help me with my constant effort to have less of a relationship with my laptop, television, and ever-growing collection of impractical shoes, and more of a relationship with my family and next-door neighbors.

Of course, building just one house took me two semesters of hard work, and, to be honest, it will be a microscopic nudge for the environmental movement. However, I can't help but be encouraged, because with every mass movement, success is not one Goliath step, but a million tiny attempts that constantly propel us forward.