M Academics
The College Experience prepares new
students for more than academia
A new student helps rebuild
a retaining wall at Canton’s
McKinley Museum.
{22} Malone Magazine
Each year during orientation week, more than
400 Malone freshmen scatter Into the Streets to
perform service projects for parks, charity cen-
ters, and non-profit organizations throughout
Stark County and the surrounding area.
And each year Ronald Johnson, Ph.D., presi-
dent of Malone, marches along with them, tak-
ing part in reaching out to the community.
“I do it to set an example from top down to the
faculty about how important it is to get
involved in this event,” says Johnson who
enjoys working outdoors and usually volun-
teers for park clean-up services.
Johnson chats with and works at getting to
know each student in his group.
“Most of them are rather surprised when I tell
them I’m the College president,” he says, chuck-
ling. “[The event] sets the tone for the incoming
Winter 2006
students that Malone is a different experience
where we encourage service—it’s part of the
mission of Malone.”
It also sets the tone for “The College Experience”
course––of which Into the Streets is a compo-
nent––and is one of the students’ first college
activities.
Begun in 1990 as a required study skills course
and catalogued under Humanities 100, “The
College Experience” took on the larger challenge
in 1991 of inducting new students into Malone’s
academic environment where thought takes
precedence over impulse and where a communi-
ty focused on “Christ’s Kingdom First” is fostered.
The course was originally installed as part of
Malone’s then-newly revamped general educa-
tion curriculum.
Marcia Everett, Ph.D., who was an adjunct com-
munication professor at the time, says then-
Provost Johnson, approached her with the idea
that she direct and coordinate the somewhat cum-
bersome 20-section class the following year.
Everett accepted and decided to reinvent the
infant course, pulling it past its exclusive study
skills focus and toward a more holistic focus,
making it what it is today.
“I said, ‘Let’s do this differently,’” Everett asserts.
“Essentially we wanted it to be something that
helped people think about issues and choices
that they would encounter in college, but not
just in terms of personal lifestyle,” she adds. “We
wanted to introduce them to thinking about
topics within a Christian, academic setting.”

One group of first-year students
spent the day working with
Habitat for Humanity. The group
was led by Doug Reichenberger,
director of the Career Development
Center at Malone.
At the time, many colleges and universities
were incorporating successful orientation-type
courses into a first-year curriculum. Gleaning
from various curricula across the country,
Everett, with a faculty board, put together a
textbook that addresses a wide range of topics,
such as community living, studies, faith issues,
integrity, and sexual behavior.
Each class section includes about 20 students,
and is instructed by a faculty or staff member,
then assisted by a student course assistant.
Everett selects student assistants through a highly
competitive process that considers grades, per-
sonalities, and leadership qualities. Some students
have joked that it’s harder to become a course
assistant than to get into Harvard, says Everett.
Along with Into the Streets, students travel with
their class sections to “Camp Gideon,” where
Academics M
they spend an afternoon climbing ropes courses
and competing in team activities that require prob-
lem solving, communication, and group trust.
The College Experience course, complete with
its own department, an annually updated cur-
riculum, and a recruited 40-plus-member team,
is a monumental amount of work. But Everett
says it’s worth it.
“It’s extremely rewarding to work with wonder-
ful faculty who care very much about students
and their growth and development and all facets
of their experience in college,” she says. “It’s also
incredibly rewarding to work with the student
leaders who are really truly investing themselves
and their energy, and learning and growing
through this job.”
by Rachel (Lioi) Hoskins-Douglas ’01
Malone Magazine Winter 2006 {23}