College Profile:
Wilmington College

Preparing Students to Make a Living, Make and Life and Make a Difference

Nearly 60 years ago Wilmington College students garnered shovels, hammers and bricklayers' tools, and built a dormitory to house the influx of World War II veterans. That residence hall is still in use and, all these years later, WC's commitment to service is greater than ever.

During the 2006-07 academic year, Wilmington students engaged in a whopping 19,005 hours of voluntary service to their community — and ours is a campus with only 1,200 full-time students! That number eclipsed the previous year's record by more than 2,500 hours.

Among its recent projects, the College community has built a Habitat for Humanity house in Wilmington and assisted with clean-up and rebuilding efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, in addition to such activities as tutoring elementary school students, helping clear hiking trails along a local creek bed and serving dinners to the homeless.

Wilmington students come from as far away as Sweden and The Netherlands, but most are from the greater Cincinnati and Dayton areas. The city is located in the middle of southwest Ohio's "Golden Triangle" that connects Columbus with Dayton and Cincinnati. Most students are close enough to home to arrive after a short drive, yet far enough away to enjoy their emerging independence.

As a school founded by Quakers, WC embraces persons from all backgrounds, faiths and philosophies, and promotes campus-wide in its programs and activities such values as integrity, diversity, community, service, peace and social justice, and respect for all persons. The College also values international cultures and facilitates courses in global studies, as well as accommodating long and short-term study-abroad and touring opportunities.

While Wilmington offers such popular majors as education, business administration, biology, criminal justice, sports management, social work and pre-professional, some of its more unique academic areas are the highly acclaimed agriculture/equine studies program and its athletic training/sports medicine program, which is considered among the best in the nation.

Many WC students engage in internships that enhance their academic interests and personal marketability. Some popular internships sites have included Monsanto, WHIO-TV in Dayton, Universal Technology and the Cincinnati Bengals.

Also, more than 40 percent of WC's full-time students engage in intercollegiate athletics. Wilmington is a member of NCAA Division III and the Ohio Athletic Conference, which is considered by many as the premiere D-III affiliation in the nation. Its women's basketball team won the national championship in 2003-04 and individual student athletes have won national titles in wrestling and track & field. In fall 2006, the women's swim team compiled a 3.58 cumulative grade point average representing the second highest among D-III women's teams in the nation.

Division III athletics at a school like Wilmington (21 intercollegiate sports, equestrian team, cheerleading and water polo club sport) give student-athletes an opportunity to pursue their interests in highly competitive sports programs while maintaining an academic and career preparation focus as students.

Team athletics also are a focal point of campus and community pride and enjoyment, as spectator sports attract numerous enthusiastic students, faculty, staff, families and members of the greater area community.

Also popular co-curricular activities for students are the numerous campus organizations at WC that range from fraternities and sororities to faith-based groups, music and drama, publications, student government and service learning.

WC regularly hosts entertainment programs designed especially for college students, as well as those open to the greater community such as its highly acclaimed annual peace symposium and Issues & Artists Series, which has brought to campus unique entertainers, provocative and informative speakers, and entities representing diverse American and international cultures.

Much has changed at Wilmington College since those students gained national fame for building a dormitory in 1948. But a constant throughout the College's 137-year history has been the transforming nature of the Wilmington College Experience.

Students leave WC with the tools to succeed as they engage in careers or further their education in today's rapidly changing world. They also bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from the liberal arts, the embodiment of well-rounded individuals able to think critically and appreciate the role the arts, sciences and humanities play in a fulfilling life. They also realize that service to others is often an important road to self-realization.

Indeed, since 1870, Wilmington College has prepared students to make a living, make a life and make a difference.