COLLEGE LEADERSHIP RHODE ISLAND

Rhode Island's Roots

Like the Core Program, the College Leadership program begins with an orientation and a first session dedicated to state history and culture.

At the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, students get an introduction to the numerous cultures and the economic factors of the state’s history which helped shape Rhode Island as we know it today.  In 2005, in addition to viewing the museum’s resources, students heard about aspects of the state’s cultural history from two Core Program alumni, a Native American woman and a Brazilian who immigrated to the US as a child.

The sharing of personal histories is an important practice both for understanding diversity, and for bonding among classmates.  In both 2004 and 2005, the students engaged in a group exercise of sharing personal artifacts representative of their families’ ancestries.  Finally, in 2005 the students heard from former Governor Bruce Sundlun, now a history professor at the University of Rhode Island.

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