Becoming the national leader in experiential ... - Keuka College

By
L
L
the time Matt LaRocca began his
senior year at Keuka College, he had
assembled an impressive resume.
The biochemistry major had completed
three Field Period internships, including
one in a hospital microbiology lab and
another conducting research in a biochemistry
lab at the New York State
Chiropractic College.
He had the kind of “real-world” expe-
rience that impresses
‘
employers and admissions
folks at the best graduate
schools.
But Field Periods are
about more than just building
a resume, as LaRocca
discovered this past January
at the Yates County Humane
Society in Penn Yan.
The goal of the animal
shelter is to find good homes
for dogs and cats abandoned,
abused or neglected.Working with dogs
that had been abused, LaRocca turned
their hostility into trust and affection.
The ultimate thrill came when a family
who recently suffered a tragedy adopted
one of his “favorite” dogs.
“It’s hard to describe the feeling you
get when you see a family that lost a child
light up when they meet a dog for the first
time,” explained LaRocca.
A National Vision
After extensive discussions regarding
where Keuka should focus its strategic
direction in the new few years, the
Strategic Planning Committee unveiled a
new vision for the College early last year.
“Our vision is to be the national leader
in experiential education,”
said College
President Joseph G.
Burke.“It is a great educational
concept and I
do believe we are on the
leading edge of experiential
education in the
United States.”
Burke is confident
the College can move
I hear and I
forget; I see
and I remember;
I do and I
understand.
—
Ancient Chinese
proverb
from the leading edge of experiential education
to the top of the heap in part
because experiential education has been
“part of the Keuka College fabric since
Rev. Dr. George Harvey Ball founded the
institution in 1890.”
Ball built Keuka College on four cornerstones:
academic excellence, social
responsibility, accessibility and the practical
application of learning.
The latter cornerstone was
reinforced in the early 1900s when
a basket factory was erected on
campus.Writes Philip Africa in his
book Keuka College:A History:
’
“…[the factory] was a child of
necessity and a mother of
hope…the ever-present need for
funds had, as we have seen, been a
compelling incentive to seek a
merger with other denominations.”
However, Ball, Keuka’s first
president and president and treasurer of the
Keuka Park Basket Co., saw educational
advantages in the factory as well. The
College Record of 1905 informed prospective
students of the newly created work
opportunity:“Industrial opportunities are
specially emphasized… By uniting renumerative
industry with their course of
study they [students] are not spoiled but
enabled…
Africa again:“… the primary purpose
of the basket factory was to mold character
and provide employment for students...”
Keuka’s commitment to experiential
education was solidified during World War
II.The late Edith Estey ’33 is credited with
creating the Field Period program in 1942
and served as its director until 1978.
Not a One-Shot Deal
Internships are common to all colleges,
but what sets Keuka’s Field Period apart
is that it provides students an opportunity
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
outside the classroom in a Field Period,