I knew I was a part of Rhodes, and I was very involved on campus, but my work with VECA integrated me into Memphis. COREY NOLEN
Examining public school desegregation in his home county of Tunica in Mississippi allowed Cecil Brown ’14 to put his political science major into action.
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Chelsea Peters ’12
connection and understanding even earlier in a student’s academic career by adding a measure of physical experience to the Search and Life curriculums. “One of the possibilities and potentials that’s coming out of this Teagle grant is combining those two strengths, our really strong core courses, and just continuing to think about ways that those courses can be increasingly relevant to the lives the students have outside of the classroom,” says Dr. Milton Moreland, chair of archaeology, associate professor of religious studies, and a member of the Rhodes Teagle team. At the heart of the Teagle grant lies a core question permeating today’s educational conversations: the value of a liberal arts education. While critics might contend that direct job training forms the best pathway for a college student, liberal arts supporters assert that their graduates are, in fact, even better employees due to the critical thinking skills such an education affords. Experiential learning takes those skills out of the classroom and into the work place. Chelsea Peters ’12, of Oxford, MS, majored in environmental science and chemistry and, in her senior year, worked with the Vollintine-Evergreen Community Association (VECA) in its community gardens and on environmental initiatives within the neighborhood. In the beginning, she had a hard time understanding how the community work might fit in with her science-oriented classes and goals.
SPR ING 2014 • RHODE S r hodes.edu