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

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.

Opportunities Galore

Vol 2 No 26

I cannot believe how close we are to the end of the semester!  I hope you will consider joining us at this semester’s Honors Studies Convocation!  We will have posters (still time to make one!) set up outside Stage 14 from 10:00 – 4:00 on Friday, May 4th (the same day as May Day!) and then, at 4:00, four Honors Studies students will share the work they’ve been doing this semester in one of their Honors courses.  Please join us!

And then on May 16^th, at 5:30 in Room 200 of the Honors House, we have the Honors Studies Awards Ceremony and Graduation.  Come support your fellow Honors students as they are recognized for their achievements!

These events of recognition and celebration are becoming so important to me - and, quite frankly, they give me energy as I, too, am wallowing in end-of-the-semester exhaustion.  There is something about gathering together and taking an hour or so here and there to celebrate the work being done.  To really step back and see what it is we are really doing.  It's so easy to forget that in the whirlwind of the work you are doing, your classmates and fellow students are also doing amazing work.  All of you need to be reminded that the sleepless nights, the stress and pressure, the anxiousness and obstacles are all worth it.  You are likely your own worst critic and not enough of us know what the rest of the Honors community is doing.  We have Facebook, we have Twitter (see below!), we have Honors events and we even have an Honors Club.  But let's also read the names of those who have excelled above and beyond and remind them that what they are doing matters beyond the confines of their classroom walls.  And take the time to showcase your OWN work in a poster.  Celebrate yourself.  Celebrate Honors.  Take a bow.  You've earned it and you deserve it.

In fun news, the bulletin board outside my office (Canandaigua Wing Rm 4285)  is now looking a bit more festive!  Come check it out.

Looking ahead, I am hoping to encourage more folks to look into Lori Vail’s class this fall.  We have an interesting relationship with food in today’s culture – from Instagramming pictures of our meals to trying out gastro pubs and exploring what we can do with kale.  It seems like that for every one who is desperately watching what they eat, there’s another ridiculous food choice that can be made somewhere else.  And those Girl Scout cookies!  Don’t even get me started!  J

Seriously, though, this class will explore so many ideas with food at their center that it is bound to change how you interact with this very basic human need.  I am reminded of a poem by William Carlos Williams called “This is Just to Say”:

This is Just To Say

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

It has always fascinated me as a poem – centered on food and yet laced with meaning that is heavily determined by the reader.  So much of the world around us depends on our perception of things and yet there is so much truth to be discovered as well.  I hope that you will consider joining Lori Vail this fall as she takes on the exploration of food – something else that seems so simple and yet is laced with meaning that is heavily determined by the ….eater.

Seminars Matter

Vol 2 No 25

Lots of folks have begun to look at their classes for next semester and we are really excited about the Honors offerings. You heard a bit more about them at the Honors Studies dinner and can read the course descriptions on WebAdvisor, but that doesn't necessarily explain why you might want to take a seminar - or even what a seminar is or looks like.

So, why would you take a class that doesn't "do" anything other than fill a general elective? Part of that has to do with the other question. What IS a seminar?

Google's proprietary dictionary defines seminar as "a class at a college or university in which a topic is discussed by a teacher and a small group of students." Well, is that what a lot of classes at a college are? Perhaps just in between needed lectures, but still...that seems the heart of what college classes in general should be. The Online Etymology Dictionary has this to say:

"1887, "special group-study class for advanced students," from German Seminar "group of students working with a professor," from Latin seminarium "breeding ground, plant nursery" (see seminary). Sense of "meeting for discussion of a subject" first recorded 1944.

'Plant nursery' is a fascinating idea, but I'm not sure Honors Studies students are necessarily inclined to appreciate being compared to budding plants. But, it's getting a bit closer to the concept I'm aiming for when I think about what we mean by seminar. The first word there that stands out is 'special'. This is not to say that other classes for other students aren't special, but I firmly believe (and I admit I have a bias) that the special nature of Honors Studies seminars is more common than not. Far from being contradictory, this is really what I have observed and heard about the seminar experience. I often joke that if someone stuck their head into one of my Honors classes, they wouldn't necessarily be able to pick out the instructor compared to the students. That's more than just a joke - it's true. In the seminars more than in any other type of class, I'm sitting WITH students. There is now nothing in between them and I. We sit together as learners.

Now, I know that I can never fully erase my role as instructor with a suitcase full of grading and other responsibilities.  And I humbly lay claim to a little more expertise in general, given the number of years I've been in academia and studying whatever topic I've chosen, but to the extent that it is possible, I can learn from my students even as they learn from me.

Many of those who teach seminars do so because they want to research and dig more deeply into a topic about which they have an interest.  The thing about Honors Studies faculty (and many faculty in general) is that they have dedicated their lives to learning.  This is one of the ways they do so.  And this coming fall?  We have two amazing seminars coming that are the products of the passion, curiosity, and the enthusiasm of the instructors who are teaching them.

So, no...seminars might not fulfill a requirement in your degree (other than a general elective or a liberal arts elective), and perhaps there's nothing in them the connects to your program of study at all...but think larger than that.  There are few classes in any college anywhere where you will find a room full of people who truly chose to be there.  No one needs it, which means everyone wants it.  They don't necessarily come because they need the credit or the class or anything about it.  They come because they love the content of the course itself.  And that, my friends, is the best learning environment you will ever find.

This fall?

HON 200-90 : Games and Storytelling taught by Honors Studies Librarian, April Broughton.

HON 200-91 : Eat Me:  Food and Identity in American Culture, taught by Lori Vail of the Humanities department.

Come.  Learn.  Celebrate your own curiosity.  And, dare I say my little plants, grow.

Honors VIPs

Vol 2 No 5

The people who come to the Honors Studies Dinner are important people.

For one, the president of the college, Dr. Robert K. Nye, comes to share his insights and thoughts about Honors to all in attendance.  In the past, the Provost / Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs has come and done the same.  The Associate Vice President of Instruction says a few words.  At the tables can be seen the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and the Director of Student Life.  Esteemed faculty speak about their classes and the Director of Honors Studies shares a few words as well.

But, those aren’t the important people I’m talking about.

The important people are the students.  Honors Studies students and their curious friends come – and that’s who keeps all those folks up there ‘at the office’ after they’ve already put in a full day of work.  That’s why we write our remarks and our speeches, why we order T-shirts and other goodies, why we buy food and clear our calendars.  That’s why we are here for that evening – and for so many other hours throughout the summer and the academic year, as well.

Last Spring, I decided that I would not have an agenda for the dinner beyond those folks with titles saying a few things.  I would hand the microphone off to students in attendance and let them lead the charge of the evening because it was THEIR evening.  It was THEIR voices that we wanted to hear.  I wasn’t sure how it would go.  Sometimes, our Honors Studies students can be a bit shy or anxious about speaking up in a large group of people they don’t know.  But, like they have so many times before, they surprised me.

You’d think I’d get used to that and not be surprised anymore. Time and time again, students at this college in general and those involved in, and interested in, Honors in particular have surprised me with their passion and their curiosity.  Honors Studies has the power to change lives and people wanted to talk about it.  They wanted to tell others what they experienced and what they learned.  They wanted to talk about what Honors has done for them and why they were pursuing it.  They wanted to talk about what their classmates in Honors were doing and had done for them.  They wanted to talk about the teachers they’d met and the work they were doing.  They wanted others to know about this ‘secret gem’ at FLCC.**

That evening we gave them the chance to talk about something they’ve found here that is unlike what they expected to find, but more than they ever hoped it would be.  Whether they sought it or stumbled into it, believed in it or were mistaken about it, the students who spoke last semester – and Honors Studies students in general – love Honors.  And those who have titles and work at the college to bring the dinner and all the other Honors Studies events and opportunities to life also love it.  As our marketing voice recently said to me, “I always have time for Honors” and that really has nothing to do with me as Director.  It has everything to do with what Honors represents, what it offers, what it allows students to do and discover about themselves.  Honors has always meant this at FLCC and its exciting to find ways to help tell others about it and, in turn, help them achieve it.

So…won’t you join us?

** As it turned out, they also wanted fidget cubes, but that isn’t important right now.  :D

Save the Date!

Vol. 1 No. 18

It’s that time again!

Last semester, Honors Studies hosted a dinner for the curious, and we are excited to be doing it again!

So….what do you need to know?

Event:  Spring 2017 Honors Studies Dinner

Date:  April 12, 2017

Time:  5:00 – 7:00

Location:  Stage 14

Food:  Build your own tacos!  Including vegetarian options!

Highlights:

• Free Honors Studies T-Shirts for the first 50 who arrive
• Fidget cubes for those willing to share their questions, stories, experiences, excitement, or curiosities about Honors Studies
• Meet Honors Studies faculty and hear about fall courses
• Listen to administrators talk about why they value what we do
•  Share food and fellowship with other curious students