NCHC & Walk the Talk

**Please see my References in the Writing Portion below**

My portion of the presentation (video above)

Honors Best Practices

Challenged by Assoc. Dean Mike Young and Honors Program Manager Kathy Tran-Peters to reflect on the ways Honors can improve, this research was put together by myself, Jevahjire France, Jack Bohun, and Aylin Guttierez, and presented at NCHC in Chicago, Illinois. 

Special thanks to the Honors Program Donors for their help in funding our trip and our research!

Powerpoint Presentation (.pdf above)

Reflection

This research project was very difficult. It was conducted during a semester during which the Occupying force of Israel laid genocidal siege to Gazzah in the occupied state of Palestine, and during a period in which the Utah Legislature passed restrictive policies affecting higher education. These assaults occupied our minds very much, and this project is in part a testament to the struggle of addressing other issues, which while important, were on a lower level than the large scale attacks on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

This is not my proudest research, however it is sufficient to begin drawing an outline around the ways Honors education can and should improve. By examining the history, we found primarily that Honors education over the years has been an improvement to the higher education model, and yet remains elitist and out of reach to those who do not have abundant purchasing power. 

Due to personal issues, I was not able to attend the conference, and the above video was embedded into our presentation. As a non-traditional student, I have financial and family responsibilities which can make it difficult to succeed in the traditional structure. To use the (hated) buzzword: institutional Honors Programs lack agility. I've made the observation before, but here it is again, bureaucracy is designed to facilitate the path of least resistance for the movement of money. 

In hindsight, as any Marxist critique could offer, capitalist structures do not center human beings and therefore do not always succeed in serving them. It feels miraculous when the rickety scaffolding we build around the behemoths of knowledge do not simply fall apart like a house of cards. In the case above, we suffered some damage (you may notice I don't have access [yet!!!] to my colleague's work), and yet we still showed up and presented. 

In our post-mortem about the conference, as freshman and sophomores from a community college, we felt like our resources were far beyond that of our peers who as juniors and seniors from prestigious universities were not given such resources. Whatever happens, Salt Lake Community College is doing it right. 

Best,

ZJ