An Introduction to experiential learning

Engage in a themed experience with a small group of your peers during your first days on the HWS campus. Led by a faculty or staff guide and supported by student mentors, you'll dive into a topic of interest, collaborating with your Spark! group, getting to know the campus and greater Finger Lakes region and making connections to future academic and co-curricular paths. Your Spark! experience will culminate in a presentation, display, performance or other opportunity to share what you've learned during your first days at HWS. 

As part of new student Orientation, all incoming first-year students are required to participate in a Spark! project. Transfer students have the option to participate in a Spark! project, but it is not required. Explore a sampling of Spark! projects. More will be unveiled this semester. 

2024 Spark! Projects

All Means All: A Look at Disability and Inclusive Education in Our Community
Associate Professor of Educational Studies Mary Kelly 

In this Spark! project, you will connect with local teachers, schools and community-based organizations related to disability access and inclusivity (e.g., Ontario Arc, Happiness House, Center for Disability Rights, BOCES, Geneva City School District, etc.) while promoting inclusion and gaining awareness about the Ontario Arc College Experience Program here at HWS. You'll build connections with other HWS students, alum, and members of the broader campus and local community.

farm to table: food of the Finger Lakes
Systems and Information Services Librarian Janell Bekauri and director of institutional research alden gassert

Local farms. Local food. Local life. Encounter the bounty of the region around HWS through the food that grows here, and the restaurants showcasing the rich diversity of area farms. Tour a small farm that adheres to sustainable practices. Meet with local chefs who source their ingredients from the region, and plan their offerings around the seasons. Talk to a restaurant owner committed to supporting the farm-to-table movement – with all its concurrent benefits of sustainability, nutrition, and well-being. Create a meal from locally-sourced ingredients. And lastly, come together to develop a small cookbook of recipes featuring ingredients from the Finger Lakes. 

fight or flight
professor of theatre chris woodworth and associate professor of theatre chris hatch

Do you ever dream of running away to the circus? Or imagine yourself wielding a weapon in an epic battle scene from your favorite movie? In this Spark!, you’ll have a chance to do both! In Fight or Flight, students will learn how bodies can tell stories in extraordinary ways through stage combat and aerial circus performance. Whether raising a sword or posing on aerial silks, technique meets artistry in these unique forms of specialized physical performance. Who should join us for Fight or Flight? Actors, dancers, athletes, or anyone who wants to move in new and exciting ways! You will explore a wild array of stage combat and circus techniques! 

finding your fit
assistant director of the center for community engagement and service learning peter budmen and assistant director of recreation, intramurals and fitness deven siesel

Finding Your FIT will bring first-year students together around movement and the need for human connection to discover the power of community and exercise. Students will have the opportunity to explore the Geneva/HWS communities on foot while reflecting on their own experiences with exercise/movement while also drawing connections to the social benefits of engaging in these activities. After becoming more familiar with their new home, teams of students will design an opportunity for others to build social connections through movement. 

Finger Lakes Cheese & (Ice) Cream: Industry, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Tourism, & More
Assistant Professor of management and entrepreneurship Craig Talmage

For our project, you will connect with dairy-based educational spaces, regional producers, local sellers, and nearby tourist venues in the Finger Lakes region, specifically those that are close to campus, Geneva, and Seneca Lake. On the two-day excursion, you will meet farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and alums in the Finger Lakes. And of course, you get to taste their products, see their workplaces, and make your own cheese and ice cream as a group! Your culminating project gets you involved in marketing these wonderful places and products to students at HWS!

Fish on!
Associate professor of writing and rhetoric ben ristow

In this Spark! program, you will join other like-minded first year students who spin and/or fly-fish or would like to learn. Currently, the HWS Fishing Club has experienced a renaissance, with over 50 student club members in 2022, and in this Spark! program, you will spend two days of activities on the surrounding water of Seneca Lake and its tributaries. You will have the opportunity to learn about the regional fisheries as well as world-class trout, bass, and salmon fishing in Central New York. 

flx sound bite
assistant professor of media and society jiangtao harry gu

What do the Finger Lakes sound like if we learn to listen? This SPARK! introduces you to the art of field recording and sound reporting through hands-on learning in the Finger Lakes. You will learn to use professional sound recorders, hike with fellow first-year students, and share stories about our region. 

fun with integrated circuit and robotics
instructor of mathematics and computer science hanqing hu

In cooperation with the HWS Robotic Club, this SPARK project offers you the opportunity for hands-on experience with coding robotics. For two days we will build circuit-controlled smart LED displays and/or small robotic rover that can run around in a classroom. We will learn the basics of circuit design and C++ coding with Arduino integrated circuit. 

going with the flow (first-years learning on the water)
finger lakes institute associate director for educational programs nadia harvieux, Associate director of species program and Finger Lakes PRISM Coordinator sam beck-anderson and seneca watershed steward ian smith 

You will create a new "sense of place" through field experiences to water bodies that define our region: a local wetland complex that provides numerous ecosystem services, a stream gorge that hints at a very different geologic past, and the beautiful Finger Lakes themselves that drive our thriving regional economy. Through these field experiences (paddling, hiking and on-lake science), you will become familiar with the rich historical, ecological, economic and societal benefits of water in our region. You will use your immersive field experiences to develop a group "Artivism" display or project to help your first year peers broaden their understanding of "sense of place" while living in the Finger Lakes, all through the lens of water.

golf course architecture in the finger lakes
william smith golf head coach chip capraro 

You'll get off campus right away to explore some architecturally significant golf course designs here in the Finger Lakes by Donald Ross and Robert Trent Jones. While appreciating their beauty and splendor, you’ll engage in some key conceptual questions: What were the basic design elements and fundamental principles of classically designed golf courses, including their magnificent club houses? What was the GOLFING EXPERIENCE their designers were trying to create? How is designing a golf course like solving a puzzle? As a group, you’ll wrap up the SPARK! adventure making posters featuring images- photos and drawings- of golf courses seen in a new light, and maybe actually play a few holes!

hws pact (public art for community transformation): Color for change!
Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectional Justice michelle martin-baron and victor pultinas 

What difference can an image make? Plenty! Together, you'll create public art on campus in the form of a mural that welcomes the community and celebrates its diversity. Together, you will explore how art can instill a sense of belonging, create community, and impact our environments and relationships with one another. You'll explore mural environments around the Finger Lakes and dive into creating our own. Come roll up your sleeves and get painting! 

leadership, culture & Community: HWS athletics
associate athletic director and senior woman administrator Liz dennison 

You will discuss important topics around history, culture, academic/athletic balance, and self-leadership, all in an effort to weave an understanding of the Hobart and William Smith athletics into the your careers at HWS. You will explore the idea of followership as a form of leadership, and the transition from a senior leader in high school to a first-year team member and student in college. This SPARK will position you with a toolbox for success and immediate connections amongst their teams, the HWS community at large, alumni/ae connections, and Hobart and William Smith Athletics. Speakers will include administrators, coaches, alumni, and guests! This SPARK is limited to fist-year, fall sport student-athletes only.

let's play
Instruction and Engagement Librarian gabrielle labre and instructional technologist sarah gobe

“Play” is essential in helping build our cognitive and emotional skills. They help us develop trust, empathy, openness, resilience, and a sense of belonging, while enhancing our critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Most importantly playing is enjoyable, something that we actively seek out. Come play a series of games with us, from logic puzzles to physical challenges, video games to board games, while focusing on HWS community, culture, and connectivity. We will travel to the Strong Museum of Play to learn about different types of play, see the progression of gaming culture throughout time, and play with interactive exhibits. 

let's play! Sharing stories through playback theatre
professor of theatre h. may 

We will use a form called Playback Theatre to get to know each other while we theatricalize personal stories. Through this process we will uncover shared experiences as well us learn about our community across difference. We will laugh, dream, engage in embodied play, and embrace the joy (and terror) of being comfortably uncomfortable together along the way. At the end of our project we will perform dramatized stories chosen by the group and engage an audience in theatricalizing components of their own lives together. Playback Theatre demands no previous theatre experience, just a desire and willingness to immerse yourself in embodied creative activity and to be vulnerable and supportive of those engaging in these activities with you. This is a disability-friendly space grounded in queer, antiracist, feminist practices. All exercises can be modified to fit the people in the room together. 

longhouses, longball and living on the lands of the haudenosaunee
coordinator of teacher certification and accreditation chrissy jacobs

To educate students who are new to HWS and the Finger Lakes about the life, culture, and connections to the Native Americans from the Seneca Nation who lived here. Activities include a trip to Ganondagan, Ontario County Historical Society and walking tour of Geneva. 

mindful service
professor of dance and movement studies donna davenport and director of the center for community engagement and service learning katie flowers

New students are invited to participate in direct action within their own bodies and within the Geneva community. Action in this case refers to the gentle practice of yoga to begin each day of the project, as well as outreach and assistance to local organizations that focus on access to food and/or homelessness. This project aims to spark passions for the development of inner awareness and physical practices that lead to greater compassion for self and others. Students who are interested in social justice, wellness, education, sociology, and psychology would be a good fit. The Spark! project culminates in collaborative creation of an arts installation, combining visual art, gratitude, and expressions of new understanding to share with fellow first-year students. 

our edible landscape
grounds manager drew rojak and kathy regan 

This project is an exploration of the campus and surrounding area where we will learn about sustainable gardening/farming/landscaping – that supports our health, our communities, and the landscape. With the activities planned, the project will help connect the new students with each other, with the campus and the greater community. 

ready, set, rescue!
director of community values and conflict resolution joshua bishop

This unique opportunity allows students interested in the medical and helping professions gain valuable skills and relationships that will assist them throughout their time at HWS and beyond! The Spark! will allow students to complete CPR and Stop the Bleed training while building relationships with local EMS, Fire, and Rescue personnel from around the greater Geneva area. 

study abroad in the finger lakes: The tapestry of our lives
Pre-departure and Re-entry Programming Coordinator of the center for global education hannah matthews and program operations manager of the center for global education amy teel

Study Abroad in the Finger Lakes provides the opportunity for new students to learn more about the area that will be their home for the next four years while simultaneously building a deeper understanding of their own cultural background. Participants will join in story-sharing conversations with local community members, visit Finger Lakes farms and businesses, and participate in activities to facilitate their own intercultural capacity. Be the first to learn about opportunities for study abroad at HWS!

tea and tarot
title ix coordinator amanda jantzi and deputy title ix coordinator and lgbtq+ resource center director mace mcdonald

Engage with campus and the Finger Lakes region through tarot. In addition to its role in the women’s rights movement, the FLX were central to the rise of spiritualism in the US in the 19th century. Meet local artists and readers and deepen your own familiarity with tarot. This Spark! Is for beginners and experienced readers alike! Together, we will learn daily practices that can help us connect with ourselves, set goals for our day, and engage with the world around us! 

uniquely urban
associate professor of sociology ervin kosta 

You will explore together Geneva downtown's diversity of stores and visitors. You will get to meet some storeowners and community leaders, building connections between students and downtown community leaders. You will get to know some of the people that make the downtown “tick” – and learn how to ask and answer sociological questions about how neighborhood retail stores contribute to urban change. You will get to meet other students, learn how to conduct research, and figure out how to find coursework that might help you pursue your emerging interests. Oh, and you’ll be the one answering all downtown questions for your classmates!