🎓 Class of 2026: Commencement Speaker!

Putnam didn’t set out to become a playwright or an advisor. A self‑described “frustrated philosophy major” at Bowdoin, he found himself increasingly drawn to storytelling, performance, and the big human questions that live beyond the page. What began as academic restlessness eventually opened into a creative life: continuing his own education while writing plays, making music, and building learning environments where curiosity and expression thrive. 

As an advisor with Prestans over the last five years, Putnam is beloved for helping students hone their metacognitive skills. He helps them zoom out, notice their own thinking, and uncover the deeper patterns behind their motivation, focus, and learning habits. What emerges is an advising style that is both grounding and expansive: he meets students exactly where they are, then helps them understand their brains well enough to take their next step with confidence. 

Outside his work as an advisor, Putnam is a multi‑instrumentalist and touring singer/songwriter who has performed in more than 40 states, with several albums reaching the top of the Folk charts. He lives on a small working homestead in Putney, Vermont, with his wife and two children. In all he does, his life mirrors the grounded and community‑centered values he brings to his work and relationships alike.

An accomplished playwright, Putnam’s youth theater works, including The Elven Sorcerers’ Consortium and Aliens Crash Maize Days, have been staged at Main Street Arts and the New England Youth Theatre. He began writing plays almost by accident, discovering that the stage gave him a way to explore ideas that philosophy alone couldn’t hold.

He recently directed a production of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors with middle schoolers. His love of Shakespeare runs deep, especially because of how the action and physical comedy make the plays come alive for students. 

We are honored to welcome Putnam to the Prestans graduation “stage” this spring in our graduation video and look forward to the lessons he’ll share with our seniors and their families.