Taco Tuesday Time

Come Have Tacos with Us!

Date: Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Time:  5:00 – 7:00

Place:  Stage 14

Important Things to Note:

• Taco bar (with vegetarian), drinks, and dessert.
• You can get an Honors T-shirt if you don’t already have one
• Share your thoughts or questions about Honors and get a free gift
• Earn an Honors point if you want – or just come with no obligation
• You can meet new people or stick with classmates / friends you know
• Bring a friend or two – being an Honors student or in an Honors class is not required.
• You are welcome to come late or leave early – just please come!
• You will hear from Honors faculty about next semester's classes
• You will also get the chance to hear from and talk to college officers like the president

This really is a most amazing event, but don’t take my word for it….

“I look forward to it every semester” – Luc, Class of 2020

“It's one of the most inspiring events I've been to” - Percy, Class of 2020

“It’s way more than a chance to grab free food, it’s a family reunion full of inspiration, smiles, and community <heart emoji>” – Blinne, Graduate, December 2019

"It’s become the main hearthstone of the Honors community where we all gather around to check in with each other and share” – April Broughton, Honors Librarian and Faculty

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.

Torchbearers

Vol 2 No. 27

I missed last week...so we are going to do two this week.  One today...and then one in a couple of days.  The following is a transcript of the remarks I made last night at the 2018 Honors Graduation and Awards Ceremony, followed by a list of our graduates and award winners.  I hope that you feel some resonance in these words and in the message they have for us all...

This is my third time presiding over this very special event and I’ve already established a tradition, or at least an approach to this speech that helps get me started in its writing at a time when things are, in a word, frenetic.  I see smiles and nods from some of you who are still in the throes of writing the papers and studying for the tests that will close out the Spring 2018 semester for you.  Having a hook already in place to hang my hat on lets me more quickly roll up my sleeves and get to work on writing something that will hopefully resonate with all of you.

I want to talk about two things tonight that have been a niggling voice in my head all during the course of this semester.  I’ve heard them in presentations, I’ve seen them on social media,  I’ve observed them in the interactions I’ve seen between students both in and out of the classroom.  In short, they’ve consistently come up during the course of the semester and even in the beginning stages of my thinking about next semester.  But then there was that tradition.

I began it as a way to make the starting of speech writing easier, but I ran into an even worse snag this year than I did last year when I tried to link it to Development of Modern Horror.  Even worse was that I couldn’t seem to figure out which hook to hang that hat on – Women Who Kill or The Lord of the Rings?  The first seemed daunting and the latter threatened to take over because it is rife with powerful content.  And, honestly, other than Eowyn’s rallying cry of “I am no man” on the fields of Pellenor, the two really don’t have a lot in common.  Except, they do.  Which leads me to those two things I want to talk about. 

The first is the power of fellowship.  As we read the stories of women who made horrific and heart-wrenching stories, we so often read, also, about how they had no support from those around them.  They struggled with trauma, tragedy, and tribulations that speak volumes about the choices they made.  These stories do not make what they did okay, but they remind us of the importance of having a tribe, or people, or a support network, or whatever personal phrase you want to use to describe the amazing communities we build around us.  I’ve sometimes joked that Honors Studies often attracts students who have not yet found a home anywhere and, jokes aside, it is powerful to watch what happens when their Honors courses become their home at FLCC.  They – no, you – have found a place where you are not just tolerated – but welcomed and accepted.  At the least you found a fellowship of like-minded learners in your Honors classes and experiences.  But more than that, many of you found friendship and community beyond what you expected.  As Gildor tells Frodo, “courage is found in unlikely places” and so who would have thought that in a class about fear and horror, you would find safety and encouragement?  Or that in a course about women who poison and smother, you would find comfort and affirmation?  But you have – and not just in my Honors courses, but in others as well.  You have leaned on and supported one another and offered compassion and encouragement.  And you have been given the same by those who sit with you tonight, along with others who could not be here.  You have a support network that many do not and that leads me to my next thought.

The second thing I want to talk about is the need we have in the world for compassion and understanding of others to the extent that it is possible.  Hard work, determination, passion, creativity, and intellectual rigor are all amazing things to have and to hone and to habituate.  But these things alone should not and cannot exist in a vacuum.  I often lay upon my students the daunting reminder that it is they who will change the world and you, our Honors Studies students, are at the forefront carrying the torch.  And so, I lay on you another reminder – that you please do all the remarkable work of which you are capable with your heart engaged and open.  Strive to understand those who come from different places and have made choices that run counter to your beliefs and your realm of experience.   Do not compromise your principles without reason or surrender conviction in the name of understanding, but remember that old adage about walking in another’s shoes.  Sometimes we have to stand up and fight, it is true, but choose those times wisely and remember, as Galadriel tells Frodo that “even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”  Use your sphere of influence to spread positivity, compassion, understanding and, dare I say it, love.

2018 Graduates and Award Winners

Honors Studies Scholar Graduates

Brandon Bailey - AS Business Administration

Christian Case - AA Liberal Arts and Sciences Literature, December 2017

Tyler Deskins - AA Liberal Arts and Sciences Mathematics

W. Henry Livingston - AA Liberal Arts and Sciences

Honors Studies Distinction Awards:
Jill Bond
McKenna Guarasce
Onni Adams
Will Maskrey
Elijah Lorah
Brianna Smith
Blinne Krieger
Vicki Ilyssa

Honors Studies Student Leadership Awards
Jill Bond and Blinne Krieger

Dr. Barbara A. Etzel Spirit Award
Lucas Holmes 

Congratulations to all our winners and all of YOU.  Without you, Honors could not be what it is.

Honors Voices

Vol 1 No 20

Something of a long one this time....

The other day. in the face of a beautiful spring day, I thought my HON 200 - Analyzing Alice class might need a moment to gather their thoughts and focus on the class at hand before I turned class over to Linda Ross.  She was going to spend that class time talking about attachment (and attachment disorders) from a psychological standpoint and how it might relate to Lewis Carroll or even Alice herself.  So, I asked them to take out a sheet of paper and write for five minutes on this question I posed to them:  

What does Honors mean to you?

These are the responses I got...

"I preach to everyone how much I enjoy honors studies.  To me, it means seminars, a connection with your classmates and professor, and a jillion different interpretations of a common theme.  I feel like there's this amazing fellowship and mellowship that comes out these types of classes.  The students that are in these classes are dedicated to learning about the topic at hand and are typically very talkative and at times, argumentative.  Honors classes make learning fun an worthwhile.  It's not a chore to attend class, it's something to look forward to.  The professors play devil's advocate and warp your way of thinking to meanings originally thought unimaginable"

"Honors means curiosity.  It means wanting to take something, such as a topic, and wanting to learn more.  It's about exploring a new realm of learning that one may have never thought of exploring.  Honors is about taking something and diving into it deeper than ever before.  It's not about more work and being smart.  It's simply about being curious."

"Honors to me means being able to explore what interests me and the things I find interesting.  As a book lover and writer, Honors gives me the opportunity to read a lot and write a lot (!), which other classes don't allow or want.  Be being in this Honors class, I have realized how much I adore analyzing stories and writing about what the stories mean to me.  Honors therefore has helped me realize and understand more of myself, by being able to dig into, explore, and discuss what I like and what to learn more about.  Overall, Honors means being able to be me, and learn what I want to learn, by offering cool classes, which allow me to explore who I am."

"Honors here at FLCC means a more student-lead learning environment as opposed to a traditional lecture style college course.  This means lots of group discussions and participation as we are learning together not being taught at.  It also means reflecting on your learning experience.  By reflecting on your journey as a learning, you are better able to grow your ability to learn.  You will find what works for you and what you can improve upon.  Honors is also a better opportunity to connect with your teacher.  For me, my teachers are mentors not just lecturers.  Most important, Honors is a group of people excited to learn, just like you, not just people force to take a class."

"Honors was something initially that just mean another good way to get accepted in a four year college.  While this is true, it now means so much more.  Honors became something that I could be involved in outside of tedious, constant needed work.  It was Perspectives on Tolkien that I first took and now I am someone a bit different.  I was able to read and discuss something that I truly have an interest in, unlike most classes in high school.  I also was able to make friends in that Tolkien class that I have now outside the class, another aspect I didn't have my first year at college.  The community sense that I get in this 'elite' group of Honors students is of devotion, respect, and a feeling of ultimately being wanted."

"Honors means to me that it helps you to look deeper into a meaning that you would normally just brush upon somewhere else.  It's a chance to find something new in yourself.  English 101 Honors has us analyzing ourselves as a writer while Alice analyzes ourselves as a learner and how to understand deeper meaning.  Honors is a chance to step our of our boundaries and try something new."

"To me Honors reflects a community pursuit in an accountability-minded atmosphere.  We have a capability to discuss as opposed to being lectured and to grow in relationship to others in a more conducive atmosphere than a typical class.  In another sense it has an active palpability to discern via worldview and disciplinary confines."

"Honors means a different way to view subjects that 'regular' classes may not have the time / desire to do otherwise.  It's a place where I feel my opinions not only matter but are validated.  I don't feel excluded because I don't have the knowledge for a certain subject but rather it's a place where I can learn freely without fear of judgments"

"Honors is a means to challenge myself while having fun.  Most classes involving something that I actually like are Honors classes"

"What Honors means to me is a more challenging / higher level class that requires extra work and effort.  Also, I think of it as a more specialized / focused course rather than a introduction course.  It also presents some more interesting classes than what is normally offered in my opinion.  I also feel that the courses are better since they seem to be more focused and in smaller classrooms"

"Honors means a more interactive way of learning that provides the opportunity for classroom discussion and practical applications with a more discussion and writing-based curriculum that helps students to more easily express their thoughts and ideas.  The more hands-on approach also provides a sense of accomplishment for finished projects"