Scholarship seems like the most obvious pillar of any college or school, but when I was applying to the Cormier Honors College, I was afraid I would be expected to maintain a crazy high GPA and take tons of extra classes that were harder than I could handle. I was reassured many times that I wouldn’t be given more work, just different work. I wasn’t sure what that meant until I took my first honors classes. In my Honors Citizen class, we read articles, excerpts from books, listened to podcasts and analyzed paintings and artifacts. In my Honors English 165 class, we learned by actually writing rather than reading about writing. We watched videos on how to push ourselves creatively and we learned how to create our own style instead of mimicking others’ styles.

While scholarship is important in the Honors College, CHC understands that success isn’t defined by a grade. In CHC, we do have to maintain a certain GPA, but we strive to learn not memorize. Even though our achievements are earned on our own, there isn’t a single student or professor in CHC that wouldn’t help another student in their studies if they are having difficulty. Scholarship may be an obvious pillar in the Honors College, but it is not the only pillar or the most important.

Attached is a photo of my Princeps 7 that was taped on my door after getting Dean’s List!