Goddard’s getting its groove back.
Six courses will be offered in April on the Plainfield campus of Goddard College, the tiny, alternative liberal arts school that closed in 2024. Although the school is not reopening, the weekend-long program is designed to revive its culture as a collaborative learning environment that cultivates creativity, critical thought and unusual courses of study.
Class offerings include “Star Trek as America’s Self Portrait,” “Engaging the Steelband as a Vehicle for Activism” and “Threads of Protest: Fabriculture as a Site of Resistance.” They run Friday through Sunday, April 10 to 12, and registration is open now.
The endeavor, called the Goddard Spark, is a pilot for the lifelong educational program that operators hope to establish, according to founder and director Adam Myers. Execusuite, a Lebanon, N.H., real estate development company, bought the 130-acre campus in 2024. Education is a “very important” component of the company’s vision for the property, officially known as Goddard Campus, Tim Sidore wrote in an email. Sidore, chief of operations for the Execusuite division that owns Goddard Campus, said the property is designed to be an extension of downtown Plainfield. It is home to performing arts events, a restaurant, permanent and hospitality-style housing, and several nonprofits.
Myers, a 2024 Goddard alum, said he proposed the idea of an education program to Execusuite “because Goddard matters,” he said. “For me, it was life-changing.”
Rather than choose from a list of majors, Goddard allowed students to develop their curriculum with instructors. Myers, 29, had long harbored a dream of creating an ethical entertainment production company that puts artists first. His two earlier attempts to earn a college degree had failed. “I went to Goddard, and they weren’t rolling their eyes,” he said. “They were saying … ‘What does that look like? How do we get there?’” In the course of his studies, he said, his political and intellectual awareness expanded as well.
“Everybody I talk to who went to Goddard loves Goddard because of how it made them a deeper, richer person,” Myers said. Former students, who include actor William H. Macy, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, and Phish band members Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman and Page McConnell, are “imbued with a certain spark of something deeper, something that isn’t just I got a degree,” Myers said. It’s “something more transformative than that. And that spark was what I wanted to make sure survived.”
Three Goddard graduates are among the Goddard Spark faculty. Writer and translator Mordecai Martin began publishing his writing as a Goddard undergrad. Now living in Mexico, he translates Hebrew and Yiddish into English. In April, he’ll teach a course called “De-Mystifying Translation as Writing Practice.” Georgie Darling, creative director at Spire, a Hinesburg company that teaches decision-making for high-stakes situations, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Goddard and will teach “AC/DC: How to Rock at Adaptive Leadership.” And Kat Gordon, an alum, former Goddard staffer and fiber artist, will lead a “Threads of Protest” class that explores why textile crafts provide marginalized groups an opportunity to connect and organize.
Other instructors include Emily Lanxner of Hardwick, whose Honeybee Steelband promotes pollinator protection. Lanxner’s class will explore the historical relationship of steel band and social activism in Trinidad. Adam Hughes, of the 50-year-old Tennessee group Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, will teach “Introduction to Community Organizing.” And Jessie Earl, better known as YouTuber Jessie Gender, will teach the “Star Trek” class.
Each student may take two courses. The full-weekend package, which includes lodging, meals and tuition, costs $350. Meals and tuition without lodging are $156.96. ➆
This article appears in February 18 • 2026.
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