Food, Fun, and Fellowship

Vol 3 No 8

You're invited!

What:  Dinner!

Who:  All students, particularly Honors Students

When:  Tuesday, October 30 from 5:00 - 7:00

Where:  Stage 14

On one hand, there are always jokes (or not jokes) made about how if you serve food, students will come.  Students LOVE free food.  Well, here's a secret:  that's also true for faculty and staff.  And honestly, it's an appealing prospect for students - I remember being a student and anytime I could save money, I was all for it.

That aside, however, the bi-annual Honors Studies dinner is so much more than 'just' free food.  It's also free T-shirts and free giveaways.

No, wait...

I meant, it is, but it's also something more than even that...

We open the evening with a few remarks from faculty and staff of the college who support Honors.  After that, we hand the microphone over to students and spend the evening sharing thoughts, questions, and stories about Honors.  Students talk about how they found Honors, why they love Honors, what they've gained from Honors, and what they are looking forward to as they continue their Honors experience.

It's about fellowship and taking a break from the countless calls on your time and energy at this point in the semester.  It's a time for sharing laughter and food and perhaps a tear or two.  Maybe a hug.  You can talk or you can just listen.  But, at its simplest, it's a time to just hang out and relax.

Come join us.

Gender, Self, and Respect

Vol 3 No 7

I borrowed this blog from a Facebook post and changed nothing about it except to write this intro.  This is not a post that is directly related to Honors Studies, but it conveys a message that I think many Honors students can relate to.  This is a manifesto of someone who doesn’t fit into what society has decided is a mold and has had enough.  They are speaking up and becoming a voice for what they believe in and, more importantly, for who they are.  In Honors, and beyond, the people are dedicated to supporting students as individuals who are looking for a place to fit in.  Who may be looking for home.  There is adamancy in this post.  There is anger.  There is a determination that many of you will recognize.  There is also bravery…and I encourage all of you to hear the voice, and then to share your own voice, tell your own story, stand up for what you believe in and who you are.  And, when you’re ready, turn to the person next to you and do the same for them.

The author of this blog is April Broughton, Honors Studies librarian and adjunct faculty member, and one of the amazing library staff here at FLCC.  They fully embrace the message of Honors and many of you will know how dedicated they are to bettering the lives of students.  They carry a special torch for Honors and I think many of you will see why…

***

This post brought to you by current political and social discourse and some stunningly callous, cruel, and inhumane comments read online.

My pronoun is ‘they’. Simple as that. I am not going to force you to use my preferred pronoun, I am not going to enforce compliance to my preferences. I simply expect you to respect me as a person enough to respect that preference and to act on it as best as you can. To not argue the invalidity of my preference, as to do so would suggest such a deep lack of regard for myself as a person that perhaps it would be best if you moved along.

Most importantly, your opinion does not invalidate my existence. Your denials flung in the name of grammar, of religion, do not invalidate my existence.

Grammar is a weak shield to offer. It is an avoidance of the fact that language is a living thing, and needs to be. I say this as an academic, a librarian, and an author. We need words to describe the world around us, to describe us. We sit in our meatspace, engage in slacktivism, and fuss about our First World Problems. Language has to be able to shift. And you do not get to pick the shifts you approve of while denying others. That aside, if your argument against using ‘they’ to refer to an individual of undefined or undesignated gender is a grammatical one, you have no ground to stand on. Yes, the use for it in regards to nonbinary individuals is more recent, but it has evolved from precedent where it has been used as an identifier for individuals where the gender is unknown or not important. Which seems to fit rather perfectly within the modern nonbinary usage. Merriam-Webster has an excellent brief discussion that can be read here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/wor…/singular-nonbinary-they

Religion is a weak shield to offer. We do not live in a theocracy, despite attempts to the contrary. I am free to practice my beliefs and not impose them upon you. I kindly ask the same respect from you. Refusing that request puts you as the aggressor and not as the self-righteous element you try to present as. My identity has no effect on your religion as I am not a part of it. Your choosing to be impacted by me is simply that, a choice. And it does not bear the weight you would like it to.

I repeat, your opinion does not invalidate my existence, does not invalidate me.

My personal identity, my ‘me’, consists of what makes me a person. What makes -me- a person. Not the bits you have decided should make up a person. The bits of my identity, the things I identify and hold dear. Only I am responsible for my self, my actions. You see the me that is specified by my attributes. You see my social roles, my habits, capacities, my skills. You may even be inclined to push an identity onto me, seeing my base biological attribute of girl-ness, and determining how I should fit in socially and culturally. You don’t take into account my identity, my inner coherence relating to emotional and cognitive states, the way I experience a sense of continuity of the self. Identity in the sense of a continual creation and integration, of self-consciousness and awareness. The me of self-determination. The me that you ignore in your drive to push an identity upon me, one that fits your narrative. I am responsible for my own narrative self. That self persists and exists despite your perceptions and opinion.

***

Let's say it again...

...your opinion does not 

invalidate my existence...

It's NOT Just a Comic Book!

Vol 3 No 6

Today!  Go to ComicCon and earn a point of Honors!  All you have to do is go and experience as much of ComicCon as you can, then write a 500 word reflective journal, then write a reflective essay at the end of the semester that draws from all the Honors events (or other learning experiences you have). 

For the journal, you just need to reflect on the experience you had.  You can look into and explore questions like these...

• · I am/was most excited to learn… I am/was most anxious about… 
• · The thing I am most curious or confused about is… 
• · My ideas about this event come from/are informed by… 
• · I hope to connect this to my academic/professional/personal life through… 
• · I’m interested in this topic because I want to find out… 
• · Probably the most compelling/disturbing/lingering question raised by this topic is…. 
• · Overall, the most meaningful/surprising thing I learned from this was… 
• · Identify and reflect on specific moments in which something significant occurred (a realization, an obstacle overcome, a setback encountered, etc.). 
• · What prior skills and experiences did you bring to the course/event which either helped or hindered your learning process or your participation? 
• · How did your initial preconceptions and expectations of the course or topic compare with what actually happened or what you learned? 
• · Describe your feelings and emotions about aspects of the course or event. When/about what did you feel most comfortable? Most uncomfortable? Why?

As you can see, these questions are designed to get you thinking about the event as a learning experience and as something that is worth exploring on a deeper level.  It also firmly places YOU in the event.  It challenges you to think a little bit about who you are and how you interact with the world around you.  These are the kinds of things that go through the minds of those who are passionate and curious about their learning, the world, and their place in it.

There is so much folded into the world of comics, superheros, and graphic novels that I think you just MIGHT be surprised by the depth and complexity they contain.  Go, explore, and then reflect...

If you want to earn that point of Honors, just contact me at trista.merrill@flcc.edu and I'll let you know what the prompt is for the reflective essay.  In the meantime, go forth and save the world!

For more information about ComicCon specifically - head over here.

Monkeys and Magic

Vol 3 No 5

This is a special blog that invites you to help FLCC Honors Studies by filling out a survey through Survey Monkey.  If you are enrolled in an Honors Studies class or are formally declared as an Honors student, you should have received a link via email.  You may have even received it more than once.  This blog is to shamelessly implore you to take a few minutes to complete it.  It is only 10 questions and it would help us a great deal.  Why?

Well, because Honors Studies is nothing without the students.  That is such a constant in a college environment.  In some ways, education is different than any other sort of business in that everything employees of an institution do is nothing without the students...even if they have nothing directly to do in the process.  We make policies and create programs, we hire folks and let folks go, we encourage and support professional development, we have finances and reports, contracts and unions and the list goes on and on.  But without all of you, we are nothing, really.

So, it is so important that we stop every once in awhile at the very least, to ask you what you think.  That's what this survey is about.  I've spent quite some time make a 63 page Honors Studies User's Guide that has so much information in it.  I've create rubrics and talked to various committees on campus.  I've talked to other colleges.  I've done so much to help make sure that Honors is sustainable and will continue to grow because it has firm roots in the ground. 

Honors is so many things to the students who invest their time and energy into it and it's their stories that add the magic to everything I do.  The user's guide has a picture of an Honors student who is clearly laughing and if you look at our Flickr stream you will see so many students who look passionate and engaged and happy.  This is the magic.  The things I've talked about in other blogs about students feeling at home and welcomed in Honors, even if they also feel challenged and uncomfortable. 

I often collect stories, and we of course read your thoughts in your reflective essays and in your journals.  I gather anecdotes in Facebook messages and in emails, in my office and in the halls, and in Honors events like the dinner (10/30 at 5:00 in Stage 14).  These reminders of what Honors means to the people living in it are so very important.

Without you, there is no magic.

This survey is a different way to learn what you are thinking and to gather important information so we can keep making Honors Studies better for everyone.

If you did not receive the link, please contact me at trista.merrill@flcc.edu or honorsstudies@flcc.edu and we will send you the link.

Thank you!

Horse of a Different Color

Vol 3 No 4

On Friday, I spent the day in Syracuse meeting with other SUNY Honors Directors and Administrators.  Our conversation covered many issues that Honors and Honors students are facing across SUNY.  Attendees came from all over the state - New Paltz, Brockport. Binghamton, Oswego, Albany, Delhi, Ulster, and MCC.  We shared struggles and concerns relating to enrollment, persistence, budgets, faculty and staff support, transfer, and completion.  I learned, or rather had reinforced, that many Honors students at numerous schools of differing degrees and demographics face many of the same issues.

One thing that came out of the meeting that may be of specific interest to some of you is that I have a meeting coming up in a few weeks with MCC and Brockport so we can talk about how us two-years and that specific four year can work together to help our students.  Not just with transfer, but also with developing intellectual scholarship and networking opportunities for Honors students regardless of what college they are attending or will attend.

Also in the realm of tangible items accomplished, I also developed a survey that will be going out to all current Honors-declared students as well as all students enrolled in an Honors course this semester.  You’ll see a variety of questions about your perceptions of Honors and the time you spend in the classes and your plans for the future.  I will use this information to help ensure that Honors at FLCC is serving its specific group of students.  And that leads me to the things I gathered that are less tangible, per se.

Similarities.  Shared experiences.

One thing that comes home to roost every time I talk with other Honors directors is that Honors must always work to serve the population of the college in which it is housed.  Every institution is so different from every other one that part of what I love about gatherings like this is that it forces me to rethink what we are doing and why.   We are so different from other Honors “programs” (first and foremost – we are not a program), and while that once made me feel self-conscious or that we were “doing it wrong”, that has since changed.  Now, I feel more and more strongly that Honors here is the way it is because of who are students are.

I also wrote an email to learn how I might hold workshops for our faculty so that we can have more Honors offerings taught by new Honors faculty.  New seminars and new discipline courses is an important part of the future of Honors at FLCC.  I think there’s at least a handful of faculty out there who want to teach Honors, but aren’t really sure how or even if they can within their disciplines.  (Yes, they can – we just need to work out HOW).

I don’t want to suggest that all the SUNY colleges have Honors that have nothing in common with one another, they absolutely do.  Especially in philosophy.  All Honors are built on developing interdisciplinary, reflective, lifelong learners.  It’s just the paths to get there can change.  Some welcome transfer students, some don’t.  Some require community service, and some do not.  Some are Honors Colleges within a larger university, some are programs that you need to apply for.  Some classes have Honors students sharing seats with non-Honors students.  Some require Honors theses, some have capstone projects.   They require anywhere from 9 to 26 credits of Honors and all have GPA requirements – though they range, too.

All struggle with funding and having the money they need to do things.  All feel understaffed and overworked.  All have some level of flexibility to work with students in different situations, particularly the community colleges.  All want to have stronger ties with their alumni and want to find more and more ways to fund initiatives that will help their students do more and achieve more.

But one thing was abundantly clear.

Every single one of the people there wants to find better ways to help their Honors students become everything they are capable of becoming and I am no different.

Like horses of different colors, we are the same in so many different ways.  Or different in so many of the same ways.