Power of Experience

We believe that every experience is a kind of education. Everything you learn in the classroom gains value when you apply it. And when you take that experience out into the so-called real world, you discover that it works for you and for your community.

Experiences like research or creative work, internships, community service, or study abroad allow you to apply what you learn in the classroom to hands-on, real-world situations. And these experiences help you gain the skills needed—to think critically and creatively, to communicate clearly, to adapt to new technologies, and to navigate today's interdependent and interconnected world—for success after Knox. That's the power of experience.

4 ways to describe the power of experience:

1. We work together. Our faculty are exceptionally talented and extremely approachable; they're committed to collaborative research and ongoing mentorship. And they're recognized nationally for their commitment to undergraduate teaching.
2. We put our ideas to work. Nearly 90 percent of Knox students will conduct independent research, study, or creative work. That means nearly everyone here graduates with tangible proof that they can effectively launch their own intellectual startup.
3. We go deep. In both our immersion terms and short-term immersive experiences. And in our advanced research and creative projects, including College Honors.
4. We go away. If you want to understand the world, you have to go out and live in it. Half of our students study abroad. Hundreds of students completed in an internship last year. And Knox students donated more than 80,000 of community service last year alone.

To help make these experiences possible, we offer The Power of Experience Grant, which provides all incoming students with up to $2,000 to support these opportunities.

8 Ways to Experience Your Education

In Knox's Alumni Hall, we've brought together four centers that enable you to gain experience in research, service, internships, and off-campus study. Resources that send you around the world, help you make connections between theory and practice, and build a bold, brilliant future.

1. Do good work.
   Jason Deschamps '15 (environmental management and international relations) went to the Bastian Family Center for Career Success to arrange an internship with the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation in West Africa.
2. Build a better world.
   Eve Martinez '15 (chemistry and Spanish) worked with the Vovis Center for Research and Advanced Study to support her research with chemistry professor Helen Hoyt (also a Knox graduate!). Eve was part of a research team exploring green chemistry—a field that combines chemistry and environmental sustainability.
3. Move forward.
   Angela McNeal '16 (dance studies) used the Kleine Center for Community Service to help start a dance program for at-risk students at a local alternative high school.
4. Reach out.
   Chaz Benton '15 (Spanish) worked with the Stellyes Center for Global Studies to study abroad in Barcelona, Spain, which turned out to be helpful when he was selected to play on an NCAA Division III all-star football team at an exhibition game in Mexico.
5. Discover new frontiers.
   Annelise Hablutzel '16 (physics) went to the Bastian Family Center for Career Success to secure a research internship in electrostatic physics at the University of Griefwald in Germany.
6. Work across borders. Sarah Kobernat '16 (biochemistry and French) used the Stellyes Center to find two study abroad programs: one in Dakar, Senegal, and one in Besançon, France.
7. Work for justice.
   Celinda Davis '15 (history) worked with the Kleine Center to join—and then to lead—Blessings in a Backpack, a student club that collects and distributes food donations to local grade-school children.
8. Make the leap.
   Niki Acton '16 (theatre and creative writing) was a winner at the Young Playwrights Festival, sponsored by the Blank Theatre Company in Los Angeles. With the help of the Vovis Center, she received funding from a Richter Grant to travel to Los Angeles, where she collaborated with the theatre on a fully staged production of her play Survival Strategy.