I’m excited to write about my future place of education: UVM! I’m excited to go there for a few reasons: they have a great environmental program, the campus is beautiful, and of course their mascot, Rally Cat. (Just kidding, Rally Cat was secondary but he is adorable.)  As a way to teach both myself and various readers about UVM more, I wanted to write about what sports look like there, along with the student culture surrounding sports.

Firstly, UVM is Division I in all sports. This came as a pleasant surprise to me, because I do like watching sports and am glad I can take pride in my future school’s sporting scene. Their teams consist of 18 D1 teams, (10 for women and 8 for men,) and the school is in the America East Conference, in which they have been members since 1979. UVM’s students embrace sports, they often have good turnout at sporting events and Rally Cat is popular on campus. Their basketball team is especially popular; they’ve won the America East Conference championships eleven times.

Unfortunately—this was very saddening for me—UVM doesn’t offer varsity tennis. I was appalled to learn this because I was looking forward to watching some of their matches; however, they do have a co-ed club tennis team that seems to be fairly skilled. The same goes for football—yes, UVM doesn’t have a varsity football team. This was also a surprise to me. The sports that they do officially have include basketball, lacrosse, hockey, skiing, cross country, soccer, swim and dive, field hockey, and track and field.

But, UVM does offer many club sports. As you can probably guess, winter sports are very, very popular there. Club skiing at UVM is insanely competitive, the school is known to be a “skiing” school. The club is called the Nordic Ski Club and has even competed at the USCSA National Championships. Other popular club sports include sailing, biking, and ice hockey. There’s also some unique club sports such as ballet and fencing! I’d actually consider joining ballet, if they take beginners—I took lessons when I was younger and loved it. Additionally, UVM’s campus is beside Lake Champlain, so water activities are common there as well.

UVM also embraces the outdoors. They are known to have an impressive environmental program, and Environmental Science is actually their most competitive major on campus. Classes there frequently go outside and a large part of research conducted there involves environmental science and the outdoors! They have specialized dorm buildings that prioritize an “outdoor experience” (optional) and there are many ways to stay active on campus, from hiking to rock climbing to paddleboarding. There’s also various programs that bring students camping and mountain biking.

I’m very excited to attend UVM in the fall and go to their sporting events! I’ll try not to fangirl too hard if I meet Rally Cat.