This is Rumble's Trip. I'm Erica Heilman, and this is the second episode of What Class Are You,

which is a periodic series that I make for Vermont public about everyday lives inside the American

class system. Today is an interview with Sharon Plum. She works for a statewide non-profit in the

outdoor recreation sector here in Vermont. She lives in East Montpelier,

one town over for mine with her husband and her daughter. In this installment of what class are you,

Sharon talks about the advantages that she sees in the lives of people whose parents are able to

help their kids financially all the way into adulthood.

Welcome.

I grew up in Washington, Vermont, which is a little town, a few towns over from here.

And I had two parents, and they were both, one was a teacher and one worked for the state.

And they had both come from low-income situations themselves, my mom especially. Generational

poverty, I think, was her background. And I think that that helped shape my parents' perspective

on finances a little bit, that they had made their own way to college and put themselves

through college. We had the expectation, like, you will go to college,

so that it was not an option.

And the kind of conversations we had were pretty quiet family.

There wasn't a lot of conversation, but if there was,

that it was around doing good in the world.

And so by the time I'd seen my sisters go through college and I went to college,

my values were pretty deep about caring for the earth and doing good for the world,

as opposed to trying to find a way to make money.

I got a degree in natural resources and I led bike tours.

...