A Grade is Just a Letter

When I was researching schools to transfer to, my mom had some fairly standard questions each time a new school was brought up:

“What are the average test scores?  GPAs?  How many students go on to graduate school?  What do people do with degrees from that school?” 

I know that I’m not alone in the concerned parent department (it’s because they love you) so the next time your parents ask you about Prescott College fear not!  Arm yourself with this blog post and rest easy, knowing that this school is not only non-traditional, it’s also awesome and it will help you get to some sweet places.  Now let’s make like tired toddler and go straight to the breakdown!

ACT and SAT scores of Prescott College students seem low

Prescott College was founded on an idea: if there was no such thing as higher education, what would we want it to look like?  The professors envisioning Prescott College knew one thing for certain: in a traditional model of education, there are those who succeed, and those who fail.  Traditional schooling places emphasis on reading, writing, math, and science, in the form of memorization and regurgitation for tests and essays.  Students who don’t do well at this will fail, because they’re not meeting the standards set by the system.  Who says this has to be the case?  If you take away the tests and you take away the grades, you’re left with a pile of facts that have been committed to memory—only until the next test, that is.  So what happens when you do away with tests and make grades optional, focusing instead on small classes to support student participation, and an engaging teaching style rather than a lecture?  Suddenly, you have students whose learning is meaningful and relevant.  Why are you studying agroecology?  Because you love it, and learning about it is actually pleasant because it’s all based on your own interest, rather than trying to meet someone else’s standards.  It’s amazing how much more engaging classes are when you’re there for your own reasons. 

But, back to those test scores and GPAs: why do they seem low?  It’s all about the students who come here: if you’ve struggled in the midst of a traditional setting, why would you seek out that same setting for your post-secondary education?  When a student does well on a standardized test, it means that the student tests well—not that she’s more intelligent or capable than her peers.  Assigning a number to a person’s ability to learn is two-dimensional: there’s a whole person behind that number, and it’ll be the person—not a test score or GPA—who sits down on the first day of class.  Some of the students here have been successful in traditional settings, while others have not.  Those who come to Prescott College are looking to be viewed as whole people, rather than a name and a grade on a piece of paper. 

What about the dropout rate?

The dropout rate is a statistic that is frequently mentioned here in the admissions office; here are the cliffs notes on why it looks high.  For a long time, Prescott College was a big school for transfer students.  As a result, there weren’t many resources for first time freshpeople to use, and first time students often left because of the lack of structure (which seasoned students were able to weather more easily, having already learned the general ins and outs of another college).  On top of this, there’s Prescott College’s general attitude toward learning: if you’re passionate about something, pursue it.  The self-directed nature of being a PC student lends itself to independence, and sometimes students find that college isn’t where they need to be right now. 

While the independence of Prescott College students will likely remain the same as always, support for freshpeople is growing through the construction of our new housing (they look SO COOL, I’m mad jealous of the students who get to live there) and the restructuring of our freshperson seminar during their first semester here, that these new students will have the support they need in order to be successful.

And now for the upswing…

Approximately 43% of Prescott College students go on to enroll in graduate programs within five years of graduation.  Wanna see some of the stuff people are doing after graduation?  Stuff like starting their own sustainable farms, creating programs for at-risk youth, and working to create fair trade networks—sounds legit, right?  Check out the highlights page, here: http://www.prescott.edu/connect/highlights/.  Prescott College’s emphasis on field experience translates into job experience for many graduates, and it’s not uncommon for a senior project to result in a job offer right after graduation.  You can get grades, if you so choose, in order to have a GPA for admissions to graduate school. 

Alrighty then, gentle ladies and men.  Go forth, armed as you now are with the knowledge that this is not only a place where you can earn a degree, but also a place that can prepare you for your fabulous life after graduation.  

-Claire Tuchel, May, 2012

“Prescott’s Characterful Nature”

Recently, I was presented with this question by my employer at admissions:

"What's one thing you would want to tell someone about your experience at Prescott College that they might not find out on their own or tell from the website?"

Almost immediately I thought “Prescott folk are weird!” but then flashbacks of me freaking out my boss while saying this to prospective students come to mind. So I was trying to think of another way to express this. The word characterful does nicely I think!

char•ac•ter•ful - (adjective)
[kar-ik-ter-fuhl]
1. highly expressive of character: a characterful face.
2. having remarkable character: a characterful prose style.

However, this doesn’t really express what I am trying to say here and why I thought it was important that students know this (considering they can’t acquire this information on the website). My co-worker Claire (hi Claire!) mentioned that there needs to be some type of qualifier that that denotes we are all weird in the sense we are ourselves. With that in mind I think what I am trying to say here is…

Prescott College students are comfortably themselves!


Picture: The Environmental Advocacy Club posing after a successful campus trash pickup, we are pointing at the sky to be confusing on purpose!

 This isn’t necessarily upon entry… there is something about the whole Prescott College experience that provides multiple learning experiences that allow students to feel ‘comfortable in their own skin’. Once the jitters of attending a new school seem to fade students undoubtedly seem to change. Even as a new student I noticed something different about the current students, but now that I am a ‘senior’ student I’ve noticed it with the most recent incoming class that I’ve seen this change into comfort.


The comfort doesn’t necessarily mean school is easy! It just means that I have noticed most students here feel comfortable being themselves. Because folk here are uniquely and beautifully themselves I tend to use ‘weird’ only as a term of endearment. If my friends here weren’t themselves I couldn’t be me! I want them to be all that they can be, and I wish the same for all new students as well!

Therefore the one thing I would want to tell someone about my Prescott College experience that they might not figure out via the website or something is:

“Be totally uniquely and beautifully you; and not to worry about ever not being yourself! Everyone here is wonderfully weird/unique/characterful and it’s seriously AWESOME! This environment genuinely wishes people to thrive and all who they are meant to be. However long it takes will be just fine at its own pace, people find comfort at different times. This is a journey after all and journeys are meant to be enjoyed!”


(L-R: Claire, Jack, Kyle, Matt, Morgoth, Lucy, Rafiki crossing the AZ border from CA going back to Prescott during a 16 hour van ride)


(Blog note: I was looking for silly pictures of students for the blog. After finding this picture and talking to Claire about the picture, I comment “why aren’t you and Jack being weird?!?” To which Claire replies “don’t get angry at us, Lucy looks normal too!” of which I subsequently lose it and start laughing because how ridiculous the argument was.)


May 2012
-Morgoth

Direct Interactions with Faculty

As a Prescott College student, I believe that one of the most important opportunities and resources that Prescott College students receive is the interaction with their teachers.  These interactions can be extremely powerful in terms of understanding the expectations of the teacher but also further understanding and receiving support.  All faculty members are very approachable and understanding, but it is left up to the student to, not only take ownership of one’s learning, but to meet with faculty and build that relationship.

The first semesters at Prescott College I felt a bit timid about approaching my professors.  I wasn’t sure what to think about them and I was a bit worried of what my professors thought of me. I was used to having a more teacher centered way of learning.  The teachers know the material and teach it, while the student ask questions.  There was only a teacher student relationship and teachers seemed unapproachable after class  to ask questions or find more clarification.  My experience here at Prescott College has changed the way that I look at education and my experience with my teachers. There is a tremendous value in knowing your teachers and having the ability to meet or talk with them frequently in class or outside of class.  

    As I took more classes with teachers I started to further my understanding of their teaching style and their expectations as teachers.   As these understandings grew so did our relationship.  Some of my professors meet me for coffee outside of class.  During these meetings we discuss everything from assignments for class to our thoughts on particular subjects.  I have some of my professors numbers in my phone and I am able to contact them most times if I feel like I need support.  

Building rapport with teachers has been one the most valuable assets that I have developed here at Prescott College.  Some of my greatest learning and understanding has come from conversations with faculty members.  Right now I am completing my senior project, which requires the participation of faculty and administration members.  I have had the tremendous opportunity of meeting with faculty and talk to them about how their programs and individual classes are meeting the learning objectives.  In my interview I am able to ask them a wide spectrum of questions.  The largest take away from my project so far is just how smart these individuals are and where their passions lay.  My biggest advice for first time freshmen and transfer students is MEET WITH YOUR TEACHERS!  Faculty members are the single most valuable resource at this school in my opinion and it is up to you to make those connections and have those conversations.  

~Eric Davis, 04.16.2012

It's a Collage

On the Hotlum-Bolam Ridge atop Mt. Shasta, staring into the gaping bergschrund whose cavernous mouth had gobbled up the morning light and transformed it into a deep Caribbean blue.

In the Sawtooth Mountains, outside of Ketchum, ID, in a yurt, beside a wood-burning stove, filing through my notes on snow science and avalanche rescue, preparing for our ski tour that begins at dawn.

Walking out of class, having just spent two days dissecting Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, upset that class is over because we still haven’t said enough about the piece.

Lost with my peers in a mangrove forest in an estuary near Kino Bay, Mexico.  Four hours of scraping through barnacles, climbing atop the mangroves, looking for a way out, laughing throughout the ordeal.

A house packed wall to wall with friends.  A dinner table with sauteed spinach and kale, a leg of lamb, southwestern chili, homemade bread, grilled vegetables, and fried zucchini.  A jam session comprised of a banjo, two guitars, a mandolin, two fiddles, an acoustic base, a washboard base, and a flute.

Too many late nights spent sitting beside the typewriter, coffee and gardettos on the desk, fingers punching hacking away at the keyboard or typewriter, putting my words down on paper, trying to find my story.

Boot-packing up a 1,000 ft. couloir, splitboard strapped to my backpack, anticipating the first run of the season.  Then, after rolling down most of the decent, smiling and loving every minute of it anyway.

Glitter, spandex, face paint, and costumes at a dance party themed after Andy Warhol’s Factory.  The rooms are covered in foil or Campbell’s Soup Posters or glow lights.  There are too many neon colored wigs to count.

Its a collage; a smattering; a strange mish-mash of moments alone, moments in class, and moments with the friends that have become my family.  It’s about doing things I’ve never done before; doing things I will always love doing; about being challenged mentally and physically and emotionally.  And more than anything, it’s about finding the people around you that are going through the same thing; who will become sewn into your bones because of all the struggle, laughter, and unexpected adventures.

~Daniel Roca, 04/2012

Between the Lines

When I think about some of my favorite moments at Prescott College so far, it’s easy to think of the loud ones: a particularly awesome party, that time Morgoth tried to get all of the incoming students to sing the “baby shark song,” the games I’ve played in classes, the things I’ve heard from other PC students about the cool things they’ve done in class, all of these things are quick to bubble to the surface of my mind.  After those bubbles have popped, though, I’m left with the quiet—though by no means less powerful—moments I’ve had here.

On a climb at Thumb Butte with some friends last fall, after we’d all gotten to the top we sat up there for a little while.  Looking north toward Granite Mountain, I could see the dry hills around Prescott stippled with cacti, the rolling valley in which the town sits, and the huge basin beyond, with its far off canyon walls.  You can only say “oh my god, this is beautiful” so many times before you realize that it will never be enough, eventually giving up and letting the breeze do the talking.

My winter block class was a sense of place reading and writing workshop, so the poems and fiction/nonfiction works we created were influenced heavily by the settings in which they took place.  We drove out to Groom Creek one day to spend some time writing in the field, drawing straight from our surroundings.  We scrambled over boulders, splashing along the edge of the stream still covered with ice in some places, and eventually settled into our own little spaces to write.  I found myself leaning against a huge rock, leaning my head back, listening to the stream and the wind in the leaves overhead.  I thought about my childhood in the woods of Minnesota, playing in streams and pine forests very similar to this one.  The poem I wrote was good enough, but my biggest benefit from that place was the silence I was able to experience.

Yesterday, I decided I would do some homework out in my backyard.  I unrolled my yoga mat over the sandy dirt and took a minute to sit in silence before starting my assigned reading.  I listened to the mourning dove who always sings outside my kitchen window, to the lizards scrambling through the dry grass (like me, they wanted to stretch out in the sun), to the cars driving up and down the busy street two blocks over. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of college, where semesters are packed with that dance, that show, that movie, that speaker, that class, that project, that paper, and that job.  And don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some wonderful, noisy, joyful, busy times, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.  But because I’ve had those quiet moments to reflect, to think about how lucky I am to have those moments bursting with energy, I’m able to truly appreciate it all—quiet and loud, hectic and calm, with friends and with myself.

View from the top of Thumb Butte, looking toward Granite Mountain in the distance

Coffee

I love having coffee with instructors. Whatever adversarial relationship I have with the Educational Institution is forgotten in the café, and I can actually connect with people who in the classroom inspire me. We talk about class, missed assignments­—we interpret readings, yes, but we also talk about life. I ask for advice. How did my instructors get through school? Where does their ambivalence lie? When an instructor is honest and forthright, and when that instructor has provided me with illuminating things to study, the advice they give is believable and useful. When that advice is being given over a Mexican latte at the Wild Iris, it becomes profound.          

I recently bought a book. It’s a really small book with lined pages, a placeholder, and an elastic strap to keep it closed. It fits in my pocket. I write lists in it, because lists on paper are much less scary. In my mind, my daily tasks are amorphous and daunting, but on paper… it’s only five items. I can do that. This is a simple and boring thing, maybe, but I’m doing it because that’s what works for my instructor, and if it works for her, maybe it will work for me.  It’s funny how sometimes, even after a conversation on the fate of global society and various human rights crises, a little book is the most important subject.

It’s my understanding that many of us, especially of the present college-entering generation, have taught ourselves not to emulate anything, foolishly believing that we have this capacity. But who could blame us? Most of our role-models have come streaming through copper wires, belting lyrics about a woman’s role and how much fun drugs are. Emulation is dangerous, and I think most of us have picked up on this. But, since humans do emulate, and since we rarely have a choice over who we are emulating, my advice to anyone thinking about college is to put yourself where the best emulation will happen. Surround yourself with brilliant, fiery, and compassionate people, and ask them to share a coffee.

~Estin Vogel, 04.2012

Fun-Dimensions at Prescott College

When I was asked to blog for the Admissions Office I was set on trying to think of a story that captures a typical “Prescott College moment”. This begs the question “what is a Prescott College moment?” For me a Prescott College moment consists of anything that evokes the response of “Oh, of course, Prescott College” or something similar to that. The reason I mention this now is because I have a feeling that this will be a running theme in my blogs.

~~~~

• Something about Morgoth: Morgoth is trying to learn to use his other senses to listen to peoples energies. Thought is a type of energy (or at least so claims Morgoth), and it makes sense to some that one might be able to sense certain vibrations of energy such as thought through alternative means.
  

• The Scenario: At a friend’s house after classes kicking it formulating plans for dinner. Morgoth notices his friend Jon on the couch and something isn’t quite ‘right’.

~~~~

After quietly observing for about 20 minutes or so I noticed something was different about him that day and that he was most definitely chewing on something. It is not uncommon to see him lost in thought or contemplating something big, but something was different. I couldn’t tell if something had happened during the day and he wasn’t feeling too good about it, or if he just learned of some troubling news. Whatever he was thinking… I could feel it on the other side of the living room.

Eventually I spoke up and asked him what he was thinking about. To my surprise it wasn’t what he was thinking but HOW he was thinking. That whole time I was trying to pick up on ‘what’ he was thinking and I was totally confused (no surprise there). He goes on to tell me that his Natural History & Ecology of the Southwest course was blowing his mind. Out in the field observing various trees and small plants my friend was encouraged to listen and experience what he observed through different means.

The reason he was so deep in thought in the evening was because he spent the day thinking in ways he had never thought before. It is no wonder that I was thrown off by it! I had a good laugh when he told me it was a matter of how not what he was thinking and that it was all because of the field day he had.

I thought to myself “duh, Prescott College” and there I had my Prescott College moment! This wasn’t the first time I have talked to a friend and have noticed a shift in their consciousness because of faculty empowering the learning experience itself rather than just convey thoughts linearly. I was simply taken back by being able to FEEL the difference in how my friend was thinking. It demonstrated the amazing change and development that can happen in a single day of classes here at Prescott College.

Here we are encouraged how to learn, and not just what to learn. Here we are empowered to be competent in the moment and not just test time. This is Prescott College, and I think I have a big fat squishy crush on the school.

So I asked my friend if there was anything else “fun to mention” in this blog, of which they responded with a confused look and asked “Fun-Dimensions?”- Hence the blog title!  Because Prescott is a “Fun Dimension” to be at! 

-Morgoth, 03/2012

Diversity of Off-Campus Housing

First time Freshman are going to have a much different experience then I did when I first attended in Fall of 2007. Prescott College is making changes on how first time freshmen will experience the school and I believe that many of these changes are for the best. Not only will students build great friendships during their orientation, but students will have a wonderful opportunity to to build and or expand their community through student housing.

For transfer students, their experience might be a little different because most transfer students will be living off campus. There will be opportunities for transfer students to live on campus but most will be living around town.
I have lived off campus my entire time here at Prescott College and finding housing has, some years, been very effortless, and others, very tedious. I have lived in a variety of locations around town and have found really wonderful communities in Prescott that I am proud to be apart of. As the Fall semester approaches I would start my search with the anticipation of finding the best house with the most affordable rent. For me I am always interested in finding a house close to campus, that has a yard, and is affordable. In the past I have found my ideal house, other years not so much, but my main goal when moving into a house is turning it into my sanctuary. I spend a lot of my time at home so it is important that not only my house is my sanctuary but my roommates contribute and respect that space. I think there are some wonderful individuals in the community at Prescott College and it is very easy to find individual who share similar requirements for living.

I think there can be a lot of uneasy and unknown moments concerning where you are going to live and also who you might live with as a transfer student. I believe there are many outlets that are provided that can help ease your mind when looking for housing. There are plenty of options in town ranging from single room apartment to 2 and 3 bedroom houses. Prescott isn’t that large of a city so getting around town isn’t that difficult if you don’t own a vehicle. Biking is definitely one of the preferred methods of transportation, at lest by Prescott College students, around town. I have lived in houses during my time here at Prescott College, and many of them have never been more then 5 blocks from school.

To find my ideal house I usually search for house for about a month. This is also a bit easier because I have lived with good friends of mine who are usually roommates I have lived with before. About a month before the fall semester starts I would start looking on craigslist. There seems to be a lot of houses that are affordable and near the Prescott College campus. Personally I have found that checking frequently is an effective method because of how regularly the postings change. In the past I have found renters who are very supportive and willing to give 9 mother leases for students, but I will say this hasn’t been my experience all of the time. There is also a facebook page for every incoming class. This is a great place to find other students who are interested in finding a roommate that are also students at Prescott College. One of the popular methods for students is looking at the Off-Campus Housing section of the school’s web site. This is a great resource because it provides rental agencies to go through and as well as other rental providers. If you are having difficulties, contacting your admissions counselor, can be a great way of finding more information as well.

~Eric Davis, 03/2012

“Please don’t gut your fish in the dorm kitchens”

I’ve never really known what I should do with my life. All throughout my k-12 education, I had someone there—teachers, my mom, other students—to look to when I was unsure of what I should be doing, who could tell me what I was expected to do. When the time came to apply to colleges, suddenly no one was there, telling me what I was supposed to do. I applied willy-nilly to a smattering of schools across the western half of the united states without visiting any of them or looking into cost/how much I could afford, and sat back to rake in the admissions letters. My dreamy suburban existence was shattered when, upon receiving acceptance letters, I realized that school costs money—money that I didn’t have. I panicked and, fearing the life of debt and ramen noodles that surely awaited me, I applied last minute to a state school in Wisconsin. I’m from Minnesota, so I was able to get in-state tuition thanks to a reciprocity agreement between the two states’ public university systems, which saved me a bunch of money.

It quickly became clear to me that I had enrolled at the wrong school for me. During my campus visit we were shown the campus armory, where we were advised to “keep all guns, bows, arrows, and ammunition in a locker, rather than in your dorm.” While registering for classes I saw that intro to deer hunting was available as a gym credit, and while making pasta in the dorm kitchen my attention was drawn to a sign: “please don’t gut your fish in the sink here. Use the campus fish house.” Once, while walking across campus, I noticed a massive amount of feathers blowing through a parking lot. My initial guess that a bird had gotten caught in a lawn mower proved to be incorrect as I rounded a corner and discovered a student field dressing a Canadian goose he had shot earlier that day. People rode their horses to the bar.

The facilities available on campus were a strong reflection of the student body. 95% of the students were from Wisconsin, and the remaining 5% were from Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, or the Dakotas. I had expected college to be a place where I could meet people from all over the country, from all different walks of life. Instead, I was in an environment where large groups of students graduated high school together, and then all went to the same college. The resulting feeling was one of high school 2.0, especially because my freshman-level classes actually felt easier than the AP courses I’d taken in high school. So, instead of taking 5 classes a semester I took 6, and I joined Amnesty International, WisPIRG (Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group—actually much more fun than it sounds), Students for Free Thought, and became captain of the women’s Lacrosse team. As if that wasn’t enough, I decided that I could double major (Philosophy and International Studies) and double minor (Religious Studies and English) and still graduate on time because hey, I wasn’t struggling, so why not take on a little more work?

I knew during my first semester that I wanted to transfer but, since it was my first time at college and my research into other schools had been so minimal, I assumed that I’d grow to love the school…eventually. I found an amazing group of friends, and they really helped me to enjoy my time there. When after three semesters I had finally had enough, those friends were incredibly supportive. At the ugly sweater going away party they threw for me, my friend Ty hugged me and said “I think we all secretly knew that this wasn’t the right place for you. You’re destined for something different.”

I know I want to transfer. Now what?

The following semester was spent living at home, working two jobs, lonely and desperate for human contact and intellectual stimulation. I toured six schools on the east coast, got in, and hit the same wall I’d hit the first time around: money sucks, and not everyone wants to give it to you. I was frustrated and freaking out—what would I do next fall, if I wasn’t in school? Would I find a school that fit me and that I could afford? I was talking with my boss at one of my jobs during a performance review sometime in April, telling him how nervous I was about my current lack of direction. He told me to check out Prescott College—he’d gone there without knowing what he wanted to study, and came away with a passion for education. So, on his insistent advice, I found myself exploring the school website on an idle spring afternoon, and applying the next day.

I wasn’t able to visit before enrolling, which was nerve-wracking given my track record the first time around, but something felt different about Prescott. In my first days on campus, I knew I had made the right decision. Sometimes I wish I’d found PC the first time around, but at the same time I know that my experiences in Wisconsin had a huge impact on my reasons for transferring here. I realize more each day just how lucky I am to go to a school with a different way of looking at higher education, whose mission isn’t simply to give out degrees and pump workers into the real world. I don’t feel the need to fill my spare time with a plethora of clubs and classes, because I’m able to control how challenging my courses are. And, most importantly, I’m able to afford this school, with the help of my mom and a merit scholarship (and a little debt). But to me, having a few loans is totally worth the education I’m getting here. I feel valuable here, and I feel important, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have found this school.

~Claire Tuchel, 02.2012