Patriot Experience

The Patriot Experience is Mason’s co-curricular program dedicated to helping students find their areas of interest outside the classroom. Four pathways are designed to provide a structured way for students to get involved in the area they are passionate about, develop crucial soft skills along the way, and take advantage of the events, programs, and organizations Mason has to offer!  Most of the sustainability-related experiences are part of the Civic Learning and Community Engagement pathway. 

  1. Career Readiness
  2. Civic Learning and Community Engagement
  3. Global and Multicultural Competency
  4. Well-Being

Career Readiness

Participants who choose to continue to Level 2 and 3 in the Career Readiness pathway have opportunities to develop the following 8 career readiness skills valued by employers:

  • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
  • Oral/Written Communication
  • Information Technology Application
  • Leadership
  • Professionalism/Work Ethic
  • Career Management
  • Global/Intercultural Fluency

Civic Learning and Community Engagement (CLCE)

Patriot Experience participants in the CLCE pathway will learn how to innovative and active community members. Mason students engage with the world, honor freedom of thought and expression, and thrive together. Students who choose this pathway for levels 2 and 3 will learn to:

  • Identify core personal values and base actions on those values
  • Apply ethical knowledge and learning with democratic ideals and principles to make positive changes locally and beyond
  • Demonstrate knowledge, awareness, and understanding of important world issues
  • Apply academic and disciplinary knowledge and personal experience to promoting social change
  • Build a just society and be better equipped to make meaningful social change

Global and Multicultural Competency

Students who choose the GMC pathway for levels 2 and 3 will have the opportunity to understand the ways in which they perceive, evaluate, believe, and solve problems, based on their own self-awareness and attained cultural knowledge. They will conscientiously negotiate diversity among individuals of various cultures and ethnicities, within individual cultures and subcultures, by becoming aware of one’s own and others’ perspectives. Students participating in this pathway will be able to:

  • Articulate awareness and knowledge of others
  • Articulate an awareness of the roots and impact of system-based power and privilege
  • Demonstrate sensitivity toward others
  • Understand the impact their behavior has globally
  • Serve as an effective ally and advocate people of other identities than their own

Well-Being

Participants who choose the Well Being pathway for Levels 2 and 3 of the program will have opportunities to build skills by exploring various aspects of their well-being, such as:

  • Explore physical well-being practices
  • Practice behaviors that contribute to the health and safety of themselves and/or others
  • Bolster financial literacy and successfully manage their financial lives
  • Engage in positive coping mechanisms
  • Understand, integrate, and model mindful awareness and resilience
  • Engage in healthy relationship practices to develop positive and meaningful relationships