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Experiential Learning Centers

The Experiential Learning Centers support students in engaged learning in and out of the classroom. What does that mean?

The Center for Careers and Internships (CCI), Center for Community Engagement, and Elizabeth Hackett Robinson ’84 Innovation Hub came together to share glimpses into their wide range work with students, faculty, and community partners in the initiative “A Week In the Life of Experiential Learning.”

Oratory Now MiddCORE Pitch Practice
1_9:38 a.m. | Tuesday, January 28 | Axinn 109 | MiddCORE student Aiko Hassett ’20 works to draw her audience closer in a pitch practice session with Oratory Now. #MiddExperience
JSSL Outreach to Japanese Language Students
2_11:00 a.m. | Tuesday, January 28 | Bicentennial Hall | Atsuko Kuronuma (Japan Summer Service-Learning Program [JSSL] founding community coordinator) offered her perspective to J-term Japanese language students at a JSSL 2020 info session.
NOM Mary Hoga

1:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 28, Mary Hogan Elementary

Student leaders met to debrief one another on their recent programs, including the prior Friday’s event, where Anna Wood ’22 distributed beet samples during a Nutrition Outreach and Mentoring (NOM) taste test at Mary Hogan Elementary School. NOM generates excitement for healthy local foods among youth.

Center for Community Engagement Language in Motion Youth Citizenship Summit planning meeting
4_4:30 p.m. | Tuesday, January 28 | Center for Community Engagement | Hieu Nguyen ’23 and Center for Community Engagement’s Kristen Mullins share ideas and plans at the Language in Motion Youth Citizenship Summit preparatory session. This spring they’ll hold the second annual summit, in partnership with the Addison Central School District. #MiddExperience
Service Cluster Board training
5_6:00 p.m. | Tuesday, January 28 | Axinn | Over 30 student leaders in Service Cluster Board organizations learned civic skills at a training facilitated mostly by their peers, who had prepared their sessions in the Center for Community Engagement’s Civic Leadership Certificate winter term workshop. Here, Viv Merrill ’22.5 and Sophia Johnson ’22 of WildMidd take participants through conversations about different leadership styles.
JTerm Ghana Trip
6_7:00 p.m. | Tuesday, January 28 | Ghana | Middlebury’s Refugee Outreach Club (ROC), founded by Natalie Meyer ’21, accepted 15 students to travel to Ghana to work with global health initiatives for three weeks over J-term. (Student names—not in order of photo: Natalie Meyer ’21.5, Lydia Wiener ’20, Melanie De Jesus ’22, Erica Dean ’20, Hawa Adam ’22, Sophie Cochran ’20, Clara Loftis ’21, Natalie Passarelli ’20, Lexie Massa ’21, Minori Kawano ’21, Stefan Asamoah ’20, Georgina Duenas ’20, Maria Kaouris ’21, Catherine Blizzard ’20, Molly Ockene ’21, Taylor Lovely 21.5, and Anna Rowland)
  • EMT class

    Winter term EMT course wraps up with EMT-B certification testing.

    8:30 a.m. | Tuesday, Jan. 28

    Middlebury Regional EMS (MREMS)

    EMT Course
  • Community Friends photo

    Community Friends mentor Emma McMahan ’23 picked out markers with her seven-year-old mentee. The supply closet at the Center for Community Engagement is full of activity ideas for the 130 mentoring pairs who meet weekly!

    4:00 p.m. | Thursday, Jan. 30

    Center for Community Engagement

    Community Friends
MiddVote Registration Drive
7_7:00 p.m. | Tuesday, January 28 | Crossroads Café | Zeke Hodkin ’21 and Grace Maley ’21 of MiddVote, a nonpartisan voter engagement student org, registered students to vote in Crossroads Café. MiddVote will host events throughout spring semester to support students in registering to vote and requesting absentee ballots.
Privilege _ Poverty Summer intern applicants at Community Dinner
8_10:00 a.m. | Wednesday, January 29 | Center for Community Engagement | Internship selection and placement conversation for the Privilege & Poverty Academic Cluster 2020 summer internship program! It’s not just based on essays and interviews, though—student applicants for the program joined POSSE scholars to help serve and prepare the weekly free Friday Community Dinner held at the Congregational Church in Middlebury as part of the placement process. P&P summer interns will work in seven area organizations this summer, and in five national placements.
JSSL student lunch with Atsuko Kuronuma
9_Noon | Wednesday, January 29 | Proctor | Japan Summer Service-Learning program alumni—Brenda Martinez ’22, Sam Hernandez ’22, Xuan He ’20, Xiaoyu Wu ’22, and Stephen Chen ‘19.5—gather for a lighthearted reunion with Center for Community Engagement’s Kristen Mullins and Atsuko Kuronuma (JSSL founding community coordinator) during Ms. Kuronuma’s recent visit from Tokyo.
Hunt Masters
10_5.45 p.m. | Wednesday, January 29 | Crossroads Café | Hunt Masters 2020, Emily Cipriani ’19.5, Scott Powell ’21, and Evan Killion ’21, prepare to celebrate the dozens of students that took part in this year’s creative scavenger hunt and to reward the winning teams.
Middlebury Entrepreneurs pitch
11_9.30 a.m. | Thursday, January 30 | Kirk Center | Middlebury Entrepreneurs 2020 students Ayman Quadir ’20 and Will Nash ’20 showcase their clothing line, @semiaquatics, before pitching their business model to their classmates and guests from the entrepreneurial community in Vermont.
  • Middlebury’s Refugee Outreach Club (ROC) in full scrubs working in Ghana

    Middlebury’s Refugee Outreach Club (ROC), accepted 15 students to travel to Ghana to work with global health initiatives for three weeks over J-term. Pictured here are Dr. Muniru Salih, Lydia Wiener, Natalie Passarelli, and Mollie Ockene.

    10:20 a.m. | Tuesday, January 28

    Ghana

    Health Professions
  • MiddCORE students celebrating each others Innovation Challenge presentations

    MiddCORE innovation finalists Ben Yamron ’21 and Jaab Veskijkul ’22 are psyched to see each other come so far.

    11:18 a.m. | Thursday, January 30

    Wilson Hall

    MiddCORE
  • DREAM weekly mentorship

    Middlebury College DREAM mentors with youth during their weekly gathering. The DREAM (Directing through Recreation, Education, Adventure, and Mentoring) partnership with Middlebury College aims to build trusting relationships and introduce youth to new opportunities through fun weekly group activities.

    4:00 p.m. | Friday, January 31

    Forest Basement

    DREAM
Student presentation on how a town needs a school to retain its social capital and identity
12_10:30 a.m. | Thursday, January 30 | Davis Library 105A | Super seniors Aumit Leon ’19.5, Pedro Miranda ’19.5, and Peter Palumbo ’19.5 and senior Ella Dyett ’20 present their research and analysis on the question, “Does a town need a school to retain its social capital and identity?”
MiddCORE Final Presentations
13_10:54 a.m. | Thursday, January 30 | Wilson Hall | Yardena Gerwin ’23 presents her MiddCORE Innovation Challenge idea of AccommodatED—a platform to help students with disabilities find resources they need in college.
Oratory Now JTerm Internship project
14_1:35 p.m. | Thursday, January 30 | Innovation Hub, 118 South Main St. | Oratory Now interns are testing a new content development game: “No-Tech PowerPoint.” Pick three images and give a spontaneous, one-minute presentation.
MiddCORE Checko with Scott Finn Pres of VPR
15_2:08 p.m. | Thursday, January 30 | Wilson Hall | Cheko Mkocheko ’22 talks with Scott Finn, president and CEO of Vermont Public Radio (VPR), right after the MiddCORE leadership lunch panel.
MiddCORE Graduation students celebrating their peer connections.

10:52 a.m., Friday, January 31, MiddCORE Graduation

An intense shared experience creates bonds and a future MiddCORE peer network far beyond the walls of campus. Jaab Veskijkul ’22, Assadou Nzigamasabo ’22, and Isabella Epstein ’20 share laughs at their MiddCORE graduation.

Students at Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office
16_12:30 p.m. | Friday, January 31 | Addison County State’s Attorneys Office, Middebury | Interning with the Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office (Isla Bowery ’20.5 and Sidney Portner ’20).
Social Entrepreneurship students present in a Final Project Showcase after a month of learning about the history of colonial education in Rwanda
17_2:30 p.m. | Friday, January 31 | Rwanda | Students present in a Final Project Showcase after a month of learning about the history of colonial education in Rwanda and engaging in reimagining their futures. Led by Social Entrepreneurship Changemaker Francoise Niyigena ’21. (Credit: social entrepreneurship )
DREAM mentors hula hoop
18_4:00 p.m. | Friday, January 31 | Forest Basement | Middlebury College DREAM mentors hula hoop with youth during their weekly gathering. DREAM is one of the nine youth and mentoring student-led organizations advised by the Center for Community Engagement—though these organizations, over 250 Midd students work with children in our community on a weekly basis.
students collect plastics on MAlt trip to LA

11:00 a.m., Monday, February 3, MAlt Los Angeles

MAlt—Middlebury’s Alternative Break program—students collect and examine plastics debris as they learn about plastics pollution in the oceans. The 12 students on the L.A.-based trip explored the role religious traditions and interfaith groups play in climate justice work. They were one of six trips this year!

Social Entrepreneurship Fellow Oscar Psychas ’21 attends a tree planting day
20_1:48 p.m. | Monday, February 3 | Zambia | Social Entrepreneurship Fellow Oscar Psychas ’21 attends a tree planting day hosted by an environmental club at a boys’ school while interning with the Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society.
MiddKid Productions, Los Angeles, Calif.
21_2:00 p.m. | Monday, February 3 | MiddKid Productions, Los Angeles, Calif. | J-term internship in L.A. with MiddKid Productions, the production company of Shawn Ryan ’88. (photo from last year’s MiddMid Productions trip)
Environment and Sustainability Trek students meeting the the cofounder of Salesforce Parker Harris
22_6:00 p.m. | Monday, February 3 | Salesforce Tower, San Francisco, Calif. | Parker Harris ’89, cofounder of Salesforce, discusses the organization’s 1-1-1 policy with the Environment and Sustainability Trek students.
Harrison Knowlton ’19 participates in the Health Professions Committee interviews “on the road” in Boston, Mass.
23_11:00 a.m. | Tuesday, February 4 | Boston, Mass. | Harrison Knowlton ’19 participates in the Health Professions Committee interviews “on the road” in Boston, Mass.
Oratory Now workshop

Thank you taking the photographic journey—A Week In the Life of Experiential Learning

Photos and stories demonstrated the scope of different kinds of spaces and relationships where Middlebury College students learn: behind-the-scenes preparatory meetings, long planned-for events, lively group discussions, hands-on trial and error, and quiet moments of connection and reflection.

Experiential Learning Centers

Elizabeth Hackett Robinson ’84 Innovation Hub
132 Blinn Lane
Middlebury, VT 05753