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.

All in a Day's Work - Guest Blogger

Vol 2. No. 29

All in a Day’s Work

Our Guest Blogger this week is FLCC’s Assistant Director of Marketing and Creative Services. She’s introducing the new Honors Studies online presence and giving insight into the “how and why” behind flcc.edu/honors

If you’re a current or future FLCC student, you probably don’t know me, but you’ve likely read A LOT of my words and seen A LOT of my work. I’m generally pretty anonymous around here, and yet, you and I have had something of a conversation going as you’ve read the different things I’ve written for the College. I have a long title, but it won’t really describe what I do or why it matters to you, so here’s a quick overview of my work instead:

• I created the printed publications that were mailed to your home to introduce you to FLCC when you first started making your college plans. From blank sheets of paper to what you held in your hand, I created those pieces. Same goes for a lot of the posters and handouts around campus, not to mention those fancy driveway banners you passed on your way onto campus.
• I played a major role in the FLCC commercials that you’ve seen on TV or on YouTube. (Shameless plugs: Find Your Fit , Find Your Path , and Find Your Future. Can you believe that we did all that with just a handful of FLCC employees, and we featured our actual faculty and students!? And I’m sure you noticed that Honors was highlighted, of course!).  
• I’ve played a pretty big role in the photos and written words on many of FLCC’s webpages, which you have certainly visited many times as you’ve navigated your college experience. From homepage banners to the nitty gritty about academic programs, I’ve crafted many of the words you’ve read on the FLCC website.

That last bullet is the one that matters the most to Honors fans today as we announce the launch of a completely revamped web presence for FLCC’s Honors Studies. In addition to unveiling the new webpages (and, honestly, bragging just a little bit), I’d like to give you a glimpse behind the curtain. It’s not everyday that I get to share our behind-the-scenes process with our web visitors!

Everything you see at flcc.edu/honors was the result of collaborative work between Trista Merrill (Director of Honors Studies), Chuck Woods (Web Services Coordinator), and me. As a trio, our individual workload ebbed and flowed as the project shifted from one phase to another, giving each of us the chance to really hone in on our unique contributions from our separate areas of expertise.

We kicked off the project with a fact-finding mission to collect as much information as possible about Honors. As we culled through the information, we organized data and created a roadmap for the webpages. Once we had a skeleton in place, we got to work fleshing it out with written content and photography. For me, this is really the fun part, especially with an area like Honors Studies. We know that intellectual exploration and self-reflection are at the heart of Honors Studies, so every word and every photo were intentionally selected; together, they illustrate the uniqueness of Honors Studies. Once the pages were created, our team of three reviewed and approved, made minor modifications, and launched the live pages.

Typically, that’s where web projects resolve. However, Honors Studies has always maintained a great social media presence, so we decided to incorporate the Honors Twitter, Facebook, Blogspot, and Flickr pages into our project, giving each of them the same look and feel as the new webpages for a cohesive web experience from the FLCC site to the various social media platforms. These makeovers were important in this project because we know that the Honors community is tightknit, and engagement isn’t limited to seminars; we know that Honors students and faculty continue their conversations online after the class adjourns, and social media is an important part of that connection.

The overarching goal of our project was to showcase the Honors experience, both through words and visuals. This meant not only describing the experience, but describing it in a specific way: it’s a conversation that we’ve started with the reader, tapping into their curiosity and desire to do more, learn more, and explore more. I hope that as you interact with these new webpages, you’ll agree that we’re reflecting the Honors values and paying homage to the Honors experience that we’ve heard about from so many different perspectives.

You already know that Honors Studies provides an unbelievable opportunity to engage with other learners, expand your learning, and explore both new and familiar topics in unexpected ways. Believe me, this isn’t an experience that you’ll find everywhere, so I hope that you’ll take full advantage of Honors during your time at FLCC, and I hope our new online presence will encourage other learners to delve into Honors Studies, too!