The Guilford Challenge
The conventional college provides graduates with a transcript of courses and grades and a diploma. Yet this reflects only partly the outcomes of an undergraduate education. What about documenting the knowledge and skills those courses provide? What about the knowledge and skills acquired outside the classroom through athletics, organizational leadership, service learning, and employment? Through "The Guilford Challenge," we take a holistic view of education in which curricular and co-curricular aspects of the student experience contribute to leadership development and the achievement of desired academic outcomes.
Thus, our second initiative seeks to infuse experiential learning into our academic curriculum. Students and faculty advisors would explore both curricular (courses, independent studies) and co-curricular (teams, clubs, work) experiences that support desired educational outcomes (graduate school, job). Examples might include:
- An athlete will understand how her team captaincy and off-the-field charitable work contribute to her coursework in peace and conflict studies and eventual employment in United Nations.
- A political science major uses courses, a congressional internship in D.C., work on community senate, and principled problem solving project in voter registration to enter law school and decide on political career.
- Seeking to become a museum administrator, an art major combines her coursework in arts and business, internships, and student work-study to assist in college art exhibitions.
Student records would reflect the knowledge and skills acquired through these activities as well as document courses taken, and grades and degree earned. By doing this we seek to challenge our students to be intentional about their personal development. We wish to challenge each student, whether traditional or adult, to grow, and to be transformed by his or her educational experience.