What a Year at College Looks Like

You’ve no doubt wondered what your life in college will look like. Wouldn’t it be great to fast-forward a year or two and experience life on the campuses of the colleges you’re considering? Well, we have the next best thing. To give you a sneak peek at the college experience, my counselors and I have put together a year at Rollins in photos.

You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at everything from moving into your dorm room to collecting your diploma at commencement. Along the way, you’ll sit in on some of our coolest classes, see what it’s like to intern at some of the world’s most innovative companies, and tag along on faculty-led field studies to everywhere from Costa Rica to Tanzania. Go ahead: See your future come into focus at Rollins.

By Faye TydlaskaVice President for Admission and Financial Aid, Rollins College

Six students cross a stream in Costa Rica on horseback.

Sustainable roots

Before even setting foot in a Rollins classroom, 12 first-year students embarked on a 10-day field study to Costa Rica led by environmental studies professor Barry Allen to learn about conservation and sustainability.

Smiling students help a freshmen move into their dorm rooms.

Helping hands

On Move-In Day, peer mentors helped first-year students move their things into campus residence halls. These second-, third-, and fourth-year Tars work their tails off to make first-year students’ #RollinsLife amazing from day one.

College student plants grass during a service learning experience.

Seeds of service

First-year students participated in SPARC Day, Rollins’ annual day of service during orientation. In the 12 years since the annual day of service was established, more than 9,000 Tars have contributed more than 37,000 hours of service to an average of 24 community organizations each year.

College professor and students engage in discussion in a outdoor classroom.

Outdoor classes

Political science professor Dan Chong and his students took advantage of Florida’s fine fall weather and enjoyed a sun-drenched discussion at the outdoor classroom outside Orlando Hall.

Male student stands in front of a space shuttle at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Rocket man

Computer science major Michael Gutensohn ’18 interned at NASA’s Augmented Virtual Reality Lab at Kennedy Space Center. Examining the world’s most powerful deep-space propulsion system was just another day at the office.

Students with shovels transform a residential lawn into a garden.

Learning to make a difference

Students in business professor Josephine Balzac’s Strategies for Changemakers class turned a local lawn into an urban farm, digging deep into how to become the change they want to see in the world.

A dozen students pose on a pair of jeeps in Serengeti National Park.

A ride to remember

This past summer, 12 Rollins students spent two weeks in Africa as part of political science professor Dan Chong’s field study focused on community development. They worked on community projects alongside locals in the village of Mkyashi, Tanzania, and met with local entrepreneurs in Dago, Kenya. In between, they took a once-in-a-lifetime safari through Serengeti National Park, camping under blankets of stars and marveling at the interplay of wildlife on the savanna.

Students write blog content for a coffee shop.

Real-world experience right from the start

English professors Emily Russell and Jana Mathews joined forces with Barnie’s Coffee & Tea Co. to give first-year students in their Rollins College Conference (RCC) classes an opportunity to create professional blog content.

Students develop a walking-tour app for Hannibal Square.

Collaborative communities

Students in computer science professor Dan Myers’ Creating the Digital Future course partnered with the Hannibal Square Heritage Center to develop a new walking-tour app for Hannibal Square, a historic African-American neighborhood located a mile from campus.

Intern stands in front of a NASCAR race car at Daytona International Speedway.

Driven

Faster, bigger, flashier—all of those are synonymous with better when it comes to NASCAR, and for eight weeks, Ryan O’Donnell ’20 worked on developing strategies to make the brand more of all three. O’Donnell worked in the New York City office as the only intern in the strategic development branch, which continually works on dreaming up big ideas to enhance the sport’s long-term trajectory.

Students performing a holiday concert in downtown Orlando.

In concert

Rollins and neighboring Full Sail University banded together to get everyone in the holiday spirit with Songs of the Season, a free concert on the lawn at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando.

Students discussion an art installation in downtown Orlando.

Art in Orlando

During Intersession over winter break, students in art history professor MacKenzie Moon Ryan’s Art in Orlando class visited seminal art institutions around the city, soaking up everything from sculptures and paintings to installations and public arts spaces.

Students on the back of a flat-bed truck in a vegetable farm.

Going all in

Just before the start of the spring semester, a group of Rollins students visited the Farmworkers Association of Florida, where they were tasked with examining the economic and political implications of immigration as well as the environmental and biological consequences of farming practices. The Immersion experience was one of more than two dozen courses taught during Intersession.

Hillary Jordan addresses an audience at Rollins College during Winter With the Writers.

Creative process

Hillary Jordan, award-winning author of Mudbound, kicked off 2018’s Winter With the Writers. Rollins’ annual literary festival directly engages undergrads and professional authors in discussions about the students’ original works through round-table-style master classes.

Two students and a professor work on an optical microscope in a classroom.

Laser focused

Physics professor Ashley Cannaday ’11 partnered with Samuel Hanna ’21 and James Hoelle ’21 through Rollins’ Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Program to build a customizable angular scattering microscope using off-the-shelf optical components. Their novel technique, which allows them to measure the light scattering from a single cell at a time, could contribute to earlier detection of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s.

College students conduct a physics experiment in Bush Science Center at Rollins College.

Physics for future presidents

Students in physics professor Whitney Coyle’s Physics for Future Presidents course jumped at the chance to learn the science behind the headlines. The aim of this Rollins College Conference (RCC) course is to equip first-year students with the knowledge to interpret and question what they read and hear in the news every day.

College student observes a young child constructing a tower from building blocks.

All-ages education

At Rollins’ on-campus Child Development and Research Center, Janae Noah ’20 observes a preschooler’s social-emotional development, fine motor skills, and other progressive behaviors as part of her Developmental Psychology lab.

Student in scrubs with an owl perched on her arm.

Working on the wild side

Marine biology major Caroline Rosendahl ’19 spent the spring semester interning at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey, where she tended to injured eagles, owls, and hawks in hopes of rehabilitating them to return to the wild.

Professor and student dressed as characters from Back to the Future.

The Fantastic Dr. Fuse

Physics professor Chris Fuse knew he wanted to be a scientist after falling in love with Back to the Future as a kid. Now he uses his passion for the fantastical to inspire his students.

Professor and students pour dry ice in a container at a lab.

The sure-handed scientist

Rollins soccer player Julian Grundler ’18 was one of just 58 fall-sports athletes across all NCAA divisions to earn an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, a prestigious award given to student-athletes who excel in both academics and athletics. The chemistry major from Singen, Germany, is using the $7,500 scholarship to pursue his PhD at Yale University.

Two female students hold a trophy after winning a debate competition.

The Great Debate

Whitney Elliott ’21 and Sunny Toreihi ’20 bested two other all-female teams from Jamaica and China, debating the resolution, This House Would Respond to the #MeToo Movement, during Rollins’ 2018 Great Debate.

Students work on a project around an outdoor table.

Ethical fashion

Students in Raja Singaram’s community engagement course Systems & Design Thinking for Social Change helped local social enterprise deux mains secure ethical certifications for its sustainable fashion line.

A game-day media operations interns stands in the middle of the field at Orlando City Soccer Stadium.

He’s got game

Business management major William Reis ’19 interned with Orlando City Soccer, assisting the communications department in all aspects of game-day media operations.

Excited college students celebrate a day off classes.

The perfect day

Fox Day was once again the best day of the year. Arguably the College’s most beloved tradition—and with good reason—Fox Day occurs each spring on a random day the president deems “too pretty to have class.” Students celebrate in a number of ways, from lawn games on The Green to trips to theme parks and nearby beaches.

Four female college students paddle board on a Florida lake.

Adjacent adventure

Thanks to Rollins’ lakeside location, students are always a stone’s throw from a multitude of aquatic adventures. Navigate the Winter Park Chain of Lakes by paddle board, earn credit for learning to sail, or soak up the sun while studying on our white-sand beach.

A group of students brainstorm at a white board.

A winning idea

Four Rollins social entrepreneurship students—Nikki Hall-Elser ’18, Matias Meirelles Van Vliet ’19, Dayra Diaz-Marquez ’18, and Kinsley Gerks ’20—won the regional competition of the Hult Prize, the world’s most prestigious collegiate competition for social innovation startups.

An art professor shows two students how to use a vintage printing press.

Craft commune

Rachel Simmons ’97’s printmaking studio in the Cornell Fine Arts Center feels like the physical manifestation of her collaborative approach to art and teaching.

Archaeology students excavate a 5,000-year-old Native American site.

Unearthing a mystery

Students in anthropology professor Zack Gilmore’s Archaeological Field School course excavate an ancient mystery from a swamp just 20 miles east of campus. During the four-week Intersession course, students partnered with the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research to investigate 5,000-year-old Native American sites.

A social media intern takes photos on her phone at a performing arts center.

Playful promotion

Communications major Emma Webb ’18 worked as a social media intern for the Orlando Ballet, attending all the performances, shooting original photo and video content, interviewing performers, and working behind the scenes on daily promotions.

A student and a professor do math equations on a glass board.

Calculating impact

Double major in math and computer science Arden Baxter ’18 always liked solving equations, but it wasn’t until coming to Rollins that she really understood the power in numbers.

Students on a safari jeep in the middle of Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

Grow abroad

From semester and summer programs to faculty-led field studies, Rollins offers more than 90 study-abroad programs throughout the year, and more than 75 percent of Rollins students study abroad. It’s little surprise then that Rollins was ranked among the top 10 master’s-granting institutions in the nation for the percentage of undergraduate students who study abroad.

A college professor and student interview two women as part of a research project on immigration.

Research that empowers

As part of the Student-Faculty Collaborative Scholarship Program, Mary Vickers ’20 and anthropology professor Nolan Kline listen intently to stories of struggle from immigrants at the Hope CommUnity Center, just 40 minutes from campus.

Sunny day in Florida, green grass and big oak trees overhead, students walk along a shaded path in front of the Rollins Olin Library.

A brilliant future

In May, the newest crop of Rollins graduates walked across the commencement stage in the Alfond Sports Center prepared to forge productive careers and empowered to lead meaningful lives.

What a Year at College Looks Like: A Rollins Year in 33 Photos