Vol 3 No. 20
The blog has been on a bit of a hiatus, but it returns to celebrate the Spring 2019 Honors Convocation. Penned by Alucard Woodruff ('20), this blog is a tribute to all the hard work being done in Honors this semester. This event gets better every year and it truly is a pleasure and a privilege to host it.
Every semester Dr. Trista Merrill, head of Honors Studies at FLCC and an English professor, hosts an Honors Convocation that allows Honors Students to showcase what they’re learning in their Honors classes or through Honors contracts. Students are encouraged to make posters that outline some aspect of a class that they’re in, and for an hour on the night of convocation they’re invited to stand beside their posters if they are available and speak with faculty and strangers alike about the topic, as well as answer any questions posed by guests. The second hour is filled by selected students sharing a piece of work from their Honors class.
Visitors at the Spring 2019 Honors Convocation included Provost Dr. Jonathan Keiser , Cassy Kent (Associate Vice President of Instruction), Professor Maureen Maas-Feary (Humanities Department Chair), Professor Lori Vail, as well as students and others. Here, these visitors encountered posters ranging in topics from The Hero’s Journey, Alzheimer’s Disease, Forest Archetypes, and a spoken word poem encountered in an English class. Visitors spoke with the available students about their topics and more, sometimes asking such inquisitive questions that it would spark minutes of further discussion.
On Thursday night there were three keynote speakers who were asked to share something they’d done in their Honors class.
Tabatha Hanna’s presentation was called “All You Need is Love: An Examination of Adolescent Friendships,” for the class Harry’s Heroes: The Roots of Children’s Heroic Fantasy. With an insightful PowerPoint, Tabatha explored the philosophy of different types of love using examples from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, then went on to look at the psychology of how strong friendships help adolescents deal with challenges in life with examples from Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. She used quotes from these books that made her argument and her message quite powerful, with the closing statement of, “So go out there, find a friend, and be a friend. Someone needs it.”
Delain Geist, an aspiring wildland firefighter in need of one more test to be fully approved for the
job, provided a wonderfully educating PowerPoint presentation titled “Three Points of View on How Best to Fight Wildfires,” which was a summary of his research for his English 103 class taught by Lori Vail. Delain detailed for us three methods of dealing with wildfires:
Finally, Loren Manchester also presented from Harry’s Heroes: The Roots of Children’s Heroic Fantasy with a paper titled “Lily’s Love: Separation from Parents in Children’s Fantasy.” Loren explored the rite of passage of a Hero separating from their mentor in literature and in real life, using examples from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, as well as the aforementioned The Hobbit and A Wrinkle in Time. Loren shared her own story of separating from a mentor as she prepares to transfer to a college that is farther from her home than she’s ever been before, and talked about how when the Hero is with a mentor, there is something to catch them when they fall because, “There is a lot of falling involved in learning how to fly.” I’m sure that many people in the audience could relate to what Loren said, in separating from a mentor but knowing they will always be there and that in the Hero’s journey the mentor is often there after they return to help them navigate their new life.
Overall it was a truly enriching experience to be able to attend the Spring Convocation. I was able to create a poster (about Forest Archetypes) and spoke with many attentive listeners about the topic. Often, I found myself answering insightful questions that led to extended talks about environmental science or how Sacred Places archetypes appeared in video games as well as literature. A few times, I was able to step away from my poster in order to ask other students about their topics. After the Poster Hour, I was lucky to hear three incredible presentations, with the presenters showing their vast knowledge of their subjects. Two presentations I had already heard once (as I am also in the Harry’s Heroes course) and yet even the second time around I was in awe of the depth of critical thought into the literature examples and the incredible wording. I learned many new things, both from the posters and the presenters, and it was a wonderful experience.
Alucard Woodruff.
Every semester Dr. Trista Merrill, head of Honors Studies at FLCC and an English professor, hosts an Honors Convocation that allows Honors Students to showcase what they’re learning in their Honors classes or through Honors contracts. Students are encouraged to make posters that outline some aspect of a class that they’re in, and for an hour on the night of convocation they’re invited to stand beside their posters if they are available and speak with faculty and strangers alike about the topic, as well as answer any questions posed by guests. The second hour is filled by selected students sharing a piece of work from their Honors class.
On Thursday night there were three keynote speakers who were asked to share something they’d done in their Honors class.
job, provided a wonderfully educating PowerPoint presentation titled “Three Points of View on How Best to Fight Wildfires,” which was a summary of his research for his English 103 class taught by Lori Vail. Delain detailed for us three methods of dealing with wildfires:
- Prevention, such as adhering to burn bans
- Prediction, like following weather patterns for afflicted areas,
- Plan of attack, like knowing where to put firefighters and using retardants.
Finally, Loren Manchester also presented from Harry’s Heroes: The Roots of Children’s Heroic Fantasy with a paper titled “Lily’s Love: Separation from Parents in Children’s Fantasy.” Loren explored the rite of passage of a Hero separating from their mentor in literature and in real life, using examples from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, as well as the aforementioned The Hobbit and A Wrinkle in Time. Loren shared her own story of separating from a mentor as she prepares to transfer to a college that is farther from her home than she’s ever been before, and talked about how when the Hero is with a mentor, there is something to catch them when they fall because, “There is a lot of falling involved in learning how to fly.” I’m sure that many people in the audience could relate to what Loren said, in separating from a mentor but knowing they will always be there and that in the Hero’s journey the mentor is often there after they return to help them navigate their new life.
Overall it was a truly enriching experience to be able to attend the Spring Convocation. I was able to create a poster (about Forest Archetypes) and spoke with many attentive listeners about the topic. Often, I found myself answering insightful questions that led to extended talks about environmental science or how Sacred Places archetypes appeared in video games as well as literature. A few times, I was able to step away from my poster in order to ask other students about their topics. After the Poster Hour, I was lucky to hear three incredible presentations, with the presenters showing their vast knowledge of their subjects. Two presentations I had already heard once (as I am also in the Harry’s Heroes course) and yet even the second time around I was in awe of the depth of critical thought into the literature examples and the incredible wording. I learned many new things, both from the posters and the presenters, and it was a wonderful experience.
Alucard Woodruff.
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