Community Based Learning
Unity College is all about making life real. Real people doing real things that make a real difference. We call it community-based learning.
Yes, you’re in class, and, yes, you get credit for completing the work. But you also pump up your spirit and create something for the college community, the local town, or a non-profit organization. And you learn practical skills. How great is that?!
Community-based learning connects classroom activities to the real world in as many ways as you can imagine.
Recently, a group of Unity students in the Adventure Education and Environmental Education programs developed a three-day transition-to-middle-school retreat for local seventh graders that helped these youngsters learn team building, cooperation, and leadership skills, as well as a bit about water ecology and how to hold their own on a hiking trail or paddling a canoe.
Unity students also participate in the Lake Winnecook Water Quality Project. They write grants to help the Volunteer Regional Food Pantry or Camp Susan Curtis. They traveled to New Orleans to help in the clean-up after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. And they collaborate with the Unity Barn Raisers to maintain campus and community trails.
When you become a Unity student, you can join with other members of the Vibrant Community movement to support a variety of local activities and organizations ranging from Special Olympics and Maine Public Broadcasting to the Environmental Health Strategies Center and the Sandy Stream Delta Project. Dream it up, follow it through, make it real!
Community-based learning puts your boots on the ground and polishes your brain. Your hands get dirty, your clothes get wet, your notebooks bulge with great thoughts, and your spirit soars! You find out something new about yourself and your world, and you feel good about your accomplishments. Now that’s real learning!