Work Colleges throughout the U.S. are ones where students are directly involved in campus operations, having on- or off-campus jobs to help pay for their education. The College of the Ozarks (MO) is one such institution, where one job students have – that kept them particularly busy this past holiday season – is making and distributing world-famous fruitcakes through direct mail order and at campus shops.
“A work college since its inception in 1906, College of the Ozarks® Work Education Program provides over 130 unique work stations where students earn their education,” according to their website. “Students do everything from mowing the grass to overseeing the campus fire station, and they produce some of the most delectable treats around.”
Campus workstations include agricultural jobs, academic departments, construction, working in the Keeter Center hotel, the library, career services, information technology, physical education/athletics, the print shop, making products to sell, working with the School of the Ozarks High School and Lower School, and much more. A listing is available here.
Work colleges are where “all resident students participate in a comprehensive-work-learning service program for all four years of enrollment,” according to the Work Colleges Consortium. Besides College of the Ozarks, members of the Consortium include Alice Lloyd College, Berea College, Blackburn College, Kuyper College, Paul Quinn College, Sterling College and Warren Wilson College.
Learn more about Work Colleges here and about College of the Ozarks’ fruitcake operation here.
