Learning Opportunities
Keuka College, the national leader in experiential, hands-on learning, expects all students to engage intellectually through their participation in four significant hands-on experiences during their College careers.
And that is why Field Period may be one of the most meaningful off-campus learning experiences any college offers its students.
The heart of Keuka's commitment to experiential learning, Field Period gives students a chance to take classroom theory and apply it to the real world--not just when they are about to graduate, but every year they attend Keuka.
Students spend 140 hours each year (typically in January) outside the classroom in a Field Period, exploring career options and gaining insight into what it takes to be successful after college.
From the students' perspective, Field Period may reinforce their choice of major or may help them choose another. Either way, by the time they graduate, they'll have significant real-world experience that will impress employers or graduate schools.
While Field Period is the centerpiece of Keuka's commitment to experiential education, examples of that commitment can be found across campus.
Experiential learning pervades the classroom and laboratory. Here's just a few of the many examples:
- Occupational therapy students prepare meals in an adapted kitchen in order to understand how some people function in spite of limitations.
- Social work students take a two-day field trip to Rochester to work with disenfranchised citizens.
- Introduction to Religion students visit religious institutions of which they are not familiar.
Because of Keuka's firm belief that the most effective learning combines theory and practice, the College also formally recognizes the wealth of learning that takes place outside the classroom through involvement in community service, leadership opportunities, student organizations, athletics, and student employment.
Members of the College's Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to the "real world" by conducting a variety of outreach projects that have included raising funds for such organizations as Mercy Flight Central Inc., to developing a marketing plan for a local independent-living complex.
Through work study (student employment), students write resumes, search for jobs online, interview, and gain practical experience. Several academic disciplines require practical, real-world work experiences in addition to the four required Field Periods.
The co-curricular transcript documents those activities and complements the academic transcript.
Three common characteristics of the Keuka faculty contribute to the distinctive nature of the College: a profound dedication to each student's success, a desire for each student to take responsibility for his or her education, and encouragement for all students to customize their experience to meet their special interests and needs. This is all facilitated by the unique willingness of the Keuka professors to provide advice and direction to students, even if outside their academic discipline.
Unlike many colleges of its type, alumni consider Keuka's liberal arts curriculum as valuable as their major field because, in addition to providing insights regarding how different fields relate, the faculty make a concerted effort to connect the subject matter to the students' lives and to the world well beyond the campus.
Therefore, Keuka alumni credit the College for developing leadership ability, teamwork skills, intellectual ability, high ethical standards and providing a foundation of knowledge needed for virtually all careers. In short, Keuka is a total learning community that blends each student's academic, social and residential experiences together to enhance their future professional and personal lives.