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Green Oaks Term 2014

Arts, biological sciences, cultural studies... Green Oaks Term features multidisciplinary academics and everyday activities on the prairie

I think I've gained a sense of community, more than anything else.

Arts, biological sciences, cultural and historical studies. The multidisciplinary academic curriculum of Knox College's Green Oaks Term covers the waterfront -- there's even a lake between the prairies and the forests. Throw in everyday life, where you have to blaze your own trails and build your own compost heap, and you've got one of the nation's most distinctive off-campus college programs.

Created in 2002, the 10-week residential program enrolls 12 students with three faculty -- representing the arts, natural sciences, and social sciences. Students live and prepare their own meals in Schurr Hall at Green Oaks -- the College's 760-acre field station about 20 miles east of campus in central Knox County.

"I think I've gained a sense of community, more than anything else," said Leslie Carman '15, an environmental studies major. "I really have enjoyed the classes, too, and I think I've gained a lot from them."

  • Knox College Green Oaks Term 2014
  • Knox College Green Oaks Term 2014
  • Faculty and students at Knox College Green Oaks Term 2014
  • Students on an archeological field trip during Green Oaks Term 2014.
  • A student leads the prairie burn during Green Oaks Term 2014.

Green Oaks Term includes several field trips to significant archaeological, geological, historical and environmental sites in the region.

The curriculum includes four courses -- Deep Maps of Place, Natural History of Green Oaks, The Natural Imagination, and Dynamics of Intentional Community.

"Each course is a different lens to look at nature through," said Matthew Lichty '15, a computer science major. "I really like Green Oaks Term as a place for learning -- in a way that combines academia with the natural world. You're getting in nature and thinking about what's going on."

Green Oaks Term students also have a lead role in the annual "Prairie Burn" -- a key part of one of the nation's oldest prairie restoration projects.

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Published on July 10, 2014