Students learn about leadership skills, opportunities

Now in its fifth year, the honors program continues to "provide a supportive, enriched learning environment responsive to the educational needs of highly able and exceptionally motivated undergraduate students," as written in the honors program mission statement. 

"The current membership of the program consists of 90 students," said Susan Cosby Ronnenberg, program co-director and associate professor of English,.  

"Those who join this program become a member of a scholarly community of highly motivated students who strive for success," said Emily Dykman, co-director and assistant professor of religious studies.

So, what can a student expect to gain from this program? 

"Academically, the types of courses students take are more challenging and allow students to get more in depth into a subject," said Dykman. "In their classes, students have to find information regarding the lessons on their own, rather that being handed ideas from the professor. Also, students have the opportunity to teach their class about a topic pertaining to the course. This puts more responsibility on the student to prepare for class and allows them to analyze the material."

Dykman explained that students are required to take specific courses during their academic in order to complete their honors program credit hours. One course is English 195, which students take in place of English 103 and 104, the introductory English courses. This is one of the first courses new honors students take and it allows for new freshmen to build a relationship with other freshmen honors students. Another is the honors program's religious studies course, religious studies 130.  

"Educationally, it has challenged my thinking processes by presenting the class in a non-lecture format," said Alex Dunnum, a sophomore biochemistry major, and honors student from Wausau, Wis. "My experiences with honors classes have not made me memorize passages or recite definitions, but rather explore my possibilities within the class and challenge myself."

"Academically, the honors program has sort of forced me to broaden my horizons," said junior nursing major and honors student leader, Emily O'Brien, from Lancaster, Wis. "In meeting the requirements for the program, I have had to take general education courses that I would not have otherwise considered."

Students must also take three one-credit seminars: the Academic Leadership Conference in the fall, the Humanities Symposium in the spring, and a senior seminar.

The senior seminar course has three components. "The first is to help students put together a final portfolio of their best work, which demonstrates how the honors experience has enhanced their studies compared to other majors in their field," said Cosby Ronnenberg. "The second is students must work with faculty in their field on their senior capstone project, and third is to present that work as their capstone."

The capstone projects students do for the honors senior seminar is based off the capstone they are already doing in their field. Rather than doing two different capstone projects, students pick one aspect of their major capstone project, and do an in depth study on that specific aspect as their honors capstone.             

"Students work with faculty in their field to constitute what makes honors level work, the student then presents that work as their capstone," said Cosby-Ronnenberg.

Another aspect of how this program benefits students is how they are personally affected.

"During their academic studies students gain a sense of belonging."  Dykman said. "It starts with the fall freshmen retreat which allows for new members to build relationships with upper classmen. This gives students a sense of importance, no matter their academic level."

The fall freshmen retreat is a weekend-long camping trip, which takes place during one of the first weekends of the academic year. 

"Everyone has groups that they hang out with when they enter school," Dunnum said. "For me, I play on the men's soccer team so that was my first group of friends when I entered college. However, the honors program gave me another group to interact with and eventually call my friends. I think it gave me a good outlet to meet new people and develop relationships."

The honors program also allows for students to build their leadership skills. Honors students have the opportunity of becoming student leaders within the program. The directors of the honors program select two student leaders per class.

"The students selected must be upstanding members of the honors program and attend events and meetings regularly," said Cosby Ronnenberg.