Unity College will host its annual Fall Open House on Saturday, Oct. 24, for high school students interested in joining a new generation of environmental leaders.

Prospective students can engage in such Unity College course activities such as animal training, chemistry labs, squirrel radio telemetry, and bear capture demonstrations.

Other activities will include welcome speeches and announcements, campus tours, a community fair, financial aid and student life information sessions, and lunch, along with a student club showcase. Student clubs at Unity College include everything from ultimate Frisbee and photography to primitive skills and woodsmen’s team.

As demand for green jobs continues to blossom across the United States and internationally, Unity College is blazing a new path for higher education: the first college in the nation to adopt sustainability science – the leading-edge for 21st century environmental problem solving – as a framework for learning.

The opening of applications for the 2016-17 academic year comes amid record enrollment at Unity. The 244 members of the Class of 2019 make it the largest incoming class in college history, with the average high school GPA of 3.33 up from 3.21 in the prior freshman class and the average SAT composite of 1520 up from 1503.

Applications for admission to Unity College are at an all-time high, increasing 138% since 2012. There were 477 applications in 2012, 536 in 2013, 855 in 2014, and 1,133 in 2015. The 2015-16 year is the first time in its history Unity College has enrolled more than 650 students.

“The best way to really get a sense of the unique place that is Unity College is to visit our campus, talk to the people here, and see why Unity is considered America’s Environmental College,” said Unity College Director of Admissions Joe Saltalamachia.

Registration is suggested by following this link; families are welcome.

Other information includes the event schedule, local accommodations, and directions to Unity College.

Recent accolades

• US News & World Report ranks Unity College No. 9 on its national “Best Value Colleges” among regional schools, No. 22 for veterans among regional colleges and No. 28 on its national “Best Regional Colleges” list.
• Unity College earned a national Colleges of Distinction designation in 2014–15 by “expanding innovative opportunities to earn college credit by participating in service learning, learning communities, internships, and other new educational paradigms,” according to the group Colleges of Distinction.
• Using data from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, Unity College was lauded as one of the 32 “greenest universities” in the U.S. for achieving “the greatest level of success with green initiatives on-campus and within in its surrounding community.”
• Washington Monthly ranked Unity College in the Top 20 U.S. baccalaureate colleges, recognizing schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country).
• Sierra, the magazine of national environmental organization Sierra Club, named Unity one of its Top 100 “Cool Schools.”