It's a question that Vermont Public reporter Erica Heilman has been asking Vermonters from all sorts of backgrounds for a series about money and class and privilege.
Explore the full series below.
-
Isaac McDonald is from Newport, and this year he’s a freshman at Columbia University in New York City on a full scholarship. In the latest episode of "What Class Are You," Erica Heilman caught up with Isaac on his first trip home from college, and they talked about class dynamics at Columbia, and what it feels like to be on a full scholarship there.
-
Ryan Palmer is the sheriff of Windsor County. In this episode of What class are you?, reporter Erica Heilman drives around the county with Sheriff Palmer and they talk about the challenges of being middle class in an increasingly expensive part of the state.
-
Tom Burdick grew up on a ranch in a town of about 1,500 people in northeastern Utah. After high school, Tom worked to put himself through college and then medical school, and now he works as an interventional radiologist at Dartmouth Health. In this installment of our occasional series, What class are you?, Tom talks about the challenges of breaking into higher education, and raising children in a different class from the one he grew up in.
-
Kathy Quimby Johnson grew up in East Peacham before attending college out of state. In the latest installment of "What class are you?," Kathy talks with Erica Heilman about growing up blue collar and straddling two Vermont cultures.
-
Joe Wills is a filmmaker and software engineer from Richford, Vermont, currently living in Burlington. He put himself through the University of Vermont, working three part-time jobs, and still graduated with more debt than any of his friends. In the latest installment of our series "What class are you?," Joe talks with producer Erica Heilman about the challenges of higher education when you come from little money.
-
In this episode of "What class are you?" Tankhun Thongjunthoug talks about what it was like to grow up in an immigrant family, and how he experienced the undercurrents of the American class system.
-
Mark LaRouche prefers life in 'the lower class', but says it's hard to make a life without resources"What class are you?" It's a question that Vermont Public reporter Erica Heilman has been asking people in Vermont, and this is the fourth installment of a new five-part series. Mark LaRouche grew up in a middle class family in Rutland, but says he prefers "the lower class," and he believes that addiction is the hardest class of all.
-
Reporter Erica Heilman talked with Katrin Tchana about her childhood in Lyme, New Hampshire, and how it has become increasingly difficult for people who grew up there to remain.
-
Retired Vermont State Police trooper Ingrid Jonas talks about class assumptions in law enforcement — and expensive condiments.
-
Damian Renzello and reporter Erica Heilman are the same age and both grew up in Vermont. But according to Damian, they will always be different fruits.