The Honors program “a learning community that provides a stimulating, yet supportive environment.” That’s what it said on the application and surprisingly that’s what I got.
I think the honors program is very different from an AP class in high school. In those AP classes I was joined by very smart students, but they were not always motivated or excited about learning. That’s what you get with the honors program: a group of students who all really want to learn, and this made the class I took this quarter, Scientific Process, much smoother and enjoyable.
When I was applying to this program they told me that the classes you take in the program are not necessarily more work or harder, they are just different, and after the first week in class I was sure they’d fooled me! Scientific Process seemed to have so much more work than any of my other classes, and I think it did. Then when the co-teachers (Dr. Krista Motschiedler-Brand & Dr. Lloyd Trueblood) told us about the group project we had to complete as our final, I really began wondering if I had made the right choice in joining the program.
I had done many group projects in high school, and in every single one always had one person doing a lot of work and most of the others slacking. And I was really concerned about a group project that counted for most of my grade, and seemed to be a lot of tedious work. However, after we started the project my whole opinion changed. Since I joined the Honors Program at the beginning of winter quarter, I was the odd one out and so joined a group as a fourth person. Fortunately, I liked everyone in the group right off the bat. Then, someone in the class changed majors so I was placed in another group; I was pretty skeptical but told myself I would make the best of it. So after I had met my new group members I turned out to like them as well.
Shortly after discussing and brainstorming, we decided on our project idea and got right to work. Throughout the whole process everyone in our group has been working hard. We have worked well together because we all have the same drive to persevere and to succeed.
We are not quite finished with our project yet but we have learned so much and I know that I can count on each of my group members to pull their own weight when the time comes. I know this would be the same no matter which group I am working with, as the freshman class is full of intelligent, motivated, hard-working students. That is what I love about the Honors program!