Learning Beyond the Classroom - Summer Style

This past summer, Kal W. ’27 and Liana J. ’28 ventured together to Baltimore, Maryland, as part of Chatham Hall’s Student Diplomacy Corps experience, spending four weeks living, learning, and exploring alongside students from across the country and around the world. Hosted on the campus of Goucher College, the Student Diplomacy Experimental College gave students the opportunity to experience college life while earning four college credits through an immersive liberal arts program.

For Kal, the summer centered on environmental science. She enrolled in Soil, Water, and the People Who Live With Them, a course that examined the relationship between people and the environments they inhabit, with a particular focus on Baltimore. “We studied the soil and the water, mainly focusing on Baltimore,” Kal said. “And then we also did a case study on whatever country or region we wanted to.”

She chose Bhutan, a country she had long been interested in because of its natural environment. Through her research, she explored everything from soil composition and water sources to the ways geography and climate shape life in the Himalayan nation.

Back in Baltimore, the class examined how human activity has shaped the environment, including the effects of construction, pollution, and historical development patterns. “We explored lead poisoning in redlined districts,” Kal said. “It was informative to see how human activities have left their impact on the soil.”

The experience helped her see environmental science in a new way. “I learned more about environmental science or studies because that's something I want to pursue in college,” she said. She was amazed at what she learned, admitting she did not know much about such topics. “I would never have looked specifically at soil [like this] or known about all the information it held had I not attended this class.” 

Liana explored a different side of Baltimore through her course, Black Spatial Politics and Ecologies. Her class examined the intersections of race, place, environment, and access to resources through readings, community visits, and hands-on experiences. One of those experiences took students to a community garden that had transformed an empty parking lot into a source of fresh food for a neighborhood with limited access to grocery stores.

“They grow their own vegetables and fruits,” Liana said. “They have a beekeeper, goats, turkeys, and cats.” Their exposure to this place was mostly to help clean up, but more learning was happening for her in those moments. 

The class also visited another community garden and the Black Yield Institute, an organization focused on food sovereignty and addressing food scarcity. At Black Yield, Liana experienced a tradition that stayed with her. Before entering a space, participants poured water into a bowl and said “ashe,” a word that means “I see you,” while honoring loved ones and others who had come before them. At the end, the water was returned to the earth. “I thought that was very interesting because it shows you still have to care,” Liana said. “It’s important to care about things that have impacted others leading up to this point.”

For both students, the academic experience was only part of what made the month meaningful.

They lived in college dorms, attended classes, explored Baltimore, visited the Inner Harbor, and toured colleges and universities including Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Morgan State, and George Mason. They also participated in social activities, from roller skating to a talent show where Liana performed.

The program brought together students from across the United States and around the world. Liana formed a close friendship with a student from Afghanistan who lives in Kansas City and even learned some Persian from her. “It was really interesting,” Liana said. “I met someone from Afghanistan, from Spain, from Egypt. It reminded me of Chatham Hall too because there were people from all over.”

Kal found the community equally memorable. “Everyone was doing something really cool,” she said. “Everyone was really genuine and open to talk and converse. It was a really nice community.” She also appreciated the balance between rigorous academics and time to explore and build relationships. “It was focused on academics, but they also planned activities where we’d go to the beach or go roller skating. So it was a pretty good balance.”

Both students returned to Chatham Hall with a deeper understanding of their interests and a broader view of the world around them. For Kal, the experience strengthened her interest in environmental science. For Liana, it offered a new way to think about communities, history, food, and the relationship between people and place.

And both would do it again. “If I had to do this all over again, I would choose this program again,” Kal said. “In a heartbeat.”

Student Diplomacy Corps: College Starts Now

Student Diplomacy Corps gives Chatham Hall students opportunities to step beyond the traditional classroom, live alongside peers from around the world, and explore college-level questions with professors and mentors.

Through the Student Diplomacy Experimental College in Maryland, students can earn four college credits while living on the campus of Goucher College, experiencing college life, exploring Baltimore’s arts and cultural institutions, visiting area colleges, and engaging in courses that connect academic study to the world around them. For Chatham Hall students, the experience is another way to See the World. Explore What’s Possible.