Honoring Honors Seniors

A Note from the Director

Dear students,

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation from Satin Louis University! Graduating with honors distinction in a normal year is a notable achievement. From your first-year Honors Crossroads class, to your enriched honors-only and dual-listed courses, to your experiential credits, to your culminating capstones - the Honors Program asks students to look more broadly at the world and to dig deeper into the issues and ideas that matter to them and to the world.

To accomplish all this in the midst of a global pandemic is nothing short of incredible. You have persevered through unprecedented circumstances, overcoming major disruptions to course delivery, internship/research availability, and social normalcy along the way.

Ninety-six of you have earned this honor through your hard work, your intellectual curiosity, and your commitment to discerning leadership and scholarship - both in the classroom and in the community. When you graduate from SLU, you will add your names to an impressive roster of honors alumni that dates back over 80 years to the program's founding in 1938. You should be incredibly proud.

Due to ongoing limitations surrounding in-person gatherings on campus, we are unable to gather for our customary end-of-year banquet. This annual event is normally when we share the accomplishments of our graduating class and reflect on the last four years of honors experiences at SLU. In lieu of this event, we have created this website to serve as an enduring reminder of our graduating class of 2021. Here you'll find information regarding post-graduate plans, descriptions of students' capstone projects, summaries of notable honors experiences, and parting thoughts from graduating students. I hope you take time to peruse the site and celebrate your (and your classmates') accomplishments.

A few years ago I spoke to the incoming class of 2017, those students who (following a four-year plan) would graduate in May, 2021. I referred to them as "the consecutive class of 20...21" and enjoyed the symbolism of that number. It suggested change and progress. Those ideas matter now more than ever as you graduate to new opportunities in a world beset by many challenges, but rife with opportunity. Based on your stellar work at SLU, I have every confidence in all of you and wish you the best of luck in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Pampel, Ph.D.
Director, University Honors Program