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| Ripon College and Crossroads students play frisbee on the lawn behind Harwood Memorial Union. |
Meet Crossroads Academy, a school here in the Ripon area that provides project-based-learning (PBL) approaches for interested students. Due to the nature of their class work (online classes in the morning and project work in the afternoon), the students of Crossroads Academy do not usually have a chance to participate in regular physical activity during school hours.
Seeing a need in this area, Ripon College Office of Community Engagement Alternative Education Intern Dulce Andrade came up with the idea to team up with a group of Ripon College students, carrying on an age old tradition of playing informal pick-up games of Ultimate Frisbee around campus. The RC students jumped at a chance to interact with new friends while playing their favorite game!
Exercise at all ages, but especially during the child, adolescent, and young adult years has been shown to improove memory retention and learning function, as well as creating a more focused, attentive, and productive environment to learn in upon return to the classroom. What more perfect union than to join together high school students stuck in a classroom for most of the day and college students gearing up for the academic rigors of finals!
This is just one example of how RC students are utilizing ABCD (Asset Based Community Development) to interact with our community. Asset Based Community Development looks at assets already present in the community as a first step of sustainable community development. Utilizing the existing skills, strengths, and motivating power of local residents, associations, and institutions, Asset-Based Community Development aims at build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future. This interaction between the two schools utilizes strengths on both sides to create mutually beneficial relationships, as well as making great use of the physical asset of green space provided by the college for the frisbee field.
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| Ripon students raise their hands to signal start of play. |
This is just one example of how RC students are utilizing ABCD (Asset Based Community Development) to interact with our community. Asset Based Community Development looks at assets already present in the community as a first step of sustainable community development. Utilizing the existing skills, strengths, and motivating power of local residents, associations, and institutions, Asset-Based Community Development aims at build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future. This interaction between the two schools utilizes strengths on both sides to create mutually beneficial relationships, as well as making great use of the physical asset of green space provided by the college for the frisbee field.
For more information about the benefits of exercise to the learning process, check out this article by Vanessa Richardson on Edutopia, "A Fit Body Means a Fit Mind."
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| Senior RC student Katrina Schauland guards a Crossroads student on the opposing team. |
