Experiential Learning Gaining Tractions at Trinity University

By Samantha Luzader

Two years into its establishment, The Center for Experiential Learning and Student Success has done a lot.

So what exactly is experiential learning? Dr. Jacob Tingle, the director, said experiential learning is “learning by doing,” which includes learning outside the traditional classroom setting, such as internships, service learning and undergraduate research.

Before the center opened, Career Services was the main resource on campus for students looking for guidance in their job or internship searches, according to Twyla Hough, the director of Career Services. Unlike most other small liberal arts schools, Trinity did not have an internship coordinator on staff before the Center of Experiential Learning was founded.



“Career services was unstaffed for several years, which prevented us from being able to track internships,” Hough said.  They could only offer “very basic support” in students’ internship searches.

With the experiential learning staff, Dr. Tingle said that a big part of his job is reaching out to “organizations that we recognize as really meaningful” and working with them to develop internships for Trinity students.

Dr. Erin Hood, one of two assistant directors of the Center for Experiential Learning, is the primary internship coordinator at the Center.

She spends a lot of time meeting with students individually to discuss what they are looking for in an internship and develop good searching strategies. She also puts on an internship search workshop once a semester where students can come and learn about the best tools and resources to find an internship.

As many as 69% of graduating Trinity students reported doing at least one internship during their time at school. For example, Annie Ortman, a senior majoring in international studies, Spanish and Russian, has completed three Alvarez internships during her time at Trinity. 

During the spring of her sophomore year, Ortman interned at the San Antonio Food bank and during the summer and fall of 2016 she interned at the Casa RAICES, a non-profit organization that offers low cost legal aid to refugees and immigrants.

Ortman said that these internships allowed her to become “more involved in the San Antonio community and to get outside of the Trinity bubble.”

However, not everybody can get such high quality internship experience. Now with Dr. Hood in place, Trinity is better equipped to help students gain quality internships.

They do this by developing relationships with companies and other organizations in San Antonio that might be interested in creating an internship program for Trinity students. The Center manages contracts between the student and the internship advisors in order to make sure the student is reaching his or her learning goals.

According to Dr. Hood, one of the most important aspects of experiential learning is reflecting on what they have learned. Through writing reflection papers on their experiences, students are more likely to retain the things that they learned and be better prepared to present their experience and qualifications to a potential employer. If students are not required to write reflection papers for whatever program they are participating in, then the Center will encourage them to sit and reflect on what they learned.

Undergraduate research is also an amazing opportunity for experiential learning, and the Center helps students seek research opportunities in both humanities and sciences.

Katie Middleton, a junior classics major, had an opportunity to complete undergraduate research with Dr. Nicolle Hirschfeld in the classics department. She traveled with Dr. Hirschfeld in summer 2015 to Bodrum, Turkey. There, Dr. Hirchfeld’s students worked to catalogue artifacts from an ancient shipwreck.

Middleton said that the trip helped her realize that she wanted to be a classics major and possibly study museum science once she graduates from Trinity.

Since combining the offices of Career Services and Experiential Learning, the Center has been able to provide support in every aspect of a student’s journey to finding a career.

Twyla Hough said “the transition was ideal” because with the two offices working together, the Center can offer students every tool and resource they need and “that all of a sudden you have this office that [internships] is one of their main priorities.”

In the years to come, Trinity hopes to expand the Center for Experiential Learning and Student Success. One of Dr. Tingle’s main goals is to seeking funding that could support students traveling for experiential learning opportunities.

There has also been a recent push for more faculty led programs like Dr. Tingle’s Sport in London class. These are classes at Trinity where students learn about their field and then at the end of the semester travel together to enact what they have been studying over the semester.

Dr. Tingle said, “If we can do that we will be significantly strengthening experiential learning opportunities at Trinity,” said Dr. Tingle.