The Honors Program at Elgin Community College

The ECC Honors Program invites all students who are motivated to learn, curious about the world, and who want to engage on campus and in their communities.  Our Honors Program shares our college’s values of equity and diversity, committing to creating an inclusive community that values diversity in all forms and perspectives.  Our Honors Program believes in the potential of all students to learn and grow.  At ECC, Honors students are defined by their willingness to be challenged and their commitment to the shared Honors Program outcomes, where as an Honors student, you are asked to:

• Research, analyze, synthesize, and share your findings from a broad range of material. 

• Independently and critically integrate cross-disciplinary knowledge. 

• Explore perspectives different from your own that prepare you to learn and work in a diverse, global environment.

• Reflect on equity, inclusion, and social justice in order to develop empathy and understanding for others. 

• Participate in learning experiences beyond the classroom that develop leadership skills, demonstrate service to others, and encourage personal growth.

As a member of the program, you can enroll in honors classes that have smaller class sizes and offer innovative learning experiences.  We also offer unique learning experiences, such as our Honors in Action collaborative research-based service project and our new special topics course on social justice.  Students can even design their own learning experiences, Honors Inquiry Projects, that are completed with a student-selected faculty mentor. 

Previous Honors students emphasize how their Honors classmates lift them up, inspire them to keep going, and push them to be their best. Since class sizes are smaller, you get to know your professors, and you feel comfortable talking to them and asking for help. 

Honors classes at ECC are different from the perception of Honors or AP courses in high school. Honors is not “advanced” in the sense that you’re doing a “higher level” of English Freshman Composition or Introduction to Psychology. Honors is about the pathways to meet those outcomes, pathways that might be wider, deeper, and, yes, potentially more challenging, but Honors at ECC is about engagement and the depth of discussion and learning. 

Being part of our Honors Program may open doors to transfer and scholarship opportunities. Our Honors Program has established partnerships with transfer schools, such as with Northern Illinois University, that allow your Honors experiences at ECC to count toward the transfer school’s Honors Program requirements.  Finally, currently, both North Central College and Elmhurst University offer full-tuition scholarships to a selected Honors student who meets their requirements and who has been active in Honors at ECC. 

Plus, if you earn an A or B in an Honors section, that earns you a tuition waiver equal in earned credit hours that you can apply toward a future Honors section—a free class!

You are able to engage in Honors at the level that meets your educational goals.  You can join and explore, take a class, try it out.  We only ask that you do take an Honors section within your first two semesters and that you try to succeed in all of your classes. The Honors experience is what you decide to make it. You might decide to work toward being recognized as an Honors Program Graduate or Honors Program Achiever.  Or you might decide to take just one more Honors section as part of your educational plan. It’s up to you.

You can find more details on these aspects of our Honors Program throughout the following pages of this Google Site.