What is an Honors Experience?
Many people have asked me what it means to complete an honors "experience" and what exactly that has to do with my college education. My way of looking at an Honors Experience is to look at each individual case. Instead of being required to complete more difficult or simply more classes to earn the right to be an honors scholar, each person instead gets to pursue their personal interests in depth. I have very different interests than a person who has chosen to major in Nursing, for example. Because of this, we want to expand our college and life experience with different things. These different things are Honors Experiences.
There are options to pursue pre-designed experiences, which include classes, trips, and programs. I have completed four of these pre-designed experiences that interested me. None of them are particularly designed for musicians, but I found that I could apply what I learned in my own subject field as long as I thought about the big picture of what I learned. For example, though going to France was not for musical purposes, I did learn a lot about independence, world perspective, and learning a different language. This honors experience was very beneficial when I worked at a fine arts summer camp the following summer. I had a camper who only knew how to speak French and this allowed me to use my honors experience to apply to my music-related job. This goes to show that providing the opportunity for students to pursue interests outside their major can broaden their college experience and explore topics that may not be available without a dedicated, supportive environment like the University Honors Program.
There are options to pursue pre-designed experiences, which include classes, trips, and programs. I have completed four of these pre-designed experiences that interested me. None of them are particularly designed for musicians, but I found that I could apply what I learned in my own subject field as long as I thought about the big picture of what I learned. For example, though going to France was not for musical purposes, I did learn a lot about independence, world perspective, and learning a different language. This honors experience was very beneficial when I worked at a fine arts summer camp the following summer. I had a camper who only knew how to speak French and this allowed me to use my honors experience to apply to my music-related job. This goes to show that providing the opportunity for students to pursue interests outside their major can broaden their college experience and explore topics that may not be available without a dedicated, supportive environment like the University Honors Program.