Making A Difference Guides - Antioch College

Antioch College was founded in 1852 by educational reformer Horace Mann as a pioneering experiment in education which offered the first "separate but equal" curriculum to both men and women and stressed that there should be no bars for race, sex, or creed. Today, Antioch continues to dedicate itself to the ideas of equality, "whole-person" education, and community service. Antioch students are expected to reach beyond conventional learning. They are encouraged to become courageous practitioners, intelligent experimenters, and creative thinkers.

Antioch is committed to internationalization and to peace. Antioch encourages its students to have a balanced respect for all of life — for one's self, for others, for society, and for the Earth. Empowered by their education, students are encouraged to empower others.

To accomplish its mission of enhancing classroom education with hands-on experience, Antioch has one of the most challenging cooperative education programs in the nation. Each academic year is composed of three trimesters. During the Fall and Spring trimester, students enroll in three to four courses per study term. The summer trimester consists of three blocks in which students participate in a single intensive course each month. All students study full-time on campus for a total of seven 14-week trimesters. Students work full-time off campus, usually in paying jobs located throughout the country and the world, for a total of five 16-week trimesters. Classes are evaluated not by grades, but with written evaluations by the professor and the student.

The variety of experience this provides is substantial. One environmental science student, for instance, worked as an environmental education assistant on a sloop on the Hudson River, at a resource center in Minnesota, researched rare plants in Appalachia and cared for injured birds in a raptor rehabilitation project in St. Louis.

Antioch recognizes that an important part of today's education involves the ability to live and work in the multinational and multicultural society of the 21st Century. The school mandates an in-depth experience of 3-12 months in a cross-cultural environment (either inside or outside of the U.S.) Antioch's Education Abroad program has included Buddhist Studies programs in Bodh, India, a Comparative Women's Studies Term in Europe, and a British Studies program.
With the community as small as it is, everybody knows, works, and studies with everybody else. Because of this, a common sense of responsibility for the campus prevails. This responsibility manifests itself in an extensive recycling program, a student-authored sexual offense policy, an organic garden, and more. Decision-making councils consisting of students, faculty, and administrators consider administrative policy, academic programs, curriculum, budget allocations, tenure, new programs etc.

The College's history of experimentation, its commitment to questioning traditional values and practices, and its willingness to act on its beliefs have had a profound impact on generations of Antioch students. Antioch students approach their education, as well as their lives following graduation, with a serious resolve to tackle important issues, question the status quo, and work toward constructive change.

The College's 1000 acre nature preserve, complete with medicinal springs often serves as a laboratory for science-related courses. It also offers opportunities for hiking, horse-back riding, cross country skiing, canoeing, rock-climbing, rappelling and solitude.

With it's Little Arts Theater, a health food store, a town library, the tiny village of Yellow Springs is a safe haven where students can find the essentials. The town offers an array of restaurants and off-beat shops, as well as seasonal street fairs.

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