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Experiential Education:

Helping Students Discover Their

Direction in Life

The Philadelphia Center

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By The Numbers

•40+ years

•6,000+ alumni

•80+ schools

•90+ majors

•800+ internships

“I would highly recommend The Philadelphia Center experience to any student and their family. Many theoretical, imagined career options are viewed in reality, lending credibility to existing choices or valuable frustration-saving changes in direction. Undiscovered paths make themselves known as possibilities.”

Lue Ann Schmidt, parent of Jennifer Anderson, Alma College, Spring 2006, Quirk Publishing, Editorial Intern

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The Philadelphia Center was founded in 1967 by the Great Lakes Colleges Association as one of the country’s first experiential education programs for undergraduate students.

As TPC’s managing institution, Hope College has been a leader in embracing the value of experiential education for liberal arts students and has sent 21% of the more than 6000 students who have participated in our program.

Overview

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Partner Schools

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Majors Who Have Come To TPC

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800+ Internships in almost all fields

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Internship Experiences

Students obtain professional, research, and/or service experience in all types of organizations:

from universities and hospitals to corporate and financial institutions; from government to science to arts organizations, from nonprofits and social service agencies to education, media, sports, and historical sites, to legal placements, and more.

Students obtain resume-building opportunities that open doors:

to graduate and medical schools, to full-time positions at internship sites; to jobs upon graduation.

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Discover Your Direction In Life

“The Philadelphia Center helped me to discover that I want to get my masters in Social Work. My internship with the Defender Association allowed me todevelop skills and also learn about a field I will eventually be working in.”

Sarah AnkerSemester at TPC: Spring 2009School: Hope CollegeGraduation: May 2010

“TPC allowed me to discover what I actually wanted to pursue as a career in a ‘real world’ setting. The classes at TPC and the actual work at my internship provided me with a competitive advantage over similarly aged and experienced college graduates who lacked the on-the-ground education and experiences that I benefited from at TPC.”

Yazeed Moore, Semester at TPC: Fall 1996School: Earlham College, Current Position: Program Officer, C.S. Mott Foundation

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At TPC, students apply the education they receive on campus and learn to transfer the knowledge and skills they have gained to the workplace. They discover, though our unique placement and advising process, something invaluable about their personal and professional direction in life.

TPC’s strengths: investigating, testing, reflecting, articulating lead to powerful discoveries. We teach them a powerful method to learn deeply and significantly from their experiences outside the classroom.

Students Learn Deeply

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Semester Program Features

Mentored Internships: At least 32 hours/week of substantial internship experience, led by a full-time faculty advisor and workplace supervisor; learning plans, portfolios; comprehensive advising (8 credits)

City-Based Seminars: Multidisciplinary perspectives on the city experience that integrate the program components (4 credits for City Seminar, 4 for Elective)

Independent Living: Self-reliance and confidence as students live in housing they choose with other program participants

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Our Programs

Weeks Credits

City Sem

Intern Elective

Ind Living

Semester 16 16/20 Yes Yes Yes Yes

Summer 8 8 Yes Yes No No

May 4 3 No Yes No No

Fellowship Program - TPC offers students enrolled full-time at one of the member schools of the Great Lakes Colleges Association the opportunity to apply for the prestigious TPC Research Fellowships in the Liberal Arts. TPC will award up to three fellowships per calendar year to students who apply and successfully meet the criteria (www.tpc.edu/fellowship).

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Hope – TPC Partnerships

•Social Work

•Student Teaching

•Nursing

•Criminal Justice

•Senior Seminar

•Opportunities for additional partnerships

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Challenges

•Today’s economy

•More competition from off-campus & international programs

•Colleges making it more difficult for students to attend (tuition exported)

*Tuition stays in house for Hope

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Next Steps

•Visiting Hope Oct 7-9

•Class visits

•Identify students for TPC

•Come visit us!

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Rosina S. Miller, Ph.D.romiller@tpc.edu