Alumni - Young Alumni Honorees

List of 2 items.

• Ethan Tapper 2007

  The Vermont Academy Alumni Association established the Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2023 to recognize a graduate of the past 20 years for their significant contributions to Vermont Academy, in their community, or in their professional field. 

  
  

  It is with great pride that the Association recognizes Ethan Tapper ’07 as the inaugural recipient. 

  
  

  As a day student at Vermont Academy, Ethan was a musician, artist, athlete, and proctor. Ethan received the Green and Gold scholarship from the University of Vermont, where he went on to earn an undergraduate degree in forestry. That degree has taken him far!

  
  

  As Vermont’s Chittenden County Forester from 2016-2024, Ethan has worked diligently to ensure that Vermont’s forests are well cared for. This includes advising landowners, foresters, loggers, non-profits, government agencies, and municipalities, managing thousands of acres of community forests, managing Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal (“Current Use”) program in Chittenden County, and providing education and outreach to the public. Ethan reaches thousands of Vermonters each year through public events and digital content including his thriving How to Love a Forest (@howtoloveaforest) YouTube and TikTok channels and Instagram account. Ethan is excited to announce that he is starting his own business, Bear Island Forestry, which will provide forestry and outreach consulting to landowners, governments and NGOs.

  
  

  In recognition of this work, Ethan was awarded the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance’s Forester of the Year Award in 2021, chosen from foresters in 20 states. In 2024 he was named the American Tree Farm System’s National Outstanding Inspector of the Year – the forester of the year for an iconic national family forest certification program.

  
  

  For years, Ethan has written a monthly “Into the Woods” column for community newspapers in Chittenden County, as well as a quarterly column for Northern Woodlands magazine. In 2024 he will release his first book -- How to Love a Forest.  He will also be releasing a children’s book titled Willow & The Storm this year. 

  
  

  In his free time, Ethan writes, birds, hunts, manages his own 175-acre forest, orchard, and homestead – “Bear Island” – and plays in his 10-piece punk band, The Bubs.  

  
  Awarded June 2024

• Jo-Hanna Rifai 2013

  Jo-Hanna Rifai ’13, a Canadian diplomat from Montréal, will be the second honoree to receive this award. Jo-Hanna earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. Before embarking on her diplomatic career as a Foreign Service Officer, she worked as a Senior Statistical Analyst in development finance statistics.
  
  

  Her first diplomatic assignment took her to Honduras, where she served as Second Secretary for Canada’s Central Development Program. She focused on economic growth and food security in the Dry Corridor, a region of Central America highly vulnerable to drought and climate change. Since joining Global Affairs Canada in January 2019, she has gained extensive experience in statistical analysis, emergency response, international development, and trade. 
  
  

  In 2020, during a period of incredible uncertainty, Jo-Hanna served as a Surge Responder in the Emergency Watch and Response Center before supporting the COVID-19 Emergency Loan Program through the Consular Crisis Operations Division at Global Affairs Canada. For this important work, she was recognized with a certificate of appreciation by the minister of foreign affairs and deputy minister of foreign affairs.
  
  

  Following her return to Canada, Jo-Hanna took on the role of Investment Officer, working to attract foreign direct investment in the country. She is now preparing for her next diplomatic assignment as a Trade Commissioner, with responsibilities in both the Republic of Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia in August 2025.
  
  Awarded October 2025