As just having turned 25 upon matriculation a little over a year ago to the Nicholas School, I represented the average age of an incoming MEM. This I learned in an address during orientation week by the former dean Schlesinger. We were also supplied with information about the diversity our class represented in terms of undergraduate degrees and life experiences.  Indeed, although many Nick MEMers move right into graduate school from their respective undergraduate programs, there are also a great many who work for a few years before deciding to come back to school. Hence the mean age of 25 for an incoming degree candidate. Below is a 'lil histogram put together by fellow blogger David Palange for the age distribution of the current 1st year MEM class

And then there are those MEMs who work for more than a few years -- who even have families -- and then decide to pursue a master of environmental management degree. Surely those folks have a special role to play in the school, with their wizened eyes, bristly facial hair, and life experiences that speak of those who've gone before us. It is those beyond the mean that a new social group at the Nicholas School seeks to reach out to. I recently had a chance to catch up with Ian Varley, the co-leader of the Greydevils along with MEM'08 Beth Pike. Ian was deep into some intense but also nuanced and reflective debate (something about the capacity to model Leaf Area Index as an indicator of old-growth forest using MODIS data) with '08 MEM/MF Jessie Emerson Leddick when I managed to reach him. In all of his Dr. Henry Oosting curmudgeonry, Ian presented me with this brief exposition of the group's genesis and other ruminations:

"Enthusiasm about the formation of a social/support group for MEM students over 30 (or thereabouts) has prompted me to stumble up from my rocker and put my teeth in.  Thus began the formal beginning of the Greydevils, a group of students that seeks to address the needs and concerns of non-traditional Nicholas School MEM candidates.  The “Greydevils” name is a hand-me-down name that originates with Duke’s mascot, the Blue Devil.  The Nicholas school intramural sports teams took up the banner of Green Devils to reflect the passion for Duke’s athletic tradition and our green, environmental interests that unite us.  Greydevils seemed to me like a logical extension of Duke devilry. 

It isn’t age alone that inspired the formation of group of students dedicated to non-traditional students.   It was pointed out to me that the challenges that an older student may face coming into the Nicholas School aren’t that different from that of the international students.  The older students bring years of experience into the school, from inside and outside the environmental field.  For some this is their second higher degree.  We have very diverse backgrounds and different perspectives.   Our study skills are rusty and perhaps we are now  balancing the competing demands of school, work and often family.

What we do have in common with every master’s candidate is that we are here beginning a new experience.  For some new beginnings are easy and I think beginnings are easier for the younger students.  The rhythms of college life are fresh in their minds, the memories of all-nighters in a computer lab are still vivid and the weekly sacrifice of Sunday (and often Saturday) to study is still a reality.  I struggle to keep up with the 23 year olds.

Initially it was tough to figure out where to fit in and how to best express the “real world” experience that I brought to the program.  Patience and a good sense of humor were crucial early on and still are to this day.  As the semesters pass it seems like age differences matter less as my daily concerns become embroiled with the concerns of all my fellow students.  But as we saw the new first-year students we realized that at least some acknowledgment if not support should be extended to that long narrow tail of the student age distribution that reaches all the way into the forties.  The formation of the Greydevils was an opportunity to recognize our age and experience while at the same time remind us that we are all new here, green and starting over."