John Biderman, College of the Atlantic (COA) alum, shares his experience as a COA student in the college's early years. He describes the structure of early COA, touching on committee structure, the all college meeting, and relationships with trustees. He describes the ways he perceives COA to have changed since his time as a student, as well as the notions of an "alternative" education and human ecology. He shares a variety of anecdotes from those early years, touching on COA's social life, housing, notable characters, and the college's relationship with the town of Bar Harbor–and Mount Desert Island more generally.