Honors students sometimes put up their books and come out to play.
The Honors Scholars Program is trying a new scheme to bring together students of all years.
Trisha Posey, honors director, and the Honors Council devised a project entitled “Monday Mixers” to gather honors students from various departments around bowls of snacks to bond and discuss field-relevant information.
Posey said one of the driving reasons for these informal mixers is for “freshman- and sophomore- level students to meet upper- level students who might have some insight into how best to take advantage of all the Honors Scholars Program has to offer.”
Senior Victoria Bennett, a member of the Honors Council, mentioned that aside from general friend-making, the coordinators of these events hope the mixers act as a gluing force between freshmen and sophomores and the honors program itself.
“We want students involved! Whether that means serving on the executive council, doing an honors capstone, presenting at a conference or just coming to events, we want all honors students to be excited about being a part of honors,” Bennett said. “Having upperclassmen share their experiences of being involved in honors, even if that was just taking honors classes, can encourage underclassmen that it is possible to fit honors in with their major, and that it is worth it to stay in.”
Freshman Brad Johnson attended Monday’s mixer for business majors. Johnson went to the mixer to meet fellow honors business majors and to listen to senior John Rutledge speak about honors schedule planning, the difficulties and benefits.
“I would recommend other honors students go because it’s informative, and there are snacks. Could you get a better combination?” Johnson said.
Senior Aubrey Adams attended the humanities mixer, representing the Spanish majors. She wanted to be a part of the experience because of what she could learn from others.
“Upperclassmen can give advice that professors and advisers simply can’t give because they aren’t students,” she said.
Adams enjoyed getting to experience how many disparate personalities could fit into the same department.
“We each bring something unique to the table,” she said.
Adams also had some constructive advice to give for the overall structure of the mixers. She said, “A little more organization could have made our time more productive. I think the underclassmen were too shy to just start peppering us with questions.”