A SHORT GUIDE TO THE POWER OF EXPERIENCE (AT KNOX)
3 THINGS TO LEARN ABOUT EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING 1. IT’S IN OUR DNA We offer more than $350,000 in grants to support advanced research, creative projects, and independent study by our students. We also offer access to hundreds of internships, dozens of off-campus (sometimes way off-campus) programs, and an award-winning service program.
2. WE BELIEVE THAT EVERY EXPERIENCE IS A KIND OF EDUCATION Everything you learn gains value when you apply it and put it to work.
3. WHEN YOU TAKE YOUR KNOX EXPERIENCE OUT INTO THE WORLD, YOU DISCOVER THAT IT WORKS FOR YOU And for the people you’re working and living with.
WAYS TO EXPERIENCE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AT KNOX 1. TAKE AN INTERNSHIP (OR TWO, OR THREE) Our Bastian Family Career Center helps students find meaningful pre-professional experience with organizations and businesses across the country and around the world. Recent examples: Amazon: software development engineering
Cleveland Play House: creative development
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: feature writing
Beijing King & Bond Law Firm: paralegal
CloudSpotter Technologies: business development
Sitka Conservation Society: wild salmon restoration
Fundaciรณn Reintegra, Mexico City: translation
Taproot Foundation: communications and development
BMO Harris Bank: marketing and communications Brain Imaging Center, Germany: research Caterpillar: e-business analysis Chicago Botanic Garden: research The Chicago Council on Global Affairs: research
Illinois Green Business Association: sustainable business Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Mumbai, India: logistics Mesirow Financial: credit analysis
United Nations Development Program, Nepal: research analysis Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, West Africa: research
2. MAKE NEW KNOWLEDGE The vast majority of our students—nearly 90%—produce research, independent studies, or creative work. Recent examples of student projects: Development and production of full-length play: McComb 1964 Effects of Ethanol Exposure on Signal Transduction of Macrophage Response Evaluation of Parallel Programming Languages The Greek Hoplite Experience
The Harlem Renaissance: Exploring the Simultaneous Reinforcement and Deconstruction of Binaries Concerning Race, Gender, and Sexuality Microfinance in Nigeria: Methodology and Regulations Online Activities, Social Anxiety, and Social Self-Efficacy
3. WORK ACROSS BORDERS Nearly half of our students study abroad. We offer access to programs in major cities and small towns in every corner of the globe, including Knox-run programs in Besançon, France; Flensburg, Germany; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Barcelona, Spain.
4. SERVE We were named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, recognizing our many opportunities for civic engagement, including ongoing partnerships (the Knox Community Prairie Kitchen, the Day of Service in Galesburg) and innovative ventures like KnoxCorps, a program that places current Knox students and recent alumni in long-term positions with regional nonprofits, helping them to develop new programs.
The Political Economy of the Mexican Drug War Production and Investigation of Multiple Negatively Charged Clusters in a Linear Paul Trap Socially Responsible Agricultural Commodity Development in Grenada, West Indies
5. TAKE CLASSES OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM Like Software Development and Professional Practice, a computer science course in which students work in teams on a project for a local organization. Or Urban Agriculture, an environmental studies course in which students work at Knox Farm, collaborate with local organizations, and gain experience in planting, permaculture, and food systems.
6. GO DEEP Our immersive terms allow students to focus on one topic (entrepreneurship, studio art, Japanese language and history, clinical psychology) for an entire term. They all involve hands-on experience— internships, research, travel, creative work. Two examples: In Green Oaks Term, students live at our biological field station, take interdisciplinary coursework, conduct research, and build a community. In Repertory Theatre Term, students research, design, produce, and perform two full-length plays—the most comprehensive undergraduate theatre experience in the country.
POSSIBLY THE MOST IMPORTANT RESULT OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING OUR STUDENTS DO GOOD, HARD WORK IN THE WORLD— AND THEN, AFTER THEY GRADUATE, THEY BUILD ON THAT EXPERIENCE AND DO GREAT THINGS They run Fortune 500 companies and grassroots nonprofits, they conduct major research at sites around the world, they found start-ups and music festivals, they see a human need and they meet it. This is the lasting power—and the constantly expanding value—of experiential learning.
WE PUT OUR IDEAS TO WORK.
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