RU freshmen get opportunity to live the farm life

More than 20 students from Radford University gleaned more than turnips when they visited a local working farm earlier this semester.

The Sept. 28 trip to Windy Hills Farm in Riner was part of the CORE Connections, a freshman learning community that blends two courses:  CORE 201 - Topics in Critical Inquiry and UNIV 100 - Introduction to Higher Education. Combining the use of a common reader with out of class events, CORE Connections allows new freshmen to meet in an intimate academic setting.

This year, students were assigned “See You in a Hundred Years” by writer Logan Ward. The book chronicles Ward’s experiment living off the land in the Shenandoah Valley in a manner similar to residents at the turn of the 20^th century. CORE Connections students got a taste of Ward’s experience in their trip to the farm.

The purpose of the trip was to glean vegetables for the Society of St. Andrew, an organization that connects farmers and volunteers with charitable feeding organization. Gleaning is the practice of retrieving produce from fields that have already been commercially harvested.

The RU students were able to glean more than 3500 pounds of turnips that will directly benefit the hungry in the region.

CORE Connections is run by Radford’s Office of New Student Programs. To qualify, new freshmen must have Dual Enrollment credit for RU’s CORE 101 and 102 courses.  In most cases, this means that a student has taken ENGL 111 & 112 through a Virginia Community College while in high school.