My First Year > My Educational Plan > Question 3
Question 3
Do you know all the ways a higher education will help you achieve your goals?
If you are deliberate about your educational plan, a Wilkes education will truly help transform your life beyond anything you can imagine. The collection of scholars and learners you will find here create a dynamic environment where much learning takes place outside as well as inside classroom walls.
Your Intellectual Growth
The academic challenges of a higher education will develop your skills and intellectual abilities to a level beyond anything you have ever experienced. In the process, you will discover that you are capable of higher levels of achievement than you ever imagined. This is one of the most exciting outcomes of a Wilkes education!
Opening New Worlds
The reason why more than half of college graduates work in fields outside of their majors is because a higher education opens doors to opportunities they never imagined when they entered as first-year students. Somewhere along their undergraduate journey, they discovered new interests and abilities that motivated them to explore avenues they never before considered. Very often, it was the result of a relationship they developed with a professor.
Developing New Relationships
Let’s admit at the start that most of what you will value from your experience at Wilkes will be the relaAugust 22, 2006d personalities of students from other geographic locations presents you with unlimited opportunities to create meaningful social connections. These relationships will bring new meaning to your life as you learn much from your peers about your own values and character. In the process, you enhance important social skills such as learning to socialize with people of differing values while remaining true to your own values, and taking responsibility for the well-being of others, whether or not they are close friends. ThisAugust 27, 2006u will improve upon.
Developing Mentoring Relationships
<August 27, 2006August 27, 2006and other staff at the University. While these relationships are seldom described as “friendships,” they can become even more important and affect you for a lifetime. August 27, 2006d her or his student. This special bond is created when the different levels of authority and expertise serve to enhance the relationship instead of serving as a wall between you. It is based on an unusually high level of mutual regard that runs more deeply than in a conventional friendship. In fact, this mutual regard is so powerful that it doesn’t even depend upon the amount of time spent together. It is also a relationship that is earned over time.To get the most of your time at WAugust 27, 2006ring relationships. It may take time, perhaps a year or more, before you actually begin to see this potential with your professors. But remember, this relationship is so special that it often arises with those who challenge you the most and who do not let you get away with anything less than your best. That expectation shows they care and it is a gift that can’t be measured by a monetary value.
Learning Beyond Your Classroom
Much of your learning will take place outside of class, and not just when you are studying. The wide-range of activities at Wilkes are designed to help you develop your interests and skills beyond that which can be accomplished in the hours you spend in class.
Wilkes’ alumni report that many of their most valued educational experiences took place while they were engaged in activities. Perhaps this is because these activities are informal, less structured opportunities for personal development, combining pleasurable tasks with real responsibility.
So don’t miss out on the opportunity to develop your skills and character by being involved in activities that you will enjoy at the same time. While participation in athletics is widely known to develop many important character traits, so too is writing for the Beacon, participating on the debate team, or performing in theater, music or dance. There are many others to consider, such as Student Government and/or participation in our Leadership Program.
Making the Most of Your Higher Education
Wilkes University is a cultural center for our region as well as a conduit for the exchange of ideas so vital to a free society. We provide the community with many opportunities to experience the visual and performing arts at their best. We also bring to campus a number of original thinkers in academics, business and government. For example, in the last Presidential election, nearly all the candidates came to Wilkes to express their views. Citizens in our region take advantage of these opportunities and so should you!
When these performers and speakers come to campus, students often have the opportunity to engage with them outside the public performance or lecture. These take place in particular classes or at designated places on campus.