Heart-On Learning
Twelve hours after arriving at EARTH University, I watched an unforgettable video on “ground-up” impact that planted hope in my heart. Twelve days later, this hope is robustly alive as it has helped me discover the question I’ve often hid from for the past several years of my life: “Why?”. Gentle, yet genuine, EARTH’s institutional video left me soul-struck because it pushed me to the brink of swallowing the multifaceted purpose and nature of education.
For twelve years, I’ve sat in school classrooms, memorizing material — swallowing information like a pill without internalizing it. School was very much “go through the motions” for me because that was all I ever knew how to do. I never yearned to interact with my “why”. Biology class, especially. Memorize the structure of a leaf, GO — spongy mesophyll, palisade mesophyll, etc. But since I’ve come to EARTH University, the significance of what I’m internalizing has meant more to me than ever. Biology feels alive — emotionally, physically, and metaphorically.
From the chorus of birds who wake me up in the morning to learning about the fungicide resistance in the cause of Sigatoka disease in banana plants, life science abounds in this campus. As my Spanish teacher and I walked the halls of campus while to practice the preterit tense in conversation, we found solace in the surrounding mutualism of honeybees and flowers. And my once dreaded biology textbook has become a dynamic reference point to understand the concepts that riddle this campus.
But perhaps the greatest comfort lies beyond the knowledge at this university. After all, EARTH is devoted to “40% classroom, 60% hands-on” learning. The greatest comfort lies in values of community commitment that drive the spirit of exploration of EARTH. Students come to EARTH not only to learn, but to forge the connection between career and identity — retrace the knowledge back to their own communities. With only 400 students, EARTH is committed to project-based learning and helping each student find their “why”. But oftentimes, the “why” finds them beforehand. And that why is to blow life into their purpose by bringing life back to their roots.
My greatest mentor in life once told me that “in order to change the world, I have to change one person’s world”. This is exactly what everyone at EARTH is committed to. There are no clout chasers here — no thirst for credit over impact. In school, I’ve heard the term “hands-on” learning, but what I’ve never inhaled is “heart-on” learning, where you’re embracing, not just experiencing, the content in action. From banana production in the fields to reading research material at night, at EARTH, I’m discovering “heart-on” learning.
