Dear friends and members of the University Honors Program,
For many years, we have held recruitment events for prospective honors students and their parents. These events typically featured me giving an overview of the program followed by a student panel and a Q&A session. In other words, they were held in a lecture type format with me telling students about how much they would benefit, should they decide to enroll in our program.
Fortunately, students in our program helped me to see that this point could be made much more effectively if I simply stepped aside and let students design and implement our recruitment events. Were they ever correct! This year, we are holding six overnight visit programs which are completely designed and run by our students. There are sessions for students and sessions for parents--and all are interactive and feature our own students. Students engage in scavenger hunts to learn about the campus and surrounding community, attend a student-led improv performance uptown, participate in their first advising session to get a flavor of what it would be like to design their own honors curriculum, and enjoy a night of socializing in the first-year residence hall. Parents have the opportunity to take a student-led bus tour, interact with staff members from supporting offices and socialize with one another and honors administrators.
Students in our program truly can move into the driver's seat not only to direct their own educational path but also to shape the program and all that we have to offer.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Haynes
