As a Signature Program of University School, our annual Exploration of Faith Learning Outside the Classroom experiences allow students to examine religions up close and personal.
This year, we’ll be visiting Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) Reform Jewish Congregation of Charleston, St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Central Mosque of Charleston, Mount Zion AME Church, Congregation Dor Tikvah, and Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.
One of the many benefits of these experiences over long periods of time is developing adults who participate constructively in civic life — locally and in the greater world, work collaboratively with diverse people, lead meaningful lives, and develop self-reflection skills.
Universities and employers find our students prepared and ready to lead and collaborate with others from across America and the globe. They are attractive potential community, school, and workforce members because they are unlike any other young people they’ve seen in our modern interconnected and diverse world! These are more critical and needed skills than ever, and they are rare and cherished/valuable.
We believe that our students should learn and understand the world through experiences. Through our hallmark Learning Outside the Classroom program (LOTC), students take part in 35+ field trips and meet with 30+ guest speakers per year. We believe in going to the experts, seeing things for ourselves, and developing our critical thinking skills — so this is an extension of that. We want to empower them to be engaged in civic life, and we are building life skills in our students to foster future leaders.
For the 22-23 school year, we visited the Mepkin Abbey Creche Festival, Greater Goodwill AME Church, Synagogue Emanu-El, Charleston Tibetan Society (Buddhist), and Olive Branch AME Church.
Members of our community also attended events sponsored by CofC Department of Religious Studies and the Charleston Interreligious Council.
