“The Green and Gold initiative was something I never would've imagined getting involved with but somehow, I did. Throughout the course I learned an incredible deal of ways to look at the world. These classes are not for the purpose of answering questions, but rather learning how to ask questions and view the world under a more thoughtful scope then our day to day may provide.”

— Adam Carlson

"Spending a semester reading poetry and pondering some of the deeper meanings in life such as truth, beauty, and love with Professor Beachy-Quick was a very awakening experience for me. I say with full confidence that I was moved on a deep philosophical level by the types of conversations and work we did together in that class, so much so that I often wish I could go back and relive that experience again."

— Dylan Miller

“…I was very moved by the way poetry can teach us beautiful lessons in life. I was opened up to intellectual discussions and a comfortable space for sharing ideas in class. I feel as though this class motivated me to become a better learner and has shown me how impactful truth and beauty are to our everyday lives.”

— Emily Leiker

“This new branch of philosophy classes in the Green and Gold curriculum have been the most beneficial learning experiences of my life. It has deteriorated my concrete perception of the world and has thrown me into a new mode of existence that insists on treating all life equally. It has taught me to love myself and to love this world; it has given me the power to pursue my dreams."

— Evan Borman

"I have learned that the purpose of life is to experience it, to experience the absurdity that is the present moment and to make the most of THIS LIFE. We must not anticipate what awaits after death but to make the most of the cards dealt and to play the game. "Life is a dance, and when you are dancing, you are not intent on getting somewhere. The meaning and purpose of dancing is the dance,"

— Allan Watts

"Even though I had already gotten the necessary credit, from my first class with Dan, I took another because the wisdom shared is something so powerful and life changing. I feel that all students and all human beings should have access to this knowledge because I truly believe that our world would be a better place. Living in such a strange time period where we are the first generation to experience the gravity of the internet and cellphones; I feel that the study and discussion of literature and philosophy will make people feel less alone and more open to loving one another and loving oneself.”

“Thinking about Encounter and the work we have been doing in this class has changed my life. I went into this semester broken. I was fully planning on dropping out and didn’t think I would make it past the 3-week mark. I have felt so bored and tired and directionless in my academic pursuits for the past couple of years; burnout is the closest I can come to describing my position. I think the most significant thing I have gained from considering Encounter is confidence in my autonomy.

Our time with encounter has taught me how to be sympathetic to the universe and the land. It has confirmed to me that non-human intelligence is as real and as valid as human intelligence. At first I felt immense grief for the ignorance of man - the world tries to communicate with us and we silence and destroy it. This isn’t entirely true, however. We may try to silence the messages from the cosmos, but we are not that strong. We can only ignore them at best.

This has done so much in changing my outlook on chance and intention. We will be presented with limitless opportunity every day that we live, and we have the ability to meet and accept it, or to ignore and refute it. I can choose to mourn my life and my world as I understand it, or I could choose to encounter and relate and learn. I cannot fathom a life in which I decide that the first option is more fulfilling. I cannot justify choosing ignorance over experience. I cannot grow in isolation from the world as it reveals itself to me. So for now, I will just be grateful that something has shown me there is another way.

These texts and discussions inspire me to bring myself to truthfully consider my thinking and practices, and to revisit and revise them in ways I forgot that I could. I am trying to encounter the world around me with a fresh heart and a fresh mind and it is such a relief. This class has provided me with the terminology to explain what I so love about [the world] - it describes the radical contingency of our lives in such a subtle but determinate way. It becomes a window to the inevitable connections that ultimately define our being.”

— Evelyn Kliebenstein

“It is deeply affecting my sense of all these things, we question the deepest human values and this is truly a human world so it is relatable to just about any subject matter. It affects my education because I am becoming more mentally and emotionally resilient with a better understanding of happiness.”

“This course has helped me learn how to cherish the gifts that life provides and to know when to live in the moment. It helps me acknowledge how I can improve myself to become my best self. It truly changes my thinking and how to take care of my well-being while still comprehending happiness and how it is produced. This helps many areas in my life such as stress and anxiety, I will most definitely be using the practices I’ve learned so far!”

“This course has shown me that a liberal arts education is core to defining who we are in the future and how we think about the world. My world has both grown and shrunk, grown in that I can hear opinions of others and can read literature from around the world, and shrunk to see that human experience is not much different from person to person.”

“This course has acted as a very unique way of learning. Throughout the class I have been thinking about Truth and Beauty every single time I hear the words it makes me think. As well as I look at things as arbitrary as the blue paint on a wall or a blackboard and I see the beauty in these items that once may have just seemed standard and not worth a second thought but now I see it. As I go through my other classes it also makes me ask the questions of why am I taking this course even though it may not directly apply to my major I still am now seeing significance in these courses that may have otherwise been insignificant.”

“This course is incredibly unique in that I feel I keep thinking of what we were learning about even after I've left the class. It leaves me with important questions that I continue to ponder over, and it has given me a new perspective on the world we live in, and has had a positive impact on my own personal life, and myself.”

“This course has completely changed not only my way of thinking but the way I think of thinking. Dan has by far been the best professor/teacher I have ever had in all of my years of learning. He has challenged the way I look at such simple things that aren't so simple. The world and the way society has made things out to be defined is so much deeper and more meaningful than I ever thought possible. He has created a safe environment to speak vulnerably about such powerful topics.”

“This course has acted as a very unique way of learning. Throughout the class I have been thinking about Truth and Beauty every single time I hear the words it makes me think. As well as I look at things as arbitrary as the blue paint on a wall or a blackboard and I see the beauty in these items that once may have just seemed standard and not worth a second thought but now I see it. As I go through my other classes it also makes me ask the questions of why am I taking this course even though it may not directly apply to my major I still am now seeing significance in these courses that may have otherwise been insignificant.”

“This course is incredibly unique in that I feel I keep thinking of what we were learning about even after I've left the class. It leaves me with important questions that I continue to ponder over, and it has given me a new perspective on the world we live in, and has had a positive impact on my own personal life, and myself.”

“This course has completely changed not only my way of thinking but the way I think of thinking. It has challenged the way I look at such simple things that aren't so simple. The world and the way society has made things out to be defined is so much deeper and more meaningful than I ever thought possible. He has created a safe environment to speak vulnerably about such powerful topics.”