Free School Celebrates 25 Years of Building Community at Southwestern University

News

Free School Celebrates 25 Years of Building Community at Southwestern University

With the fall semester underway, Southwestern University’s classrooms are once again buzzing with activity. Students line the hallways between classes, reconnecting with old friends and making connections with new ones. The air is filled with the sounds of thoughtful discussions and new discoveries.

Even though Southwestern’s campus is devoid of students over the summer months, many of these same sounds and scenes could be found in locations across campus. Each summer for the past 25 years, Southwestern faculty and staff have spent time becoming students themselves, filling classrooms to learn new skills, embrace new hobbies, and build new connections through a program called Free School.

Founded by Professor Emeritus of Art Patrick Veerkamp in the summer of 2000, Free School recently celebrated a quarter century of providing faculty and staff with the opportunity to practice lifelong learning while strengthening bonds among coworkers.

Library Access Service Manager Jean Whewell shows off her succulent during the 2023 Planting Positivity class.“I participated in Planting Positivity and Pickleball for All in 2023 and 2024,” Library Access Service Manager Jean Whewell said. “My plant died, and I am terrible at pickleball, but it was a great opportunity to spend time with other staff in departments that I don’t interact with very often. I feel the connections we make are the real rewards of the classes.”

Faculty, staff, retirees, alumni, and even current students volunteer their time and talents to teach courses to their colleagues, creating an avenue to share unique skills and hobbies with the Southwestern community. There are no exams, grades, or registration fees at Free School, just learning and friendship building.

“Through Free School, I get to meet and interact with colleagues with whom I never cross paths otherwise,” Professional Academic Advisor Jenny Terry Roberts ’95 said. “We can learn more about SU, ourselves, and each other by engaging our minds and bodies. It gives us a chance to see the gifts people have beyond their official roles on campus. Through it, I’ve had a chance to try new hobbies in a safe, welcoming setting. Besides learning and growing personally and professionally, I feel closer to my SU community and love the positivity Free School brings to our hot summers.”

Free School was initially born out of Veerkamp’s desire to share his talents with his curious coworkers. Serving primarily as a ceramics professor during his 32-year tenure at Southwestern, Veerkamp oversaw the University’s kiln and studio arts space. Through the routine maintenance of his equipment and the Studio Arts Building’s close proximity to the Physical Plant, Veerkamp became friends with many of his colleagues in facilities management.

“They were always saying to me, ‘gosh, I would like to take your class,’” Veerkamp said. “I would tell them that the University allows them to take classes for free but their response was always that they never had the time. I started thinking about how I could solve this problem, then I set out to do everything that I could to make my class totally accessible to any staff member.”

Veerkamp built a special non-credit version of his ceramics class just for fellow faculty and staff. The class began at the very end of the work day and included free childcare, providing the necessary flexibility for his colleagues to attend. All materials, supplies, and textbooks were provided to his students free of charge.

“In my mind, the class was for community building,” Veerkamp said. “One of [the University’s] primary goals was to build up our diverse community. Combining that with the goals, objectives, and mission of Southwestern University to encourage lifelong learning is what we do best. If we want to build a community, let’s get together and continue learning.”

HVAC and Commercial Kitchen Technician Ken Nofsinger taught Home HVAC in 2017, sharing how home air and heating systems operate.Before launching his class, Veerkamp sent an email to the SU faculty to explain his concept and invite others to attend. Before he knew it, six other members of the faculty had volunteered their time and talents. In addition to Veerkamp’s ceramics course, the first year of Free School featured classes on knitting, fabric dyeing, writing, and even a course titled Introduction to Computers.

“I knew that if I started this, it wasn’t going to be just a one-time thing,” Veerkamp said. “Luckily, a lot of the faculty were involved in it. I knew I needed to get some University support because the first year was just my own idea. The second year, the University put some money behind it. [Dean of the Faculty] Jim Hunt was 100% behind the idea and [University President] Jake Schrum supported it completely. They gave us a small budget and it just kind of evolved naturally from there.”

Free School initially began as a way for Southwestern faculty to share the courses they taught during the academic semesters with their colleagues. Over time, the program expanded to allow members of the entire campus community to share their talents, skills, and hobbies.

“The classes were initially taught mostly by faculty,” Veerkamp said. “As the program developed, I thought the staff and even students should be teaching classes because there was so much knowledge among those groups. How do you repair a small engine? How do you knit? It evolved into something that incorporated everybody in the University community to teach classes.”

From pickling to pickleball, Free School has seen nearly 250 courses taught about countless topics over the last 25 years. Students have learned everything from how to raise backyard chickens and how to juggle, to how to write a will and how to make ice cream. Courses have covered American Sign Language and Native American arts and crafts, loom weaving and tile making, the life and times of Bob Dylan and the history of opera.

Faculty and staff experienced beekeeping up close and personal during Beekeeping 101: Hands on the Hives in 2024, taught by Environmental Studies major Layla Hoffen ’26.“You don’t have to be an expert to teach,” Veerkamp said. “If you have enthusiasm about something you love, share it.”

Head of Distinctive Collections and Archives Megan Firestone has participated in Free School both as a student and as an instructor since she joined the SU staff in 2019. She has shared a variety of her unique skills, teaching courses on Cricut, embroidery, and laser engraving, and even hosting a historic walking tour.

“What I love about Free School is that we have this opportunity to learn new topics and meet other people who work at SU,” she said. “It’s a great community builder.”

Several students have volunteered to teach classes. Most recently, Environmental Studies major Layla Hoffen ’26 taught Beekeeping 101: Hands on the Hives in 2024. Students in the course experienced beekeeping up close and personal at Southwestern’s EcoLab.

“As a current student, it’s rare that I get to interact with staff that work behind the scenes to keep campus running,” Hoffen said. “I loved getting the opportunity to share my passion with those who I normally would not have ever met, and I now have an even bigger circle of folks with hopefully a piqued interest in the beautiful and nuanced world of invertebrates.”

The 25th anniversary session of Free School included courses on 3D printing, graphic design, linoleum printmaking, pickleball, and much more. Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth opened her home to teach students how to make Spätzle, a classic German pasta dish. Veerkamp even returned to Southwestern to teach Reflective Drawing,where his students created a personal sketchbook or journal. In total, 102 students participated in 34 classes taught by 15 instructors in 2025.

“I think it is just terrific. It warms my heart,” Veerkamp said. “Free School has evolved in wonderful ways over the last 25 years. It is so great that there are people still enthusiastic about it and are appreciative and understanding of the concept of mixing us all up together in a classroom to get to know each other personally. I’m very proud of it.”

Professor Emeritus of Art Patrick Veerkamp returned to Southwestern to teach Reflective Drawing this summer, 25 years after he launched Free School.In 2008, Veerkamp solicited the assistance of the Staff Affairs Council, now the Staff Steering Committee, to help oversee Free School. The Staff Steering Committee hosts a Free School Volunteer Team, who organizes the program each year. The Volunteer Team solicits class proposals, organizes the course catalog, provides supplies, and empowers instructors. Free School is completely donation based with an annual budget of $500 provided from the Staff Support Fund.

“We are an institution of higher learning, but we also want to grow lifelong learners,” Director of Stewardship and Volunteer Team member Eileen Roybal said. “What better way to do that than to encourage your staff to become lifelong learners? Celebrating 25 years is a testament to what Patrick started and the idea of bringing people together. I think it’s just going to get stronger.”

As the new semester begins, Southwestern faculty and staff are returning to their regular duties, equipped with new knowledge and skills, and even stronger bonds with their colleagues.

“It’s a valuable thing, to see and understand that this is a community,” Veerkamp said. “We care about each other. We do things for each other. That’s who we are. That’s the legacy of Southwestern University.”

Related Content

Related:

• The Princeton Review Recognizes Southwestern University as One of the Nation’s Best Colleges for 2026
• Annual Mundy Awards Honor Faculty and Staff Dedication to Southwestern
• Video: Bee-hind the Creation of Southwestern’s BEE-Co