Experiences on and off campus at the Colleges That Change Lives schools mean more than having lots of things to do. At these schools, activities and opportunities are an integral, co-curricular part of a student's learning experience, one in which students can pursue their passions and expand their horizons.

The students who attend CTCL schools bring with them an amazing variety of talents and often develop new interests during college. They are involved in activities including student government, intercollegiate and club sports, Greek life, cultural organizations, special interest groups, campus media, and the performing arts. Students are engaged in community service projects, campus leadership, and global outreach. They explore their interests, goals, spirituality, and values in myriad ways—from the traditional to the unconventional.

CTCL schools offer significant opportunities to study around the world from Austria to Zimbabwe, where students can learn languages, develop cultural awareness, and gain perspective on what it means to be a global citizen. The sense of independence and understanding students acquire from being immersed in another culture helps prepare them to lead meaningful, prosperous lives after college.

A remarkable number of CTCL students participate in relevant undergraduate research projects with faculty members, using equipment more likely reserved for graduate students at larger research-oriented schools. These original and collaborative efforts often result in presentations at professional conferences or even publication in professional journals.

Students intern with leading businesses, organizations, and non-profit groups, gaining practical experience that helps them reach important insights about their future career choices and building résumés full of relevant experience to help distinguish them after graduation.

Colleges That Change Lives schools emphasize the ideal of lifelong learning, and their graduates go on to lead meaningful lives of contribution. It's a value that will change lives, and a distinction that makes all the difference.

• Allegheny Outdoor Programs features an Outing Club, classes in Wilderness First Aid, backpacking, hiking, and canoeing, and activities including rock climbing, rafting, and sea kayaking.
   

• Agnes Scott College offers distinctive programs including The Atlanta Semester: A Program in Women, Leadership, and Social Change; Global Awareness and Global Connections; Language Across the Curriculum; The Center for Writing and Speaking; and the Annual Writer's Festival.
   

• Adventurous learning in real-world situations is critical to graduate success, and happens in many ways at Austin College, from the Global Outreach Fellowships that fund international service projects to the Williams Student-Directed Investment Fund, in which students manage a $1 million portfolio (real dollars with profits supporting student scholarships!). Model United Nations teams have a 25-year record of success at competitions in New York City and Chicago, and recently in China and the Czech Republic. Students in all disciplines have opportunities for research projects with faculty, often presenting their research at professional meetings. The Jordan Family Language House provides a residential language immersion experience for students of Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish language and culture, with native speakers in each wing of the house and residents speaking only the target languages. And, more than 75 percent of graduates complete at least one career exploration internship during college—in businesses near the college, in Dallas, in students’ hometowns, or around the world—and often result in employment opportunities. January Term offers internship opportunities as well as courses that incorporate travel or allow in-depth study in an area of particular interest.
   

• Beloit College puts the liberal arts into practice. Experiential learning and research define a Beloit education, the hallmarks for which are two Symposium Days each year: one in the fall semester with a focus on international study and research, and one in the spring with a broader scope. On these two days, classes are suspended and students present their research to their peers and mentors.
   

• Birmingham-Southern’s Bunting Center for Engaged Study and Community Action, home of BSC’s service-learning program, offers opportunities for engagement by way of ongoing community partnerships; a local, national, and/ or international January Exploration Term in Service-Learning each year; an Alternative Spring Break; and classes that integrate service into the curriculum. More than 70 percent of BSC’s students participate in service each year.
   

• 85% of students study abroad during their time at Centre (25% more than once), most of which do so in full semester-length programs. Centre operates its own residential programs in Merida, Mexico; Strasburg, France; and London, England in addition to exchange programs in Japan, China, England, N. Ireland, and Spain. Students also take advantage of the College’s signature three-week CentreTerm to study other corners of the globe with professors in all disciplines.
   

• Clark University is noted for its emphasis on student-faculty research. Recent collaborations include "Managing the Rainbow: Issues of Diversity in Business Management"; "Virtual Realities," on interactive Java programs for "what if" scenarios; and "Exposing Yourself," on issues of privacy in public health.
   

• Over 70% of Cornell College students had a double major or minor; the One-Course-at-a-Time calendar allows students to focus on one subject in depth.
   

• Earlham College students contributed over 34,500 hours of service to the community in the last year.
   

• Eckerd College's Waterfront Program offers sailboats, canoes, sea kayaks, sailboards, and powerboats. The school also has the Triton Varsity sailing team and a unique maritime Search & Rescue team. Eckerd College Search and Rescue is the only volunteer student group in the country recognized by the U.S. Coast Guard; the group responds to more than 500 calls for marine rescues every year. Eckerd students gave over 73,000 hours of service in the US and abroad in 2009-10.
   

• In addition to more modernized and effective core curriculum requirements, students at Emory & Henry College must complete either a Study Abroad component (semester-long or summer-long), a course of three to four semester hours with a short-term travel component (usually international-based), or a course that meets the international exploration requirement (courses which provide an international academic experience for students who cannot travel abroad, thus enhancing awareness of a community or culture outside the United States).
   

• The Evergreen State College has a longstanding tradition called Day of Absence/Day of Presence, a two-day event during which students, staff, and faculty of color are invited to an off-campus retreat. The group returns to campus the next day to hold campus-building workshops, seminars, and performances.
   

• One of Goucher College's many traditions is "Get Into Goucher Day," a day off from classes to attend a campus-wide celebration and carnival.
   

• In February of each year, Guilford College students present up to 300 papers, projects and collaborative research with faculty at the Guilford Undergraduate Symposium. Those same faculty members are called by their first names, as is everyone at Guilford--a Quaker tradition giving each person equal and great respect.
   

• Recent January Term offerings at Hampshire College include a trip to Havana, Cuba, sea kayaking and hiking, "The Woods in Winter," and "The New Immigration."
   

• Hiram College's academic year consists of two, 15-week semesters. Each semester is further divided into two sessions- a 12-week, during which students take three academic courses, and a 3-week where one course, a research project or study abroad opportunities are pursued.
   

• Hendrix College has exclusive overseas study programs in Austria, Belgium, China, Costa Rica, England, Italy, Rwanda, Spain, and Turkey. Hendrix’s participation in the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) connects its students with more than 150 additional study programs all over the world. Hendrix ISEP participants have recently studied in Australia, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, and Thailand.
   

• Hope College students have the option of doing internships in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C., Oak Ridge Laboratories (TN), and the Border Studies program in El Paso, TX, as well as 200 other study abroad opportunities in 60 countries.
   

• Juniata freshmen have been "Storming the Arch" since the early 1940s. Upperclassmen "defenders" try to prevent the new students from passing through the Cloister Arch by forming a gauntlet—to date, no freshman class has ever made it through successfully.
   

• Kalamazoo College is ranked #1 in the nation for study abroad by U.S. News & World Report. Up to 85% of students study abroad for three to nine months under Kalamazoo's unique "K" Plan; over 50% of freshmen arrive on campus with a passport.
   

• Knox College students often participate in graduate-level research; the school awards over $200,000 annually to individual students for undergraduate research.
   

• More than 90% of Lawrence University students work one-on-one with a faculty member, participating in independent study, research, or co-authoring articles for publication in professional journals.
   

• The Lynchburg College Symposium Readings program encourages students to communicate across the curriculum through readings and discussions of classic texts.
   

• Students from a variety of majors participate in McDaniel College's popular Stock and Finance Club, investing virtual stock portfolios online. Several students recently traveled to The Federal Reserve Bank in Baltimore to compete in the Fed Challenge, where they offered investment advice to members of the Federal Reserve.
   

• Millsaps College’s 1 Campus, 1 Community program coordinates the college’s community service through partnerships with local public schools and a local low-income neighborhood. The program aims to make real progress, to develop meaningful relationships, and to provide students with volunteer experiences that go beyond surface-level.
   

• At New College of Florida, community service is so valued that the college has situated two Americorps VISTA volunteer coordinators on campus to supervise a myriad of service opportunities. Students have tutored in local schools, mentored foster youth, taught youngsters a love of science, worked to protect the rights of migrant workers, revitalized post-hurricane New Orleans and transformed vacant Miami city lots into organic vegetable gardens.
   

• Ohio Wesleyan is included on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. OWU has the designation of “With Distinction.” Students are encouraged to study off-campus in programs such as the New York Fine Arts Program, the Wesleyan in Washington Program, and the Study Abroad Program in Salamanca.
   

• The week before spring semester begins, Reed College holds a week of classes referred to as Paideia. During this week, students, faculty, and alumni teach classes on topics related to their specialties. Past classes include History of Lego, Scottish Country Dancing, Smokery and Meatcraft, and Beginning Poi: The Way to Fire Dancing.
   

• Virtually all Rhodes College students participate in either a study abroad program or an internship prior to graduation. Recent internships include working with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the FBI, the Memphis Zoo, the National Civil Rights Museum and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Rhodes students have access not only to these local internships but also to opportunities abroad, such as interning with the 2008 Beijing Olympic committee or working in the marketing department at FedEx Paris.
   

• St. John's College's Annapolis campus plays the nearby U.S. Naval Academy in a popular annual croquet match, which Johnnies have won 14 out of the last 18 times.
   

• The Institute of International Education ranks St. Olaf as the #2 bachelor of arts institution in the United States in the number of students who study abroad.
   

• At Wabash College, the student’s financial aid “travels” with him making a semester abroad affordable for our students. The same policy applies to students who elect participate in programs in the United States (e.g. The New York Arts program). Wabash men participate in Immersion Learning, free class trips abroad or in the U.S. to enhance classroom learning. Recent trips include Turkey, Italy, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Great Britain, Russia, Ecuador, the Everglades, and the Czech Republic as well as a month-long summer program to the Galapagos Islands.
   

• Wheaton College's Human Needs & Global Resources (HNGR) program gives students an opporrunity to do a 6-month internship and research project in a cross-cultural environment in the Global South.
   

• Whitman College's Parent's Council and Career Center offers an internship fund that provides stipends for 21 students each summer that enables them to participate in non-paying internships. Last summer sophomores and juniors participated in internships in the College's backyard of Walla Walla, Washington, as well as farther afield, including Kenya, Africa.
   

• Students in Wooster’s investment club manage a $2.3 million portfolio for the college’s endowment.