College is a time for personal discovery outside your degree. The things you learn in college go far beyond what you’ll find in a textbook. It’s not just a matter of engaging you in the classroom but also following your passions. That’s why the academic core curriculum at Jewell prioritizes the development of your critical thinking and leadership skills. Our goal is to prepare you to be both a successful and reflective citizen of a global community.
The ability to think critically about the challenges you face in your life, be it academically, professionally or personally, is an invaluable skill. By providing the structure to support your intellectual and personal development, we support your growth as an entire person. You deserve a college experience that equips you to engage actively in the world and remain a conscientious member of society. That end result, becoming an active global citizen, is insufficiently prioritized across undergraduate education but recognized and fostered here at Jewell.
As you pursue your degree, you will begin to find answers to more significant questions. Namely: Who am I? What do I care about? What are my values? These questions don’t have easy answers, and Jewell cannot answer them for you. The conclusions you come to all boil down to what you learn at college outside the classroom. No college curriculum can teach you who you are, but we can help you find those answers for yourself.
Learning Starts With You
Personal discovery and learning can only happen when you commit to a dynamic and engaging environment. One of the critical facets of growing as a student and a young adult is learning to take charge of your own education. That’s what we foster here at Jewell—your independence.
College can be an incredibly formative time in your life. This blog outlines the skills you will learn as you develop in college, how they will help you succeed and why that growth matters. Jewell is here to make sure that development empowers you.
So, what will you learn?
You’ll learn to take charge of your own learning
College places you in situations where the answers don’t always come easily. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to take your learning into your own hands. From pursuing coursework you are passionate about to engaging in clubs and extracurricular activities, you will have the opportunity to shape the academic, personal and interpersonal education you receive. This self-driven learning will help you acquire the skills you need to turn your dreams into reality.
You’ll learn to improve at time management
Juggling school, extracurriculars and your personal life isn’t easy. College life is a crash course in efficient time management.
You’ll learn to navigate challenging conversations
Your college career will be ripe with interactions with others, from professors and teammates on a group project to supervisors at an internship. The college environment can help you learn to navigate relationships, resolve conflicts and engage in civil discourse with those who have different perspectives.
Jewell works hard to provide you and your fellow students with the ability to integrate new perspectives and think critically. This helps you meaningfully assess and explore broad philosophical topics and complex information, but it also empowers you to better express yourself and resolve uncertainty compassionately and effectively. Being an engaged global citizen will often entail exchanging ideas and disagreeing with others. You must be able to do so respectfully and effectively, and that’s precisely what Jewell can help you learn to do.
You’ll learn perseverance
College won’t always be easy. From challenging courses to social stress, there will likely be times you feel like giving up. For our students with nontraditional academic trajectories, this can be even harder. A college community can provide you with the resources, friends and structure you need to keep going. Completion of a college degree goes beyond just fulfilling your curriculum requirements. It’s also a forum to discover what you care about and learn how to work through stress and difficulties towards your goal. Jewell works to provide an academic environment where comprehensive growth is encouraged. Part of this support centers on empowering you to overcome obstacles and persevere.
You’ll learn how to ask for help
Taking ownership of your own education doesn’t mean you’ll be alone through your college journey. Professors, classmates, friends and family are all there to support you when you need it. In addition, there are a wide variety of academic support systems to empower your success. You have access to free tutoring, supplemental academic enrichment sessions, and the college’s Student Success Center to provide the skills and resources necessary to meet your learning needs. At William Jewell, you’ll never be left behind.
Contrary to what you may think, asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness. It means you know how to find the support you need without burning yourself out—a skill that will come in handy throughout your professional career.
You’ll learn how to work with integrity
College is full of opportunities to meet the challenges of your life with integrity and to strengthen your values. After all, furthering your education may test your limits as a creative thinker and active participant. As a result, there may come a time when you feel the temptation to cheat or take shortcuts in your coursework.
If you choose to attend William Jewell College, we expect you to adhere to the highest standards of academic integrity and individual conduct detailed in our Honor Code. Your commitment to our honor code underscores a commitment to Achievement, Leadership, Respect, Responsibility and Service. These commitments convey how students like you can ensure their peers live responsibly in the community.
Our College Curriculum Hones Critical Skills for Success
College may give you the knowledge to take the next step on your career path, but don’t underestimate the valuable life lessons you’ll learn while you’re there. More than ever, we need employees, leaders and engaged thinkers who approach the challenges of their profession and this world with creativity and confidence. That is precisely the skillset Jewell’s curriculum works to empower you with.
At William Jewell College, we recognize that providing an affordable and high-quality education is an investment in the wholeness of our students. It’s not simply a matter of preparing you to come away with an industry-specific skill set, which we will still enable you to do. Instead, we’re interested in creating an environment where you can transform that comprehension into a critical analysis of the world around you. How do we do this? We encourage you to ask big questions.
What is real? What can we know? How should we live? These questions color our approach to education and to creating an environment where you can become your most passionate self.
From critical thinking and deductive reasoning to effective business communication, William Jewell College will provide you with the tools to succeed in any of the jobs you may have over your lifetime.
These tools include:
Critical Thinking
The most significant benefit of the college curriculum offered by Jewell is that you can translate what you’ve studied into anything you pursue. You will learn how to approach problems, assess needs, think abstractly and ask meaningful questions. These capabilities are in high demand from employers, who often find these assets challenging to teach and invaluable long term. After all, no work is genuinely one-dimensional. At any given time, a task may require cross-functional collaboration, independent problem-solving and analysis, effective communication with different stakeholder groups and more. None of these abilities are easily measurable through numbers and programs. They require you to adapt, think analytically and apply logic to situations you may have never encountered before. The ability to do these things makes you an asset.
Our academic core curriculum moves through three levels and roughly 35 credit hours, seeking to equip you with the vast critical thinking skills necessary to make a difference.
Creativity
Innovative and dynamic ideas aren’t easy to come by. They require being able to see a problem in a new way. After all, creativity shapes the way you approach problems. That’s why we teach Jewell students like you how to foster your creativity and instincts for exploration. However, exploring new ideas and learning how to express yourself differently will make you more creative. Much like critical thinking, creativity is an essential component of problem-solving. After all, it’s one thing to recognize there’s a problem, and it’s another thing entirely to devise a new solution. These skills make a creative mind an asset in every industry.
With majors in philosophy, English, music, digital media communication and more, William Jewell College understands the importance of creating ways to express yourself and think about the world. Our students are encouraged to pursue their passions and explore new creative opportunities.
Perspective
Our college curriculum offers the unique academic opportunity to broaden your horizons by introducing you to concepts and people across the globe. The variety of courses allows you to learn about a wide range of ideas, which will help you discover your interests, strengths and potential career paths. Our cultural and philosophical coursework isn’t simply a matter of comparing notes—it’s all about meaningfully approaching and understanding the philosophies and thinking of other people and cultures. You will explore different mindsets, cultures and human experiences that can broaden your worldview and provide valuable insight into other businesses and professional environments.
If you want a global perspective, start in the classroom, then go live your learning out in the world. Through study abroad, Jewell will help you pursue your global educational interests and broaden your perspective.
Flexible Professional Soft Skills
As you grow and evolve in college, you may find that what you want to pursue career-wise shifts. The William Jewell College curriculum allows you to keep your career options open, as you will be taught a variety of non-static skills rather than just one specific skill set. This will enable you to transfer the skills you learn at college to any work you pursue.
The range of topics and methods covered by your education makes you fundamentally flexible, interdisciplinary and adaptable to a changing environment or needs. Best of all, you will cultivate this experience while still learning the specific skills necessary to thrive in your chosen field.
While your academic and personal growth at college will provide you with various invaluable experiences, some skills learned at college will help you stand out professionally. Here are three critical professional skills you’ll learn at William Jewell College, both through our curriculum and the environment of growth that we foster:
1. Leadership
Leadership ability is a broad skill set, encompassing many skills but centering on bringing people together. Learning to engage with others while guiding them and making decisions is critical for Jewell students. An appreciation for different points of view and a willingness to incorporate new ideas exist at the core of this exercise.
2. Communication
Communication is an important skill heavily emphasized in a liberal arts education. Whether you are listening, clearly stating your opinion, asking questions for clarification, providing constructive criticism or sending emails, your ability to express yourself defines how others see you. Perhaps just as important, it also dictates how effectively you work with other professionals.
3. Work Ethic
Some companies look for dedicated and hardworking individuals when hiring for new positions. A good work ethic can help you find a job and support your career advancement. One benefit of a liberal arts education is that it teaches you how to work hard. Your coursework isn’t always straightforward. It frequently requires deep analysis and rigorous thought and effort. Though not always easy, it will teach you how to actively engage in a professional environment.
Honing soft skills isn’t just about working in the classroom. We offer various programs that reflect this understanding. Whatever your interests may be, we’re here to help you grow.
William Jewell College is committed to your growth!
At William Jewell College, we educate our community to ask reflective questions, apply critical thought and act with purpose. That commitment is why we provide you with a world-class liberal arts education. Our goal is to prepare you to be both a successful and reflective citizen of a global community.
At every step of your undergraduate experience, Jewell is here to facilitate your growth as a critical thinker and a global citizen.
Interested in the college curriculum here at Jewell? You can explore our website or contact the Office of Admission to learn more, schedule a visit or apply!