Rocky Mountain College

Sunday night, July 13th, we stayed in Billings, MT at a Rodeway Inn. Monday morning we paid a short visit to the campus of Rocky Mountain College, Montana's oldest college and considered one of its finest - also one the many colleges with a connection to the United Church of Christ.

I first became acquainted with RMC - from a distance - when about 20  years ago I researched colleges for a young man, Chris Tracy, who was a member of the Guilford Community Church and was graduating from high school and wondering where to go to college. None of the VT colleges seemed to quite fill the bill for what he was looking for, so I looked into UCC-related colleges and found that RMC was just the sort of college he was looking for - and he went there! His parents were not too happy that he went so far away from home, and as it turned out, both finances and distance led to his dropping out after two years, but I think he enjoyed those two years.

Rocky Mountain College is interesting academically. It has the usual liberal arts curriculum, but it also has very strong programs in, e.g., Aviation (with majors in both Aeronautical Science and Aviation Management), Equestrian Studies (with several sub-majors in this field), and Environmental Studies. There is a strong Music Department and a Peace Institute is also located there. The campus has many very handsome sandstone buildings, quarried from the Rimrock Hills behind the campus - Losekamp Hall is an example:

Losekamp Hall, which houses the Music Department at Rocky Mountain College, Billings, MT

I sometimes wish that I lived in a town with a college like Rocky Mountain College - a small, fine, independent college with a good library, a rich program of concerts and other cultural events, visiting lecturers, opportunities to sit in on courses or attend conferences, and maybe even occasionally be an adjunct professor and offer a course in Biblical Studies. Brattleboro comes pretty close, but it doesn't quite make it in every respect.