Honors Program Reflection

I have been a member of an honors program since the end of my freshman year of high school. The time I spent in the honors program in highschool compared to the honors classes I took at Tulsa Community College (TCC) showed me how limited my original view of a honors program was. I initially knew the importance that was behind the title of a honors program, which is the reason I joined. However, my membership, in my opinion, was basically through name only. I did not have to challenge myself much to be a member. It wasn't until I started TCC and entered the honors program that I realized what I had been missing. The honors program at TCC allowed me to be able to really expand my horizons. The program kept me engaged academically through

Identifying honors classes at my high school was not an easy task. A few classes were actually called honors and as I progressed the names began to shift into pre-AP and AP classes. I then entered TCC where it was a simple distinction to be able to know which classes were honors and which ones were not, in order to continue to challenge my academic experience. On top of the unclear distinction at my highschool, in my experience, most of them were taught the same way and all of the class sizes were the same. The only class I would say that felt like an actual honors class would have been my AP world history class. Coincidentally, the instructor of that class was also the adult mentor of the National Honor Society program at my high school. My involvement in that AP world history class actually changed my perceptions as to what education meant to me. Despite being only one class, it was enough to ignite a desire within me to really love learning and really compel me to figure out how I wanted to further my education. I asked myself this question, "Do I want to be passive and keep my head down or do I want to participate and see where it takes me?" I literally changed my personality and focused on how I wanted to pursue my education seemingly overnight. That is the new attitude I brought with me when I started

The availability of honors credit opportunities diminished as I moved into the more specialized engineering classes. Considering the large amount of honors credit opportunities available in the Gen Ed credits, isn’t too much of an issue, but improving the honors opportunities in specialized classes, in my opinion, would probably help bring more students in to the program. Especially those who see their situation as not having enough time to earn the required minimum of credits before graduation or transfer, to even attempt to join the