Feel inspired by our engaged alumni and learn how significant bus Resource Experiences still impact them years after the fact! Jen Cirillo -- Rethinking the Purpose of Education! Since stepping off the bus I’ve been working with a non-profit in…
Larkspur loves recruiting!
“How would you like to spend a whole semester living and learning completely outdoors? Yes, we camp out every night, cook and eat outside, and our classrooms are boundaried by rocks, trees, rivers, etc., not by walls!”
While traveling and recruiting for the Expedition at Marlboro College on the USA Gap Fair tour this past January and February, I often led with a question about having an interest in sustainability, the environment, nature, social and environmental justice, saving the above lines for second. That our program’s focus is environmental and that it happens in nature and outdoors, either allows a prospective student to know they can move on, or causes their eyes to light up and sometimes their whole being to vibrate with excitement. It’s fun to realize you’ve just made someone’s dreams come alive when they didn’t even know such an incredible university educational experience was possible.
Once someone shows enthusiasm for the wildness of spending a semester traveling through a region of the U.S. living and learning outside, then I might describe a bit more about the physical world we live within:
Melissa and her son 🙂
Standing upon the shore of the Salton Sea, I walked delicately as I realized the rock-like substrate was actually shattered bones of tilapia. I can still feel it in my feet and hear it in my ears. While I understood the importance of the water body to migrating birds, it took me a while to process my emotions and what I was learning about introduced invasive species (the tilapia) and this inland salt pond. Having the opportunity to grapple with the value of such a complicated system has helped me better educate people about invasive species management in MA and about unique environments.
My bus experience affected me deeply, influencing both my professional and personal paths.