ALYSSA BUMP
Editor in Chief
The Fredonia Honors Program has three pillars: Learn. Lead. Live.
The more than 400 Honors students in nearly 70 majors learn about diverse topics through Honors courses, develop leadership skills both inside and outside of the classroom and have the opportunity to live with other like-minded students.
Dr. Natalie Gerber, the director of the Honors Program, works hard to implement these three pillars while also highlighting wellness, diversity and career readiness within the program.
If you are in the Honors Program or plan to be, you will get familiar with Gerber through her weekly email updates about different honors events, course updates, wellness opportunities and more.
But what exactly does it take to become an Honors student at Fredonia?
For first-year students, they must have a high school GPA of 92% or above and fill out an application which includes an essay.
For transfer and current Fredonia students, their GPA must be 3.3 or higher and they will need to fill out the same application.
Those accepted into the program will receive a one-time $1,500 scholarship to help support non-tuition related expenses, like on-campus housing and meal plans.
Honors students are also given first-priority registration for courses every semester. This means that even if you are a freshman Honors student, you will have first pick for your courses over a non-honors senior starting your second semester.
If you are an incoming first-year Honors student, you will also have a chance to live in Hemingway Hall, which is the Honors House of SUNY Fredonia.
Living in the Honors House gives students a chance to live in close quarters with other Honors students.
Gerber said, “Honors students are incredibly knowledgeable, hard-working and ambitious.”
Being given the opportunity to be in a dorm with individuals that possess these qualities can prove to be motivating.
The Honors House helps to enrich Honors students’ experiences by building communities with other Honors students that have similar goals and work ethics.
The dorm building is suite style, which means there are normally three bedrooms, a common room and a bathroom and a common room within each suite.
The Honors Program requires students to complete six credits in Fredonia Foundations Honors courses, six credits in Upper-Level Honors Seminars, three additional credits from either of the previous categories and three credits in a senior project that is completed within their major.
Honors students may also pursue an applied-learning experience, such as an internship, directed research, independent study, study abroad or a learning assistantship in place of part of the program.
For more details about the requirements, you can visit fredonia.edu/academics/honors-program/apply.
The Honors Program also offers unique courses that are only available for Honors students.
“We offer around 20 courses a year and have really strived to diversify the courses, both in terms of disciplines and in terms of diversity and inclusion,” said Gerber.
Some eye-catching courses that will be offered next semester are HONR-302 Black Lives Matter, HONR-306 Public Intellectuals & Soc. Change, WGST-210-HR LGBTQ Lit & American History and MUS-233-HR Musics of the World.
If you are interested in checking out the rest of the Honors courses being offered for the Fall 2021 semester, you can check out fredonia.edu/academics/honors-program/courses.
The program also encourages students to get involved in events outside of the classroom.
“Honors brings back alumni to share their professional experiences and offer advice, and also has organized career readiness workshops,” said Gerber.
Wellness is also actively explored through different programs, such as healthy cooking demos, meditation and exercise.
Gerber also gave a bit of advice for first-year honors students.
She said they “should expect to be challenged by their courses, engaged by their peers, and supported by the program.”
“Like everything else, the Honors Program is ultimately what you make of it,” said Gerber.
She continued, “Beyond the evident benefits that come with being an Honors student … the program really offers you the opportunity to tailor a portion of your academic experience to your personal needs. Honors courses will give you flexibility to fulfill gen ed requirements with really engaging courses and to dig deep into topics that you and the faculty are passionate about.”
The program offers an abundance of opportunities to learn and grow. Students just need to be prepared to take these opportunities and build them into accomplishments.