The
founding fathers
of Southwestern
Community College's
Honors Program
Mike Burnette,
right, and Allan
Grant, third from
left, joined honors
students Dianna
Dowd-Lebow of
Sylva, fourth
from left, Henrietta
Heeter of Cherokee
and Stephanie
Ford of Franklin
for a celebration
lunch with SCC
President Cecil
Groves, second
from left, Vice
President of Instruction
and Student Services
Gene Couch, left,
and Cheryl Contino-Conner,
director of student
support, second
from right. The
students, three
of the first to
participant in
the new honor's
program, discussed
their projects
during the luncheon.
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When Stephanie Ford decided
to go back to school after
a 20-year hiatus, she plunged
in full throttle. Double majoring
at Southwestern Community
College in criminal justice/latent
evidence and pursuing a college
transfer degree, she also
enrolled in Southwestern Community
College's new honors program.
"I decided if I were
serious about going back
to school I might as well
get serious about what I
was taking," said this
Franklin resident, one of
the first to sign up for
SCC's honors program. "I
want to get the most out
of my educational experience
and I felt like I would
learn more in the honors
program than just regular
class. It was good timing
for me that SCC now offers
an honors program."
Initiated last fall, Southwestern's
honors program challenges
high achieving and highly
motivated students to purposefully
engage in honors coursework,
said Cheryl Contino-Conner,
director of student support
services.
Ford was among the students
discussing their projects
during a luncheon Jan. 28
with college officials.
"The honors coursework
is designed to enrich and
expand the expectations
of the traditional college
course," said Gene
Couch, vice president for
instruction and student
services. "It focuses
on academic excellence,
including critical thinking,
communication skills and
academic inquiry."
"It also provides
you with research experience
and in my field I definitely
need that," said Ford,
whose honors research project
involved questioning head
jailers in Macon, Jackson
and Swain counties to determine
crime trends in this three-county
area. "I also looked
at demographics and typology
and extended my research
at the clerk of court's
offices and with probation
officers to produce my data
base." Her project
is part of Mike Burnette's
CJC 112 criminology class.
"Incidentally, I believe
that the criminology course
is the most difficult course
in the criminal justice
technology program and one
of the most difficult in
the latent evidence program,"
said Burnette. "Bringing
it up to honors level only
intensifies the level of
learning.
The projects that the students
choose engage them across
all disciplines, said Couch.
"Plus, it opens up
a whole new realm of mentoring
and leadership opportunities,"
Contino-Conner added.
Henrietta Heeter of Cherokee
discovered that. As a student
in Allen Grant's SCC English
class she just taught an in-depth
class on journaling as part
of her honors project.
"Reaching out and
doing these extra things
challenge me and I like
a challenge." said
Heeter.
Teaching a class also challenged
Dianna Dowd-Lebow, who joined
the honors program to "keep
my brain active. My project
focused on different genres
of literature and I taught
a class on reading fiction
from different points of
view," said this Sylva
resident who, in addition
to being a full-time student,
works 30 hours a week at
a local restaurant. "Now
I'm not a shy person but
standing up there in front
of a class and having to
teach is a whole different
scenario," she said.
"It's a big responsibility
and also a big learning
experience."
In addition to the academic
challenge, Couch said the
program will enhance their
transfer opportunities,
especially with Western
Carolina University. In
developing its new honors
program, Southwestern worked
closely with the Honors
College at Western Carolina
University.
To be eligible for the
honors program a student
must have a 3.5 or higher
cumulative grade point average
with at least 12 semester
hours of college coursework
or a high school weighted
GPA of 4.0 or higher, or
rank in the top 10 percent
of their high school class
or score 1875 or higher
on the SAT or 30 or higher
on the ACT. Students completing
honors courses will receive
a special honors designation
on transcripts and may receive
an honors designation on
the degree/diploma if 12
hours of honors course credit
are completed with an "A"
or "B" in each
course.
For more information on
SCC's honors program, contact
Contino-Conner at 586-4091
extension 245 or email Cheryl@southwesterncc.edu. |
