When Helen Hong first connected with COVER Home Repair, a White River Junction-based nonprofit dedicated to providing urgent home repairs to low-income homeowners free of charge, she was simply looking to sharpen her carpentry skills. An environmental lawyer with a prominent DC firm and a growing yen to work with her hands, she had moved to Vermont to explore her creative side through enrollment at the Yestermorrow Design Build School. That decision bore fruit in ways greater than she ever imagined; today, Helen employs her creativity regularly as executive director of COVER. 

“I enjoyed the intellectual work I did as an attorney, but something was missing,” she recalls. “Although I initially volunteered with COVER to gain carpentry experience, I kept coming back for the joy and sense of community I found on job sites. It was a great way to meet new people, do meaningful work, and make a difference.”

Following her stint as a volunteer, Helen served on COVER’s board for six years and then in September 2021, she was named executive director. She is grateful for the opportunity to have an impact on her little corner of the world, one structure at a time. “Annually, we complete repairs for 70 to 80 New Hampshire and Vermont homeowners who live within a 45-minute radius of our home office in White River Junction, Vermont,” she notes happily. 

While this number may seem modest considering the affordable housing crisis affecting many in this country, Helen believes COVER’s approach is worthy of emulation. “It’s easy to say, ‘We just need to appropriate more resources to the problem,’” she says, “but we also need to look at what we can do ourselves as individuals.” For example, she notes, it costs approximately $400,000 to create one new unit of housing in Vermont and New Hampshire, whereas for about $8,000, COVER staff and volunteers can repair a home to make it safe, warm, and dry. For $50,000, they can complete a whole-house renovation. “It simply requires a shift in perspective,” says Helen. “Rather than allocating funds in hopes of change, we can be the change. No construction experience is required to volunteer on our projects—just the willingness to show up and learn.” 

Helen credits Emma Willard for cultivating this ability to see issues from diverse perspectives. “I grew up in a suburban New York town and was deeply involved in my Korean-American community; shared beliefs and experiences were common,” she recalls. “At Emma, I met many students with vastly different life experiences, and that broadened how I viewed the world and framed my sense of the possible. 

“These encounters taught me to be curious and ask, ‘Why does someone think differently from me, and what can I learn?’” she explains. Her years in Troy also gave her room to grow, she observes. “As a student at Emma, you’re allowed to focus on yourself and ask big questions like, ‘Who do I want to become? How can I make a difference?’” Helen says that being in a rigorous academic setting, free of the gender dynamics that can come into play in a co-educational environment, was also a gift.

Attending Emma was a gift in another way, too, Helen adds. “I was a scholarship student. Emma gave me a chance to dream big and pursue my passions. I remain grateful.”

This article was originally written by Lori Ferguson for the Fall 2025/Winter 2026 edition of Signature magazine.

Interested in experiencing the one-of-a-kind experience of Emma Willard School? Contact Admissions today!