Experiences On and Off Campus

Experiences on and off campus at the Colleges That Change Lives schools mean more than having lots of things to do. At these 40 schools, activities and opportunities are an integral, co-curricular part of a student's learning experience, one in which students can pursue their passions and expand their horizons.

The students who attend CTCL schools bring with them an amazing variety of talents and often develop new interests during college. They are involved in activities including student government, intercollegiate and club sports, Greek life, cultural organizations, special interest groups, campus media, and the performing arts. Students are engaged in community service projects, campus leadership, and global outreach. They explore their interests, goals, spirituality, and values in myriad ways—from the traditional to the unconventional.

CTCL schools offer significant opportunities to study around the world from Austria to Zimbabwe, where students can learn languages, develop cultural awareness, and gain perspective on what it means to be a global citizen. The sense of independence and understanding students acquire from being immersed in another culture helps prepare them to lead meaningful, prosperous lives after college.

A remarkable number of CTCL students participate in relevant undergraduate research projects with faculty members, using equipment more likely reserved for graduate students at larger research-oriented schools. These original and collaborative efforts often result in presentations at professional conferences or even publication in professional journals.

Students intern with leading businesses, organizations, and non-profit groups, gaining practical experience that helps them reach important insights about their future career choices and building résumés full of relevant experience to help distinguish them after graduation.

Colleges That Change Lives schools emphasize the ideal of lifelong learning, and their graduates go on to lead meaningful lives of contribution. It's a value that will change lives, and a distinction that makes all the difference.

• Allegheny Outdoor Programs features an Outing Club, classes in Wilderness First Aid, backpacking, hiking, and canoeing, and activities including rock climbing, rafting, and sea kayaking.

• Agnes Scott College offers distinctive programs including The Atlanta Semester: A Program in Women, Leadership, and Social Change; Global Awareness and Global Connections; Language Across the Curriculum; The Center for Writing and Speaking; and the Annual Writer's Festival.

• Beloit College. Experiential learning and research define a Beloit education, the hallmarks for which are two Symposium Days each year: one in the fall semester with a focus on international study and research, and one in the spring with a broader scope. On these two days, classes are suspended and students present their research to their peers and mentors.

• 92% of Birmingham-Southern University students return for their sophomore year, putting the school in the top 10% of private colleges, and far above most public institutions, in terms of freshman retention.

• Clark University is noted for its emphasis on student-faculty research. Recent collaborations include "Managing the Rainbow: Issues of Diversity in Business Management"; "Virtual Realities," on interactive Java programs for "what if" scenarios; and "Exposing Yourself," on issues of privacy in public health.

• Over 70% of Cornell College students had a double major or minor; the One-Course-at-a-Time calendar allows students to focus on one subject in depth.

• Earlham College students contributed over 34,500 hours of service to the community in the last year.

• Eckerd College's Waterfront Program encourages students to borrow or learn how to operate sailboats, canoes, sea kayaks, sailboards, and powerboats. The school also has the Triton Varsity sailing team and a unique maritime Search & Rescue team.

• Faith is important to many students at Emory & Henry, which offers a program in religious studies, religious life housing, and an organization that prepares students for church vocations.

• The Evergreen State College has a longstanding tradition called Day of Absence/Day of Presence, a two-day event during which students, staff, and faculty of color are invited to an off-campus retreat. The group returns to campus the next day to hold campus-building workshops, seminars, and performances.

• One of Goucher College's many traditions is "Get Into Goucher Day," a day off from classes to attend a campus-wide celebration and carnival.

• Guilford College offers "Community Time" on Wednesday afternoons during the academic year. This time is set aside for students, faculty and staff come to together for fun and fellowship each week and participate in campus-wide events including ice cream socials, Cookies and Conversation, Midday Musicale and College Meeting for Worship.

• Recent January Term offerings at Hampshire College include a trip to Havana, Cuba, sea kayaking and hiking, "The Woods in Winter," and "The New Immigration."

• Hendrix College has exclusive overseas study programs in Austria, Belgium, China, Costa Rica, England, Italy, and Spain. Hendrix’s participation in the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) connects its students with nearly 150 additional study programs all over the world. Hendrix ISEP participants have recently studied in Australia, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, and Thailand.

• Hope College students have the option of doing internships in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C., Oak Ridge Laboratories (TN), and the Border Studies program in El Paso, TX, as well as 200 other study abroad opportunities in 60 countries.

• Juniata freshmen have been "Storming the Arch" since the early 1940s. Upperclassmen "defenders" try to prevent the new students from passing through the Cloister Arch by forming a gauntlet—to date, no freshman class has ever made it through successfully.

• Kalamazoo College is ranked #1 in the nation for study abroad by U.S. News & World Report. Up to 85% of students study abroad for three to nine months under Kalamazoo's unique "K" Plan; over 50% of freshmen arrive on campus with a passport.

• Knox College students often participate in graduate-level research; the school awards over $200,000 annually to individual students for undergraduate research.

• More than 90% of Lawrence University students work one-on-one with a faculty member, participating in independent study, research, or co-authoring articles for publication in professional journals.

• The Lynchburg College Symposium Readings program encourages students to communicate across the curriculum through readings and discussions of classic texts.

• Students from a variety of majors participate in McDaniel College's popular Stock and Finance Club, investing virtual stock portfolios online. Several students recently traveled to The Federal Reserve Bank in Baltimore to compete in the Fed Challenge, where they offered investment advice to members of the Federal Reserve.

• Millsaps College’s 1 Campus, 1 Community program coordinates the college’s community service through partnerships with local public schools and a local low-income neighborhood. The program aims to make real progress, to develop meaningful relationships, and to provide students with volunteer experiences that go beyond surface-level.

• At New College of Florida, community service is so valued that the college has situated two Americorps VISTA volunteer coordinators on campus to supervise a myriad of service opportunities. Students have tutored in local schools, mentored foster youth, taught youngsters a love of science, worked to protect the rights of migrant workers, revitalized post-hurricane New Orleans and transformed vacant Miami city lots into organic vegetable gardens.

• Ohio Wesleyan is included on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. OWU has the designation of “With Distinction.” Students are encouraged to study off-campus in programs such as the New York Fine Arts Program, the Wesleyan in Washington Program, and the Study Abroad Program in Salamanca.

• The week before spring semester begins, Reed College holds a week of classes referred to as Paideia. During this week, students, faculty, and alumni teach classes on topics related to their specialties. Past classes include History of Lego, Scottish Country Dancing, Smokery and Meatcraft, and Beginning Poi: The Way to Fire Dancing.

• Virtually all Rhodes College students participate in either a study abroad program or an internship prior to graduation. Recent internships include working with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the FBI, the Memphis Zoo, the National Civil Rights Museum and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Rhodes students have access not only to these local internships but also to opportunities abroad, such as interning with the 2008 Beijing Olympic committee or working in the marketing department at FedEx Paris.

• St. John's College's Annapolis campus plays the nearby U.S. Naval Academy in a popular annual croquet match, which Johnnies have won 14 out of the last 18 times.

• The Institute of International Education ranks St. Olaf as the #2 bachelor of arts institution in the United States in the number of students who study abroad.

• Approximately one-quarter of the Junior class will study abroad in a given year. At Wabash College, the student’s financial aid “travels” with him making a semester abroad affordable for our students. The same policy applies to students who elect participate in programs in the United States (e.g. The New York Arts program). Wabash men participate in Immersion Learning, free class trips abroad or in the U.S. to enhance classroom learning. Recent trips include Turkey, Italy, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Great Britain, Russia, Ecuador, the Everglades, and the Czech Republic as well as a month-long to Galapagos Islands in the summer.

• Wheaton College's Human Needs & Global Resources (HNGR) program gives students an opporrunity to do a 6-month internship and research project in a cross-cultural environment in the Global South.

• Whitman College's Parent's Council and Career Center offers an internship fund that provides stipends for 21 students each summer that enables them to participate in non-paying internships. Last summer sophomores and juniors participated in internships in the College's backyard of Walla Walla, Washington, as well as farther afield, including Kenya, Africa.