Most colleges say they do experiential learning. Alex Hernandez can tell you exactly what separates the ones that mean it.

Alex is president of Champlain College, a small career-focused school in Burlington, Vermont, where students start taking classes in their major on day one — not junior year. The model is built on a simple premise: experience is part of the education, not a bonus you might get around to.

Alex Hernandez has spent his career thinking about how education creates opportunity. His father was a farm worker; his first job was on Wall Street. For 20-plus years, he's been working on what it takes to make that kind of leap accessible to more students. He came to Champlain because it was doing that — deliberately, not by accident.

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