Starting in 2016 from the largest donation in Longwood's history from alumna Joan Brock '64, the Brock Experiences
Derived from the Yellowstone project, the Brock Experiences Longwood is continuing to build on its Brock Experience program, allowing students to travel to Yellowstone National Park during the summer semester. Brock Experiences are a larger and growing menu of similar curriculum funded by Joan Brock, a Longwood class of 1964 alumna and the wife of the late Macon Brock, the co-founder of Dollar Tree. Similarly to the Yellowstone program, Brock Experiences will take place during the summer.
Brock Experiences expand on the Yellowstone program by including curriculum about a specific topic. For example, the Borderlines program goes to both Richmond, Virginia and Tucson, Arizona in order to learn about immigration. Another is the Chesapeake Bay trip, where students learn about pollution.
Much of this vision was cultivated by Dean of Longwood's Cormier Honors College Dr. Alix Fink.
“Dean Fink really articulated a transformative educational opportunity for students,” said Josh Blakely, the Director of Brock Experiences. However, he did admit that she did this “with a lot of help.”
Blakely has been in this brand new position of Director of Brock Experiences for just over a year. Prior to this, he was the assistant Dean of Residential and Commuter Life. He had also been part of the Yellowstone program since 2012/
Blakely said that Dean Fink has been very much an integral component of the work that goes into Brock Experiences. The Yellowstone program inspired Fink to look into reproducing similar classes all around the United States. The first experiment in this was a “test version,” (to use the words of Blakely) in Alaska, which he said went well. Students on the trip to Alaska make a stop in Fairbanks before taking a bus to the Arctic Circle. The students then stay overnight at the Arctic Circle, at a time when there are 24 hours of continuous sunlight and the earth’s rotation gives the sun the appearance of moving in only a small circle above their heads.
There are several Brock Experiences currently in the works, and many more are on the horizon. Some of these, for example, are the trip to the Colorado River and a trip to Boston, Massachusetts. The Colorado River class is , headed by associate professor of photography Michael Mergen, will teach the students about water rights and who or what can be considered the rightful owner (or owners) of water, such as the water in the Colorado River. The trip to Boston is organized by Dr. Shawn Smith, an associate professor of renaissance literature. That one will focus on the stewardship of art and its connection to citizenship.
“Basically, I'm here to help faculty members create their courses,” he said. “And so anything I can do to make it easier for the faculty members to make their new Brock Experiences, that's what I do.”
That means a lot of paperwork for Blakely as he helps the faculty members refine their ideas for their own Brock Experiences through organizing workshops and arranging for speakers to come and talk to the prospective experience leaders. Any teacher with an idea can submit a proposal for a Brock Experience, and Blakely will also provide some ideas of his own. Blakely said that Brock Experiences can only take place inside the United States’ borders, but they can be about any currently unresolved civic issue in the country.
The Borderlines Brock Experience program has been in the works since August, when associate professor of Spanish Dr. Renee Gutiérrez and assistant professor of criminal justice Dr. Connie Koski came to Blakely to talk about immigration.
“And more specifically,” Blakely said, “the criminalization of immigration.”
Borderlines will focus on the criminal justice side of the immigration problem, as well as how it overlaps with human rights the accessibility of water for migrants crossing America’s southern border.
