The students, staff and bosses
It exposed me to a level of diversity I had never encountered. International students from Turkey, Pakistan, Spain, Norway, Brazil, Sweden, India, Germany, Mexico, Panama; but sometimes it was the other American kids from exotic places (like Ohio, Nashville, Alaska, Florida, Virginia, Utah) who challenged my reality, and made me reevaluate my own choices, standards and opinions! I went there to get away from New York, and Eckerd fit the bill in showing me the rest of the world.
We complained about it all the time, but one of the most useful things I took away from my Eckerd education was working in groups. Being forced to break a project down to parts, distribute the assignments, and bring it all back together in the end is most closely aligned with the real world of working. We learned to be supportive and critical of teammates.