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GUIDE TO YELLOW SPR INGS | 2021– 2022 39 the organization, from public relations and the “Urine Bri - gade,” which collects urine, to building and setting up equip - ment for experiments. “While I was there, I learned a lot about chemis- try and biology through field testing,” Amrhein said. “After high school, science was kind of dead to me but this really sparked an interest in science again.” While Amrhein was building equipment to solar pasteur- ize urine, her classmate Eric Rhodes was teaching a course on U.S. politics at Caterham School, a boarding school in Great Britain. After studying there through a fellowship program in 2009, Rhodes returned to assist his former teachers in the politics depart - ment in exchange for room and board. “One of the professors was getting ready to leave for another position, so he asked me to teach the Introduction to American Politics course,” Rhodes said. “I designed my own curriculum and was basi- cally thrown into it. I had to stumble and find my way as the semester progressed.” Although it was challenging at first, Rhodes feels that he learned a lot about what good teaching actually requires, from the extensive prep time to managing class time effectively. “I was surprised by how thoroughly I had to prepare in order to teach something well,” he said. “I also learned about patience — it was okay if I didn’t make it all the way through my presentation because it was really about engaging their minds.” This kind of connection between education and real world experience lies at the heart of the co-op experience, and indeed of Antioch itself. Created by Arthur Morgan, the co-op program is based on a philosophy of experien- tial education, in which more formal educational instruction is reinforced first through experience and then reflec - tion on that experience. In its current iteration, co-ops occur once an aca- demic year and rotate through the quarters so that by the end of their education, each Antioch student will have had a minimum of four co-ops, each in a different season. According to Beth Bridge- man, associate professor of cooperative education and sustainable practice, each co-op is accompanied by an online course designed to help students reflect on their experiences and followed up with a “co-op swap” in which students come together to share stories from their time away. The revived college is creating a new stable of co-op jobs, following leads provided by community members and The late Robert (Bob) Devine, class of 1967, on co-op editing the films created for Jewel Graham’s Antioch Program for Interracial Education. Devine was president of Antioch College from 1996–2001. | PHOTO COURTESY OF ANT IOCHIANA, ANT IOCH COLLEGE college alums or research- ing potential sites online. According to Bridgeman, like the former co-op structure, the eventual goal is to create placements in organizations that are continually filled by an Antioch College student. “It needs to be a safe environment, but also one where students are going to be stretched, and have a different or bigger view than they had before,” agreed Bridgeman. The college is also trying to find placements that offer some form of compensation to the student — be it through a stipend, a small salary or room and board, so that all students, regardless of their financial circumstances, can have access to the life- and résumé-enriching opportuni- ties that co-op presents. First-year student Brittany Parlin’s résumé now includes ice cream and cheese making, which she learned during her co-op at Young’s Jersey Dairy. “I realized there’s so much more to cheese making than I ever thought there could be,” said Parlin. “At first I thought, ‘I’m never going to learn how to do this.’” However, over time, Parlin improved her skills and by the end her cheese rounds looked as neat as her employer’s. “I learned a lot about myself,” she said of her time at Young’s. “I could do things that other people can’t — I’m the only girl there who can make cheese.” The challenge of the unfa- miliar was an important crite- ria for student Clara Strong, who spent her first co-op herding sheep and helping out a family on the Black Mesa Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona. “I really wanted something that was very far from aca- demia,” she said, “something Continued on page 41 Orthodontic Specialists of Ohio 937-324-5700 Springfield 2100 E. High St. (Suite 105) Governor’s Manor, 1st Floor Springfield, OH 45505 J ames A . T etz, D.M.D., inc. Change A Smile & Change A Life www.TetzOrthodontics.com Join, Support or Volunteer! Yellow Springs non-profits deserve our attention and commitment!