Each year the Honors Program selects four students who exemplify honors engagement for special recognition. These students combine academic excellence with outstanding involvement in a range of campus and service activities and manifest a strong personal commitment to the University Honors Program. This year, we utilized our engagement tracking app, Suitable, to determine which students were the most engaged and active in our program this year, and these are the top four students.
Jonathan Ford told us that one of the most memorable engaged experiences he had, was going to the Land Between the Lakes, Golden Pond, in Kentucky and Tennessee for the Honors spring break trip. He felt that the views and history were amazing, and there were times when things didn’t go their way, but they kept on going through, allowing them to learn about leadership and teamwork. This trip made him realize his strengths and weaknesses, along with learning more about the outside world that makes him want to better himself and thanks to this he is learning how to become a better leader too.
Tiffany Yoo mentioned that her most memorable experience of the honors program would have to be Honors Advocacy Initiative. Through the club, she was able to attend events such as Advocacy Day in Springfield, she learned about the importance of grant writing, volunteering, and overall, improving parts of her character. Most importantly, this experience has taught her that changes that may seem small to us, can actually greatly impact others, so don’t be afraid to take a small step forward.
Emily Beebe said that her favorite engaged experience was being involved at the Northern Star. Everyone at the Northern Star has been really kind to her, and although it’s something she never thought she’d do, it has been amazing! Everyone there is like her second family and spending time in the Northern Star office is like her second home!
Rutba Khan told us that her favorite engaged experience was Job Shadowing in an Elementary School in Naperville. She was matched with a Speech Language Pathologist. She would recommend this to other students to take advantage of as well since her experience was amazing.
Congratulations to all of our Enhancement Award winners from this year!
