Scholarship
When reflecting upon the meaning of the pillar of scholarship, my immediate thought is that it relates to academics. For example, we are expected to maintain a minimum Grade Point Average of 3.25 to remain in good standing. However, I believe that scholarship as a part of the Honors programs can be looked at in a different light. Taking an Honors class does not signify more work. What it might mean, however, is that the student is exposed to a different type of learning experience; learning goes beyond the textbook and walls of the classroom.
Just within my first semester as a first year student of the Cormier Honors College I was exposed to many out-of-the-classroom experiences that I never would have expected had it not been for Honors. Never before would I have thought that I would attend an Opera or go to a Symphony, or go on an oystering boat, and I never thought that learning about the history of human kind would lead me to studying cadavers in a forensics lab. However, being a student of Honors has let me have these experiences and more in an effort to make me open my mind and grasp ideas through personal exposure; I have learned much more in-depth than I have before, which can only be due to the fact that while Honors does promote a need for learning, they provide with us a different, and more personal way to do it.
In the end, Honors is more than keeping up your grades. Its how you learned and the way that you show it. I can only look forward to the academic opportunities that the Honors College has in store for me.