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MICROCOLLEGE: The Thoreau College PodcastAuthor: Thoreau College
MICROCOLLEGE is an exploration of the crisis in higher education and the innovative projects and thinkers working to address it, with a special focus on the human-scaled, place-based, meaning-oriented learning communities we call "microcolleges."The podcast is hosted by Jacob Hundt, Founder of Thoreau College, a micro college rooted in the Driftless Region of rural southwestern Wisconsin, inspired by the model of Deep Springs College, Waldorf education, and Henry David Thoreau. This podcast is for thoughtful, motivated teenagers and young adults who are disappointed by the options available to them in post-secondary education, as well as their teachers, parents, counselors, and mentors, and anyone interested in the quality of higher education and its role within our culture.Listeners will be introduced to new ideas and alternative opportunities for post-secondary education, as well as thoughtful criticism of mainstream models and practices at colleges and universities. Listeners will discover exciting educational programs to apply to, books to read, and thinkers to learn more about.Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at https://thoreaucollege.org/ Language: en Genres: Education, Nature, Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Reyn Hutten, Lulah Entwistle - Outer Coast, Sitka, Alaska
Episode 83
Friday, 17 April, 2026
On this episode of the Microcollege Podcast we return for an update from one of the most inspiring success stories of the emerging microcollege movement. Rooted in the beautiful island community of Sitka, Alaska among the fjords and temperate rainforest of the southeastern panhandle of Alaska, Outer Coast is inspired by Deep Springs College and nourished by the unique cultural heritage of the Tlingit people of that region. Since 2015, Outer Coast has been developing as a peer and fellow traveler of Thoreau College, and now has launched a full 2-year undergraduate program granting academic credits through the University of Alaska Southeast suitable for an Associates Degree or transfer to a 4 year school. Join me as I speak with Outreach Lead Reyn Hutten and pioneer 2nd Year student Lulah Entwistle about entering higher education after growing up in a rural place, about the role of service learning in the context of tight knit local community, about the value of robust student self-governance, and about the impact of incorporating indigenous languages, storytelling, and culture into a full microcollege curriculum.Reyn Hutten is the Outreach Lead and periodic Summer Seminar Program Director at Outer Coast and has been in Sitka at Outer Coast for nearly 3 years. Hailing from the small island community of Wrangell, AK, Reyn is a long-time believer in (and beneficiary of) holistic, community-based, in-situ learning in southeast Alaska. She has focused on community building and education from many angles, including through her B.A. in ecology with a focus on the Arctic at Dartmouth College, as a field program coordinator, and as a ski and sea kayak coach. Reyn finds vibrance in many of life’s little moments but especially when moving her body outside, cooking, tinkering and connecting with people.Lulah Entwistle grew up homeschooled on a biodynamic farm in Middle Tennessee, where her family grew food to sustain themselves and ran a small CSA. When she is home, Lulah likes to ride her horses, play with the goats, and help on the farm. She is currently studying at Outer Coast and is in the process of finding a place to go next. For the past two years she has been walking around Sitka, listening to music and watching the mountains.
