Entering college is often associated with making a life change. It’s a big decision that can switch the trajectory of someone’s future.
The plan usually comes with hopes and goals, and, without a doubt, there’s difficult work ahead.
As students make these big life decisions and put in the work, they also need to find ways to connect with what they’re passionate about – things they enjoy doing outside of the classroom. It’s a circular equation that can help fulfill students as a whole as they work toward their life goals.
Perhaps it’s as simple as getting sun or exercising for some, or maybe it’s something that can feed a love they already have for the outdoors.
With more than 700 acres and two farms on campus, there are at least a few things students at Ferrum College are accessing and experiencing that are serving their studies, their passion or both.
The Blue Ridge Institute and Museum
Christian Haley, a class of 2021 Ferrum College graduate, is one of many who got to feed into his passions and his studies at the same time.
As a history major with a double minor in criminal justice and religion, Haley had an array of different academic and personal interests. He was able to engage many of them by spending a summer working at the college’s Blue Ridge Institute and Museum (BRIM), the largest folklife museum in Virginia.
Each year, a Ferrum College student is chosen to experience BRIM’s summer operations. It’s a program that gives preference to students interested in history, agriculture, sociology and recreation.
There, he was exposed to a range of experiences through his work.
“My responsibilities are extremely broad, which is one of the things I love most about the job,” Haley said. “A typical day could consist of me taking care of our animals at the farm museum in the morning, digitizing and graphically editing artifacts in the middle of the day, leading an interpretive tour of the museum in the afternoon and, finally, working to prepare the latest exhibit at the end of the day.”
BRIM Director Bethany Worley said having a student like Haley at the institute was wonderful.
“He is passionate about history and (felt) right at home in the archive, working on our upcoming exhibit, and on the 1800s farm in costume,” she said.
After his stint with BRIM, Haley expressed that he wanted to keep his options open for the future – perhaps to a career in the museum field.
“Christian is getting what so many students need who are entering the job market or looking at graduate school: invaluable hands-on experience at the state’s largest folklife museum,” Worley said.
The farm
With an actual farm on campus, Ferrum College’s Titmus Agricultural Center is essentially a living laboratory that gives students a different and unique experience. Students get to work directly with farm animals, learn how to properly take care of them, manage plants in a hydroponic greenhouse and work with the Farm to Café program, which markets College-grown produce to the campus dining hall.
While the center houses many different animals at different times, it currently houses goats, sheep and cows.
Within a hydroponic greenhouse, there are several varieties of lettuce that are harvested and served in the College’s café as part of a “farm to table” initiative. There’s also a traditional greenhouse where houseplants are grown and sold multiple times a year.
Over the summer, student Maggie Hodges had fun and got her hands dirty at the ag center by keeping the farm growing.
Farm manager Sarah Isley said that Hodges’ work helped to get the greenhouse ready for the academic year and fall growing season.
“Before we order our plugs and seeds, we up-pot our house plants,” Isley said. “All of our houseplants come from student cuttings from (a) greenhouse. Maggie worked on Boston ferns, begonias and pothos to get those ready for the plant sale.”
Another part of the ag center is the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) creek, where students can observe different types of wildlife that pass through a farm and how those animals impact the shared ecosystem.
“It’s a creek that has been allowed to completely grow up naturally,” Isley said. “We can’t cut anything or disturb it. It’s a protected area.”
Isley stressed that the farm is not just for students who are ag majors or who have grown up on farms.
“Some of our best students have never touched an animal before, and others enjoy coming to the farm with the ag club just to relax and participate in something different outside of their major,” she said. “The farm is for everyone at Ferrum.”
Throughout campus
BRIM, Titmus and CREP are just a few places where Ferrum is providing avenues to engage students in their passions – inside and outside their studies. But even within those spaces, everyone is welcome to try their hand at something new – to see if they might learn of a hobby or something different that could pique their interest.
The campus also has a lake, trails and disc golf course, all of which serve as learning spaces for Environmental Science, Ecotourism and Recreation Leadership while providing spaces where students can enjoy nature on a daily basis, even if it’s just walking between classes.
To learn more about Ferrum College and what the campus has to offer, click or tap here.