A CIEL Exchange Experience

by Samantha Davis

Although the sun is shining most days, it is only barely poking through the clouds on this weekend morning.  Outside, students are struggling out from behind their blinds and from under their covers to head to the only place on campus to get some food.  Everyone smiles or waves as you walk by them, or says "Hello!" and asks how your night was.  In many ways, it is like my home school, Daemen College.  Yet, I am 1200 miles away, in beautiful and sunny Sarasota, Florida; basking in the educational initiative offered to me by CIEL. 

People ask me, from home and here:  How do you like it?  Is it better?  I love it here.  I'm not sure I'm equipped for the second question.  The two colleges - both tiny - are similar in various ways, but also very different.

Both colleges are near airports, and both are on the edge of cities, and for that fact, are along four lane major roads.  New College's acreage is much larger than Daemen's, but Daemen's small acreage makes it great during snow, sleet and hail.  New College has a lot of different dorm options, but only a small amount come equipped with a full kitchen, and I'm not sure if any come with a full living room, complete with furniture, like Daemen does.  All in all, it seems like Daemen's furniture is in better shape, but that's to be expected, as it is a private institution, and New College, a public college.  New College's perks to even that out include a pool and a hot tub, yet, Daemen students are allowed access to the YMCA 2 blocks down. 

Daemen offers real, live sports teams.  With this comes boundless opportunities for cheering and screaming, free food and blue face paint.  Yet, New College offers none - an opportunity which in fact creates more opportunities for exercise.  Friday dodge ball nights, Saturday soccer nights, indoor soccer, break dancing, belly dancing, tai chi - New College has tons of events you can just show up to. 

Of course, none of this is why CIEL is present.  CIEL is the Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning.  And there is plenty of innovation here at New College.  Tutorials - groups of students or an individual, with a faculty mentor, exploring a subject they're interested in.  Independent Study Projects, which usually happen over the month of January, which enable students to put together solid work - many people who I've met here speak of their 35 page paper they put together over that month on something important to them. 

The classes I'm taking here, this semester, are all courses which are not offered at my home school - Fish Biology, Eumycetozoans(Slime Molds), Coral Reef Ecology, Ritual Theory, Environmental Management: Caples Stormwater Pond (Invasive Species).  But, from what I understand, there's not a Biology lab with the General Biology class here.  Some people I've interacted with this semester, who are not freshman, are having their first experiences with dissection this semester.  I was having my first dissection experiences in my first year, and I had plenty of them. 

There is a lot less stress here, it seems, than back at my home college.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I do know that the lack of grades and GPA makes the tests a lot easier, when the goal becomes, "To pass the class with enough knowledge to get a satisfactory evaluation," instead of "I need a 2.7 in this class and a 4.0 in that class to even out my GPA enough to get admitted into the Upper Division classes..."  The lack of rigidly defined requirements to the extent that Daemen has makes it easier for people to take what they want as well as what they need.  But, I'm not entirely certain, again, that that is a good thing.  It almost seems that the two schools are at extremes of each other, and a median choice would be best. 

Teaching styles vary here, as they do at any college, but the education seems about equivalent between the two schools.  Whether this is a thumbs up for the quality of Daemen education, or a thumbs down for the quality of New College education, I'm not sure - but I know that both schools are able to engage me in learning.  We seem to have more flexibility in class criteria here at New College - we can take a Fish Biology hands on "detour" to study animal behavior instead of the muscles.  Yet, there is less of an opportunity to take spontaneous hands on adventures in syllabi at Daemen, where the weather and schedule of science labs all take the foreground, not to mention the lack of a marine biology lab, beautiful bay and campus teeming with large and colorful life.

People are friendly in both places.  At Daemen and at New College both, you can know no one, and within a half an hour, sit down to eat lunch with a large group of smiling faces.  There is more diversity at Daemen in terms of race, yet there is more diversity at New College in terms of culture and religion.  There is a much larger pagan population at New College, as well as a fair amount of agnostics or atheists, and considerably more Jewish students than Daemen has, by percentage.  Whether or not this bears any relevance to the makeup of either school, I doubt, yet it is a noteworthy fact to consider. 

There are many more organized events at New College than at Daemen, and many of these are organized by students.  One way in which New College outdoes Daemen, by far, is the availability of money for students to run events.  One student run council on campus has the ability to give away massive amounts of money for recreation and cultural events, easily - to individuals or groups of people.  Another student run council on campus has the ability to give away money to students for academic purposes - projects, events, Independent Study funding, etc.  The lack of 'recognized' organizations on New College campus really gives the culture a life of its own.  Movements spawn and die over weeks, months, and years, without being required to elect officers.  This spontaneity gives New College an aspect of surprise and constant renewal which is hard to find at Daemen. 

Yet, it almost seems like Daemen offers more in the way of preparation for graduate and professional outlooks.  With a great number of students in structured programs like the Physical Therapy, Physician's Assistant, MBA and Accounting degrees, Daemen students are practically guaranteed a job after graduation.  I'm not so sure that this is the case with New College students, if only for the school's lack of any graduate programs. 

I am caught between two worlds.  New College is not better than Daemen, nor is Daemen better than New College overall.  They are two very different experiences, deserving of careful consideration.  Were this a competition, they would tie in my book. 

Yet, as I know the snow is falling in Buffalo, New York; and here, although cloudy, the Fahrenheit scale still reads eighty.  It seems, until I no longer need a snow brush back home, Florida is definitely preferable. 

Samantha Davis is in her junior year at Daemen College, majoring in Biology, with two minors, one in Religion and Philosophy and the other in Chemistry.  She loves to travel and wants to return to Florida because her experience was so positive at New College and she misses her friends.  She has just returned from Costa Rica and is about to embark on a 400 mile bike trip from Buffalo to Albany.  She will also participate in a Century, which is a 100 mile bike trip for aids research.  She hopes to continue her journey in graduate school and from there find a career in Science Research.

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