No Regrets...Well, Almost

Vol 2 No 23

This week's blog comes to us from one Will Maskrey, a student graduating with an AS in Business Administration this semester.  He is also the President of Student Corporation and someone I will most definitely miss once he leaves FLCC to find his way in the world.  As guest blogger, he wanted to share some of his thoughts about his experiences at the college and, specifically, an Honors class he took last semester.

No Regrets…well almost.

The year was 2016. A warm breeze cooled the asphalt that August evening as I walked to my car at the end of the work day. The typical Friday feeling of freedom and relief were painfully absent as a sigh escaped. I paused to think about everything that was ending, and what was dawning on the horizon. I never once questioned the decision to leave the stability of full time employment, and finally do something I had long put off: I was returning to college to finish my education. I was heading to Finger Lakes Community College the following Monday, and I would need the weekend to prepare for this major alteration in my life. The words to adequately describe the two years, since that day I stood in the sun and questioned my life altering decision, escape me incessantly. As I think over the multitude of experiences and choices that I have made in my time here, I can say with great confidence that I have no regrets… well almost.

This past fall I took my first Honors class, The Development of Modern Horror taught by Dr. Trista Merrill. There are so many things that made this class arguably the most important of my academic career. I could spend an entire blog highlighting the genius of the unparalleled Dr. Merrill, however most of you reading this are already aware of this fact. As great as she is, my classmates played the biggest role in what made this class the highlight of my week. Some would say that gathering a random group of people, that would be comfortable and open enough to talk about horror and fear, is miraculous feat. I agree, but to have a group of strangers trust each other enough to do this on day one of the class, that is something impossible to recreate.

The respect for each individual opinion, coupled with the care each took to ensure the safety and well-being of their neighbor is something rare in most traditional classes. I have not seen or felt this level of oneness in any of my other classes. This is what I miss about not being in an Honors class this semester. I want to be very clear that I am talking about something far beyond the physical safety I feel every day when I walk through the doors of FLCC. I am referring to a freedom to explore and question, to challenge and, in a way, be rewarded through an expansion of personal perspective. There are a few rare classes that seem to fit this model but fall incredibly short of what an Honors class achieves.

As the homestretch approaches and my time at Finger Lakes Community College is ending, one cannot help to reflect on what has been. It has been a tremendous experience with opportunities that I could not have fathomed. The only thing I would change, the only real regret that will remain when I leave here is the fact that I did not take full advantage of Honors Studies. The one Honors class I did take, that special group of people that made everything better, can never be forgotten. I owe all of them a great debt, more than they may realize. There are other groups and people that have added to my being here, but my time in Modern Horror will hold a special, permanent place in my memory.

Honors is so much more than a unique curriculum or a special class structure led by terrific faculty. It is a special journey shared only by those who are willing to stare into the vastness of the unknown and be willing to trust the person next to them as everyone jumps. The fear that can encompass making mistakes can always creep up on us during those unexpected moments. Now that I have taken an Honors Studies class, I have more people in my life to remind me of my goodness. We all could use more people to remind us of that. Honors is the place to meet the best of those people for your journey, just make sure that you don’t miss out like I almost did.

I can wholeheartedly say that I am a better human being today because of my experiences in Honors Studies. I wish more classes were like the Development of Modern Horror class I took, but if that were the case these classes might not be as life-altering. More students, and maybe more faculty as well, need to be aware of the impact Honors Studies can have on the college experience of a student.  I almost missed out on those experiences and that is why I have no regrets about my time here in Honors Studies.

Student Voice - Convocation

Vol 2 No 14

This week’s blog comes to us from Emily White, Fine Arts Major (Class of 2019), who shares with us her thoughts on the first ever Honors Studies Convocation.

On Wednesday, December 6^th 2017 Finger Lakes Community College held the First Inaugural Honors Convocation, directed by Trista Merrill – the Honors Director. The Honors Convocation is an event that showcases the work that has been done by the Honors students throughout the semester. Throughout the day students and faculty were able to view posters which were made by students in Honors classes surrounding topics of their class and what they have learned throughout the semester. The posters on display were from four different classes: Development of Modern Horror, Composition I, Math for Liberal Arts Majors, and Analyzing Alice. These posters were on display from 10 AM to the end of the evening.

While walking the corridor to the café, three tables held seven stunning posters which people were able to enjoy. The poster creators included Devin Armstrong – illustrated by Emily White, Jillian Bond, Henry Sloth, Will Maskrey, Blinne Krieger, Jillian Duprey-Schommer, and Loren Manchester. All of the posters were eye catching and very well received by the student body and faculty of the college, as well as visitors. Each of the posters gave insight to what the Honors class was about, and the work that student had completed before hand or of their final project for said class, as well as informing about a wide variety of different topics. Between 4 PM and 5 PM people were able to ask the student poster markers questions of their posters to gain further insight on the class.

Once 5 PM came, four students of three varying classes – Composition I, Development of Modern Horror, and Composition II – gave presentations in Stage 14. Each of the presenters spoke of either their final project or a piece of completed work from the semester. Jillian Bond – of the Development of Modern Horror class – presented a 38 second trailer of her final film, which will explore the concept of fear. McKenna Guarasce – of the English 103 class – presented her research which will go into her final paper, which will be an informative essay on the importance of keeping the world oceans clean for the creatures that inhabit them. Onni Adams – of the English 101 class – presented the memoir she wrote regarding the time she realized her ethnicity gave her superpowers. Will Maskrey – of the Development of Modern Horror class – presented a short paper which recounted his experience with discussing fear with a group of young adults exploring the implications of the Christian faith.

Each student in their presentation allowed the audience to get a sense of not only their class, but as themselves as a student. The presentations also grasped the audience in different ways; Onni Adams’ memoir spoke to the audience at an emotional level while also inspiring everyone. McKenna Guarasce’s research informed the audience of the dangerous chemicals that are put into the oceans every day that endanger the lives of those who inhabit them. Jillian Bond’s trailer sent chills down the audiences spines while also alluding to the fact that not one person can truly identify what fear is. Will Maskrey’s speech and short paper informed people of the religious aspects of fear, further showing how elusive a true definition of fear really is.

The First Inaugural Honors Convocation was a success all around, from the incredible and informative posters, to the marvelous and edifying presentations. Being the first semester, the turnout was remarkable. Thank you to all who made posters and presented and to all who viewed the posters and attended the presentations. We look forward to the Honors Convocations in the semesters to come!

Photo Credits to April Broughton, Honors Librarian, and Trista Merrill, Director of Honors

Grab Your Things....

Vol 2 No 7

The following is a transcript of the words I used to open the Honors Studies Fall 2017 Dinner.  I hope you will enjoy these words....and perhaps next semester, you will join us.

Robert Frost once said that “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Perhaps related to this is a song that has been stuck in my head for over a week now. The title or the rest of the song isn’t terribly important because it’s one line and one line only: “grab your things I’ve come to take you home…”

With those two quotes, I welcome you to the fall 2017 Honors Studies dinner.

Frost’s quote is a particularly valid one when we look at the admissions policies of a community college. We are an open admission institution, which means if students come here (and fill out the necessary paperwork), then we let them come. As a result, we get a wide range of students here from all walks of life with experiences that run the gamut from relatively uneventful to full of chaos and change. My colleagues will nod their heads when I say that as a faculty member, I’ve heard some stories that have broken my heart over the years. For every story of success, there seems to be a companion story of tremendous struggle and overcoming the odds. Paired with that, however, is the realization that what students find at FLCC, in general, is a place to belong and that belongingness is something they grow to appreciate more and more the longer they are here. The same is true for the faculty experience. I have found my 13 plus years here to be full of support and encouragement from my peers for myself and for our students. From senior faculty (of which I am now counted) when I first began here to the newer faculty who are keen to get involved in any initiative that centers on students, this truly is a community.

Honors Studies is no different and, like so many aspects of the Honors experience, it seems that we are an intensified version of what is found in the community of this college as a whole. My anecdotal experience is that those in Honors feel a little deeper, experience a little more profoundly, and are impacted a little more keenly as a whole than the entirety of the college around them. As a result, some of them come to us with the most heart-wrenching stories.

I recently asked two sets of Honors students to name one thing that scares them and the list was not what I expected. In those quick notes written in a manila folder, I learned that not only did they have powerful backgrounds and stories, but they were trusting enough to tell me what they feared. I expected to read things like spiders, or the dark, or confined spaces, or horror movies, or public speaking, and there were some of those, of course. What I did not expect to read was how many students were afraid of losing someone they loved or feared loneliness and solitude. I read about students being afraid of life, of oblivion, of death, of failure, of people, and of emotional turmoil. And the most popular answer among them all was that students were simply afraid of the future. This is a statement of our times, I think, and something many of us are feeling.

In other contexts, I’ve heard so many students in Honors tell stories of domestic violence, abuse, drug addiction, bullying, anxiety, depression, and unstable families. My heart breaks every time. There’s more that I could say, but I do not intend this talk to be a negative or troubling one…because all of the things I just recounted I tell you for only one reason, and that is to talk about the flip side of that. Because by whatever path those students took to arrive at this place where they tell me their dark stories, the point is that they have found a place to tell them. They have found belonging.

The way students talk about their Honors classes is as heart-warming as those other stories are heart-wrenching. Last year, a student took courage from class discussions to email Dr. Nye about her thoughts regarding the national climate following the election. Why? Because she “left these classes feeling closer to my professors and to my peers.” I had a black student stop after class just a couple weeks ago to thank me for talking about race issues in class because when she’d tried to do so elsewhere, she’d been silenced. When I asked a transgender student to tell me which pronoun he preferred, he told me that he has found more acceptance and tolerance here than he has in his own family. I’ve seen students in tears for the sole reason that we had reached the end of the semester and that chapter of their academic journey was ending. I once had a group of current Honors students pool their resources and send a box of clothing, gift cards, toys, and art supplies to a former Honors student they didn’t even know because she was a single mom who had fallen on hard times. I could go on and on from the little gestures of students supporting students and even when they reach out to me when they know I’m struggling with something myself. As much as curiosity is the brain of Honors; this is its heart.

My colleagues will attest that while we may see this in other classes as well, we almost always see it in our Honors classes. Honors students support each other and form friendships; they challenge each other and respect each other; they debate and discuss and celebrate intellectual curiosity even as they share a laugh and tease one another. They are eager to share their excitement about the work they are doing and they are quick to ask one another for input and guidance if they are stuck or at a loss. I’ve seen hugs and outreach on a level that I haven’t seen anywhere else. I can think of no other more powerful word to use than family; and anyone who has ever heard me talk about my own family will know that this is not a word I use lightly. And so, my friends, as we share a meal together in celebration of Honors, let us remember everything that it stands for. Honors is reflection, analytical inquiry, and intellectual curiosity, but it is also so many things that we do not assess as a college and cannot measure. It is where you belong. And so, my friends, grab your things….and welcome home.