The Importance of Having Roots: A Reflection by Alumna and Board Member Copland Arnold Rudolph

It was 6 AM on September 27th when I started to hear and feel the first 100 ft. trees fall. By noon, millions of trees across western North Carolina would be uprooted by tornadoes, landslides and flooding from Hurricane Helene. Suddenly, an area of the country that climate scientists indicated was immune to a major climate catastrophe was in an apocalyptic crisis with no power, no water, and no wifi or cellular service. In this moment and in every moment where I must face the unexpected and the difficult, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for my Prescott College roots.

In 1988, I was a southern girl who had never skied, rowed a river, or ridden a mountain bike. I underestimated what I was capable of at every turn. Prescott College allowed me to experience my strength, resilience, and connection to nature through many southwest classroom adventures.  

The moments most vivid in my memory are the ones where things went wrong.

The moment when I was two pitches up and off route with Julie Munro at Smith Rocks. The protection I thought I could place wasn’t holding and I just had to climb a grade or two above my skill level with no protection. That moment in Mexico when food poisoning hit our group on the bus ride from El Rosario to La Paz … and the bus bathroom was locked and out of order. Reconning an orientation route and the water we thought was there wasn’t there or the moment crouched on our sleeping pads waiting for the lightning to pass. Bus number 1 running out of gas…

So on September 26th, I went and filled my car with gas, I filled water jugs, I charged my headlamp, and put batteries in my lantern. When we lost power and water, not showering or being able to flush a toilet didn’t send me into a panic like most adults on my block. Prescott College taught me how to persevere and lead in good times and bad.

Currently I am the Executive Director of the Asheville City Schools Foundation where we fund innovation in the classroom and deliver programming to support students to live a curious life.

Now more than ever as “ once in a lifetime” climate events are beginning to happen monthly, students want and need experiential education, connection to nature, and opportunities to struggle–and no young person I know is in denial about climate change. Prescott College has been centering the climate conversation and delivering the best outdoor education coursework in the country for decades. While education is under fire in our country at every level and families are questioning the investment in higher education, PC alumni know the investment we made in Prescott College tuition continues to pay off in ways we never imagined.

As alumni, we need to meet this moment and connect students and families to Prescott College. We need to collectively climb two grades higher than we have been climbing and recruit folks to PC as if the life of the college (and our planet) depends on us.

I am beyond honored to be a member of the Prescott College Board of Trustees and I invite each of you to reach out to the Board with your ideas, your energy, and your financial support.

Onward,
Copland Arnold Rudolph