Exciting, Entertaining, Empowering Events!

Vol 3 No 18

Hello, Honors Friends!

This week’s (or, rather, last week’s) entry is just a little exciting housekeeping.  I’m very happy to report that we have added some information to the Honors website that might come in handy for those looking to plan ahead for points or just for Honors involvement.  This information will soon be moved to the front page, but for now you can find it here:

https://www.flcc.edu/honors/events.cfm

If you look under Upcoming events, you will see that there are now events listed there!  These are official Honors or Honors sponsored events that you can receive Honors Points for if you are so inclined.  If you are not seeking points at this time or through events, you are still welcome to attend any of them.  I can guarantee you will have an enjoyable time in addition to any learning aspects that are inherent as well.  Just a few added comments…

The Honors dinner this semester will be on April 2.  We are having a taco bar and a very fun giveaway for everyone who attends.  You can also get a T-shirt if you missed the dinner last semester.  Dr. Nye, President of the College, has already told me he is planning to attend, as this the Associate Vice President of Instruction.  I’m sure we will have some other staff and administrators join us as well – not to mention the Honors faculty that always comes to eat with us and talk about courses they have taught and will teach.  It’s a great way to meet Honors faculty and hear about next semester – as well as just making sure that you have a good meal that day!

For the Convocation, I want to encourage all Honors Students to make a poster that visually depicts some element of the learning they are doing this semester – whether it’s an overarching concept or a smallish project, show us what you are working on.  We will fill Stage 14 with posters and then listen to four students who will be selected to share their work with attendees.  This is one of my favorite events and each semester I hold high hopes that we will see many, MANY posters.   To this end, we will host a poster-making session at Study-a-Thon 2019 on April 29^th in the library.  More details on this to come!

Last, but certainly not least, is the Human Library on Laker Day (4/25).   This Honors Sponsored event is hosted by the library and will feature a number of Human Books that you can sit down with to talk about the concept or label they represent.  It’s an amazingly powerful way to explore aspects of the human condition that you may not otherwise have the option to explore in such a personal way.  You can get more information on that onehere.

I cannot stress enough how amazing this event is.  In a world that constantly seems to try to pull us apart, this is a way to bring us back together again.  Through open and honest conversation, we can come to better understand people that are different than us and that are often misunderstood, judged, marginalized, or silenced.  The casual space and the welcoming environment makes this an amazing experience for all involved.

There will be other events added soon and I hope that you find things of interest for you there.  You are welcome to attend all of them and you are always welcome to bring a friend or two with you.  The more the merrier….after all, this is Honors, so all you have to be is curious.

Fingers, Chocolates, and Home

Vol 3 No 17

In our ongoing series of student voices, this week's blog is brought to us from a current Honors Studies Student. This blog has a special aspect, as well. The author wrote this as a blog for The Finger Literary Magazine, which is published by FLCC students as part of a class - taught by Erin Brewer this semester. You can see the blog - as well as learn more about the magazine - if you head over here. You will see why we wanted to share it here, too, once you have a chance to read it.  So, sit back and enjoy the reflections of Lindsey Noble ('19), Liberal Arts and Sciences: Creative Writing student.

***

Welcome back to my Box of Chocolates!

Today I’d like to discuss the Finger Lakes Community College Honor’s House. Not many people seem to know this part of the college exists and I personally believe that is a crying shame! This place has become something of a second home to me. If I could I would take every single class there. I have created many memories at the Honor’s House and this past week has been quite exciting there for me.

This semester I am taking three classes at the Honor’s House. I am taking American Literature 1865-Present, Literary Magazine Publishing and Harry’s Heroes.

Now the first two probably do not need much explaining, but for contexts sake I’ll let you know what Harry’s Heroes is about. Harry’s Heroes is an Honors class that focuses on young adult novels such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, The Hobbit, A Wrinkle in time etc. For someone who loves young adult novels and plans on becoming an author one day this class is beyond exciting and thoroughly though-provoking. If they ever offer it again – and I pray they do – I highly suggest taking it if you are an FLCC student.

However, I digress. The Honor’s House is a wonderful place. It offers classes that will challenge those of you who would like to be challenged. It is a place of acceptance and growth. Coming from someone with a variety of raging anxiety and panic disorders I hope you will believe me when I say, I have never felt more accepted and confident anywhere else.

This building offers staff who are passionate about what they do and teach. They genuinely want the students to thrive. The Professors encourage free thought and exploration. They are open to all opinions and questions. The feedback they give you is thoughtful, genuine, and is meant to help you grow and believe me you will grow.

Everyday I walk into that building excited for new adventures and experiences. I walk in content in the knowledge that no one will judge me there. I enter knowing that this is the place for the passionate, that this is the home for those that will never be quenched of their thirst for knowledge, for those of us who desire growth. I find great pride in these facts as well as vast comfort in the community of the Honor’s House.

As for my week at the Honor’s House…

I’ve had the great honor of joining a literary community, in helping this community grow and thrive through my work in Literary Magazine Publishing. In this class I’ve had the chance to be a part of a real team and it has been one of the coolest experiences ever thus far.

In American Literature 1865-Present I had the chance to debate with the class over the effectiveness of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman as a piece of psychological realism. I was confident in my opinion, my class heard and understood me. They encouraged my view points while simultaneously challenging them. Every minute of that class I had my perceptions of stories and what it means to write in the realistic mode shattered over and over and over again, until they were inevitably rebuilt on sounder knowledge and stronger convictions.

In Harry’s Heroes I was able to hear the opinions of my classmates as I discussed what I would like to do for my final project. I was granted the feeling of acceptance and warmth at watching their faces light up with interest and excitement at my idea. The idea being to compare and contrast the archetypes of each of the Harry Potter novels and watch how they evolve.

So yeah it was a pretty great week for me. However, it is always a pretty great week at the Honor’s House!

The Blog Returns with Brianna

Vol. 3 No. 16

Hello, friends.  This blog has been quiet for a bit as we work out how to launch a somewhat new approach to the blog.  We are going to start trying to have more and more students share their experiences with Honors and the work they are doing in their Honors classes.  If you want to share some thoughts, please email me at honorsstudies@flcc.edu.

This week, our blog comes from Brianna Smith ('19) who is an AA Liberal Arts and Sciences : Literature major who is graduating this May.  She is heading up north to SUNY Potsdam to continue studying Literature and would like to someday be a professor.  Perhaps at a fine community college like this one!

Honor’s Blog.

When I started my search for transfer schools, the second question (after: do they have my major?) that I asked was: do they have an Honor’s program? If the answer was no, they were automatically shifted down my list of potentials. But if the answer was yes, I began to delve deeper, needing to know if transfer students could be accepted and what the program looked like. I settled at last on SUNY Potsdam, who offer an Honor’s program for which transfer students are eligible, a program which, like Honors Studies at FLCC, promise smaller class sizes and an enhanced learning experienced. This search however was not unprompted nor the result of errant curiosity.

Since I began my collegiate journey I have found that my experiences as an Honors student have been among the most formative of my time at FLCC. Though I stumbled into Honors quite on accident I became immediately smitten and soon designated myself an Honors Studies scholar. The Honors courses at FLCC have allowed me to realize a more complete image of myself and for the first time craft a vision of my future which feels both satisfying and achievable. During my time in the program, I have completed thus far twenty-four honors credits, have attended dinners and convocations, and have been invited to speak to faculty about what the program means from a student perspective. Yet I’m not unique in this.

The gift of Honors is that it opens students up to a world of possibility they often never knew existed before. By fostering curiosity and the academic tradition through conversational avenues, Honors Studies gives students the gift of exploration – both of various topics, and of themselves. Honors also gifts to students a chance to share their unique experiences regaining their Honors events and courses and fosters an environment where student voices are highly valued and variant perspectives seen as equitable in what they bring to discussion. The reason so many students come back to Honors semester after semester is that it gives a chance to find and share one’s voice, and oftentimes a platform to do so beyond even the walls of the classroom. Through Honors, students build deep and lasting relationships with one another and rapport with professors and staff, bonds that last far beyond the walls of the Honors House.

This is my last semester at FLCC, and though a stringent schedule has prevented me from adding to my Honors class-list I still consider myself deeply entrenched in Honors Studies. Perhaps this gets at the most beautiful, most poignant lesson I have yet learned through Honors: that it never leaves you. Honors is not a spring flower which withers away, but rather is a bud which, when properly nourished, plants roots deep inside of your heart. The lessons which have strengthened me as a learner and an individual, the unforgettable nights spent in three hour seminars, the friendships I have built through the program – they will all remain with me long after I have last looked upon those hallowed halls. I want too, to believe like that though I shall soon be whisked away from the smell of brewing tea and the soft whispering of carpeted footsteps, some semblance of me will remain with the house and with Honors. Because Honors’ greatest gift is its people, the students and staff who make it possible, who give Honors a life all its own. We are all a part of that life, whether a student earns three credits or thirty. I’d like to image that when I am in a new Honors program, even three hours from this place which has become home, I will carry Honors with me with the certainty that it now carries some of me in exchange. 

Welcome Words

Vol 3 No 15

These blurbs are not specifically words of welcome, but I think they do an amazing job of characterizing Honors to those who might not know precisely what it is.  Both Rob and Sam took Games and Storytelling in the Fall 2018 semester with April Broughton.  I thought that their voices would be a great way to start off the new semester.  To those familiar with Honors, this should sound like home.  For those new to it, this should help you to better understand what you are about to experience.  Welcome to Spring 2019.

Rob Barnhart

Honors, in its self sounds like you need a great GPA to have access to this “prestigious” resource. In fact, I am positive that this program title has steered some away. I can at least speak for myself. I fumbled into Honors. I was about a week into the semester when I had decided that one of the original classes I had scheduled just wasn’t for me. I sat down with my advisor and looked over all the classes that I was eligible. I was limited to choices that would fulfil my degree audit. I noticed that I was overlooking the “HON” option almost every time. This was because I felt that my grades were probably not up to par with the class requirements. Thankfully, I was wrong. I had the courage to ask about Honors, knowing that it was worth a shot. Nothing else was seeming to fit into my busy and personal time restraints. I asked my advisor if an Honors class would work for what I am “bringing to the table”. Little did I know that all I needed to have accomplished to get into the specific class “Gaming and Storytelling” was English 101, which many students end up taking their first semester and overall need to accomplish anyway. Luckily, I was accepted late into the class. I had no clue that this last minute, on a whim decision would be the best one so far in my college experience.

Honors brought me out of my funk. I had been pretty beaten down by some events that took place during the 2018 school year, most notably the death of my father. The kindness of the classroom felt warm and academically stimulating. This class was held at the honors house. Which is a quaint, intimate building adjacent from the FLCC main campus. This house is not just for student who retain a high-end GPA, but rather a home for all students who are looking to succeed creative, “out of the box” ways. My time at the honors house was awesome, and I mean that in a 1950’ dialog. My experience was extraordinary from an everyday classroom structure. I could have almost called my classmates family. A scholarly bond of intelligent, creative minds—meeting for the benefit of all participants, including the instructor. Some of the best peers I have interacted with have come from this Honors experience, which I am pleased that I stumbled into this blessing. Showing up and remaining attentive during each class was a breeze. These class I took at the honors house, “gaming and storytelling” was a force in my life that demanded critical thinking on my end. I am so grateful that FLCC has an Honors curriculum. I started off the semester being unsure that I would have enough grit to complete the class and work assignments with excellence. My instructor gave me the tools to care to believe in myself. This ended up carrying over into my every day self-esteem. I am so happy that my original schedule fell though, Honors was one of the best courses I have ever taken. I do feel the name “Honors” may scare off those with lower academic standing, which is a fallacy. I would recommend it to all students that taking an honors course is not only mind-expanding but also a commodity to the college experience.

Sam "Hollywood" Brown

My experience with the Honors program was probably the best in my time at FLCC. The class that I took was Games and Storytelling, hosted by the lovely April Broughton. This class was unique, not just in topic, but in atmosphere as well. The class was very welcoming and had a very chill vibe for the whole time that we were in class. It was also a very pleasant change from lecture based learning. Although the category may say lecture, it is more of an extended conversation between everyone in the class. I made some great memories as well, having free reign to be creative in whatever we are doing was something that I hadn’t really experienced in other classes (Seeing as the majority of classes that I had taken in the past were more lecture based and more strict to guidelines.) I looked forward to my Honors class every week, and every week I was not disappointed. Overall I recommend any Honors class. 10/10 would take again.

Happiest of Days...

Fall 2018 Convocation - Guest Blogger

Vol 3 No 13

This edition of Honors Matters is brought to us by a guest – not just a guest blogger, but also a guest at the Fall 2018 Honors Studies Convocation.  It is tradition to have the ‘report’ of the event come from someone other than myself.  This way, you get to hear the voice of another who is invested in, and intrigued by, Honors.  I would like to thank those who attended and also those who presented.  You will read more about those presentations below.  I would also like to thank those who made posters for this semester’s Convocation:  Brianna Smith and Bucket Abdallah (Perspectives on Tolkien), Rebeccas Rayne (Math for Liberal Arts Majors), and Persy Woodruff (Games and Storytelling).  Now, without further ado, let us read about the presentations!

Greetings blogosphere,

I am Johnathan Murray, the Director of the One Stop Center here at Finger Lakes Community College.  Like you, I am curious about Honors Studies, and it was this curiosity that prompted me to attend the College’s third Honors Studies Convocation.  The convocation took place on Wednesday, December 5^th, and involved five Honors Scholars sharing their experiences with us.  It was an impressive, and moving event.  Each scholar shared an assignment from their course, and with their own unique style and voice, provided us with a window into the honors experience at FLCC.

Lisa Scott was up first, discussing HON 200 – Food and Identity in American Culture.  Lisa shared her experience growing up on a farm, and how it shaped her love of animals, and embrace of vegetarianism.  She showcased a genuine interest and passion for natural foods.

Mela Folan was next, discussing ENG 101 – Composition 1 Honors.  Mela provided an overview of the assignments she worked on in the course, and shared her initial apprehension about taking the course.  She, with the encouragement of her professor, discussed the detailed essay she wrote about smoothies.

Next, was the sister duo of Persy and Luc Woodruff.  Trista introduced the pair as de-facto twins, and noted their proclivity for collaboration.  The sisters shared their experience in HON 200 – Games and Storytelling.  The sisters took turns sharing the Vignettes they created in the course, about their names.  They each told a moving story.

Last, but not least, was Mara Cornwall.  Mara presented on ENG 230 – Perspectives on Tolkien, a course that is on my personal bucket list.  In Mara’s course they watched the classic animated Hobbit film from the 70s.  Visions of a green frog-esque Gollum jumped around in my head, as Mara related a quote from the film to her own experience as an honors scholar.

The Honors Studies Convocation was a wonderful event.  It highlighted the wonderful work of our honors students. 

I hope to see you at the next convocation.  Remember, ‘all you have to be is curious’!

-Johnathan

Here is a Stick

Vol 3 No 12

Hello, friends.

Seasonal Affective Disorder.  Mental health issues in general.  Finals.  The Holidays.  Any number of things can cause us to long to run away and hide.  We all face challenges of varying levels of difficulty as we go from day to day.  It can make even the smallest task seem daunting.  It can become harder to eat, sleep, socialize, be productive.  And now that we are in the last few weeks of classes, I am sure that this sounds like a familiar song to some of you. 

The title of this blog comes from an owl named Boggle.  In the post, Boggle explains a few things about asking for help and about the things we can do for one another.  And for ourselves.  

I want to tell you that you are going to be okay.  In order for that to be true, though, I need you to do something for me.  Or rather, for you.

What I need you to do is get a 3 x 5 card or something similar and write the following words on it:

I AM WORTH IT

Then, on the back of the card, write down that you are worth the following things:

·        Self-care

·        A good night’s sleep

·        Fun and adventure

·        A good meal

·        The help of a friend

·        The help of a professional

I suspect you are starting to see where I am going with this.  Only one of those things is bolded and that’s because all of the other ones fall under that one main one.  I encounter students everyday who are not engaging in that first bullet in one way or another and I want so badly to be able to help them.  One thing I can do is to tell you that you are worth taking the time for self-care.  I think too often we feel that we have to push ourselves to distraction without stopping to breathe and relax.  But this relaxation is so important.  We have to stop and focus on ourselves now and then or all of those outside forces will keep pulling on us.  So, what is self-care?

“’Self-care’ refers to the active process of recovering, maintaining and improving one’s health” (Ziguras).  I love that this definition includes three levels of health – which means that it applies to all of us, regardless of our general mental health status.  Engaging in self-care means that you need to accept that you are worth caring about.  You are worth the care you give yourself and the care that is offered to you by others. 

And how do you engage in self-care?  Well, that depends a little bit on who you are, because “[f]orms of self-care are as numerous and diverse as the number of people who practice them; they run the gambit from extreme workouts to binge-baking sessions” (Carlson).  So engaging in self-care means that you need to know a little bit about who you are.  You really need to know what brings you some small measure of happiness or relaxation.  It can be anything from reading a book for a little while to practicing yoga, playing a video game to going for a walk, doing 50 jumping jacks and painting your toenails to watching cat videos for twenty minutes and drinking hot cocoa.

You notice something there?  Self-care does not have to involve that you wholly sacrifice your academic or professional success.  One of the most liberating things we can accept is that self-care does not mean giving up on your tasks or delaying your responsibilities to a dangerous level.   Self-care does not have to take hours of your time, nor does it have to cost a lot of money or require you to go anywhere in particular.  What it all boils down to is taking the time to do something that will help you relax and refocus.  Without these moments of indulgence, our stress and mental health runs the risk of becoming too much for us to handle.  We have to let some of the pressure off – reward ourselves for hard work and persistence, for doing something difficult or making progress on a project.  Self-care “doesn’t need to be anything elaborate” nor do we “need to do it all at once;” we just have to remember that “trying to fit in the basics is a great place to start,” because that will “give us a solid foundation to work from” (“Self-care”).

YOU ARE WORTH ALL OF THIS.

This said, I cannot stress enough that if you get to the point where you feel you cannot handle the stresses in your life, you should seek out someone you trust and get help.  Help-seeking is one of the most important and the hardest things we can do that falls under the category of self-care.  There is no shame in asking for help and although it might be difficult, it’s one of the most important things you can do.  We have counseling services on campus, and there are numerous faculty and staff who can help you find the services you need.  Don’t stay lost and alone if you can’t handle the stressors in your life.  Help is out there for you.  It is a sad truth that “despite the relatively high prevalence of elevated stress and mental health difficulties in college students, research has consistently revealed that most students who have a problem do not seek help” (Hubbard, et al).

FLCC Counseling Center 

National Suicide Prevention Hotline

Better for me is finding the best possible way to live and function while having struggles. I want to continue to grow and understand why my brain works the way it does. I want to learn how to prevent myself from closing off when I’m hurt. I want to put the work in and be able to stay rooted and confident in myself, my beliefs, and my mental state. I want to be the best me (Milner)

Works Cited

Carlson, Melissa. “Finding Health and Happiness the Write Way: Blogging as Self-Care Within Student Affairs and Higher Education.” Vermont Connection, vol. 36, Jan. 2015, pp. 23–30. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.flcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=101367094&site=eds-live. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.

Hubbard, Kimberly, et al. “Stress, Mental Health Symptoms, and Help-Seeking in College Students.” Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, vol. 23, no. 4, Fall 2018, pp. 293–305. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.flcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=132602564&site=eds-live.  Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.

Milner, Alex.  "The Reality of 'Getting Better.'"  To Write Love on Her Arms.  26 Nov. 2018, twloha.com/blog/the-reality-of-getting-better/.  Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.

“Self-care for Busy People.”  Blurtitout.org.  The Blurt Foundation, 24 Oct. 2017, www.blurtitout.org/2017/10/24/self-care-for-busy-people/.  Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.

Ziguras, Christopher.  Self-care:  Embodiment, Personal Autonomy and the Shaping of Health Consciousness.  Routledge, 2004.  Google Books.  books.google.com/books?id=CksXt89K-6QC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.  Accessed 3 Dec, 2018.