Premier Life Skills Experiences

HPU’s campus offers opportunities and state-of-the-art laboratories where students develop the life skills that will benefit them throughout their careers. While there are too many to list here, below is a glimpse of how HPU relentlessly pursues opportunities to arm students with practical experiences.

A Real-World Learning Lab

HPU’s Arboretum and Botanical Gardens plant seeds of greatness in students and the campus community. Beyond their beauty, these HPU landscapes and gardens serve as another real-world learning lab spread across campus for students to grow academically and personally. What was once some grass and trees has blossomed into 30 botanical gardens, 3,700 varieties of plants and 700 taxa of trees with a fully revitalized conservatory space.

Students use the gardens in art classes and for scientific research. Drawing classes venture outside to draw flowers. Printmaking classes use clippings of leaves and flowers to make art prints. Biology, botany and environmental science courses use the garden spaces to complete undergraduate research projects.

HPU’s gardens are a perfect metaphor for how the university has flourished. As the university has grown, so too have the gardens and students.

“The HPU gardens have made me a more pleasant and sociable person. My interactions with other students and the gardens’ staff members have made me a harder worker with better resolve.”

– Kenny Pridgen, History Major at HPU

Learn more about the variety of gardens that beautify HPU’s campus!

HPU’s fine-dining learning labs allow students to practice etiquette and communication skills during dinner for four years at HPU. When an employer takes you to a job interview or you meet a client for dinner, you’ll be ready.

HPU’s airplane fuselage is located in Cottrell Hall. It offers the profile of a plane’s interior, complete with power outlets for laptops, overhead storage, reclining seats and inspirational quotes that scroll through the windows of the plane. This space allows students to practice their quick-pitch and acts as a reminder to always be ready for new opportunities.

At High Point University, there are many distinctive opportunities you won’t find on other campuses, including the tuition-free master’s degree in communication and business leadership.

The master’s program focuses on critical life skills that serve every student well, regardless of major or career path.

The curriculum is relevant to any industry and transcends technical skills by focusing on transformational leadership strategies and tactics, persuasive negotiation skills, interpersonal and intercultural communication, successful positioning skills, and complex problem-solving and decision-making skills. What other university will offer you a tuition-free master’s degree after you complete your four-year degree?

“The CBL program helps you develop skills you never thought you needed. My top takeaway was learning how to collaborate efficiently with my fellow classmates. In the corporate world, this skill is vital. Being able to understand outside perspectives and adapt to group settings was a huge lesson I learned.”