A teacher at an alternative school, Alex Shevrin first came to Vermont as a student at UVM, where she also earned her Vermont teacher's license.
The 27-year-old loves her life in Burlington, but career mobility for both her and her partner make her wonder if she's here to stay.
On why she stays
"The biggest reason why I stay is my job. My job is where I've met a lot of close friends, so it sort of snowballs. I love my job, now I have friends in Burlington. Even if something happened with the job, I feel like I would probably try to stay. Now I have my life here."
"I don't know if I see myself here, if I'm looking five or ten years down the road."
On why she might leave
"I don't know if I see myself here, if I'm looking five or ten years down the road. I'm in a leadership position at my school. A comparable position at either a public school or another alternative school really doesn't pop up that often in Vermont. If there was a point where I wanted to move on from my current position, I don't know that I could make an upward or even sideways move."
"In recent years, there's been four or five people who left our school because their partner wanted to take a different job out of state."
On leaving the state for a partner
"If my partner wanted to leave his job, it's a similar thing. A lot of people that I work with love their jobs, because we have an amazing staff culture. But in recent years, there's been four or five people who left our school because their partner wanted to take a different job out of state."
On raising a family on Vermont wages
"If I came to a point where I really needed to be making more to support a family, I start to think about 'can I do that in Vermont?' I would love to, this seems like a wonderful place to have kids. But would my partner and I be able to find a job that we're able to grow in that sense."
"If you're talking to kids at graduation about staying in Vermont, I feel like it's kind of too late."
On retaining Vermont grads
"At my graduation at UVM, Howard Dean as part of his commencement address said 'we need young people to stay in Vermont.' I think they say some version of that every year. But if you're talking to kids at graduation about staying in Vermont, I feel like it's kind of too late."
