Welcome Edition May 2019
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
HONORS
Photo by Blakely Baker
3 INTRODUCTION
12 ROAD TO INVOLVEMENT
4 WORD FROM HSA PRESIDENT13 HSA PHILANTHROPY PROGRAMÂ 5 CAMPUS MAP
14 STUDENT STATEMENTS
6 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
15 HSA EVENTS
7 LIFE IN LANDIS
16 STUDENT RESOURCES
8 PERKS OF BEING A NOLE 10 INSIDE HSF
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
11 CLASSROOM COMPARISON
Contact information for FSU Offices Office of Business Services obs@fsu.edu 850-644-3279 Office of Admissions 850-644-3279 admissions@fsu.edu
Office of Financial Aid 850-644-0539 ofacs@admin.fsu.edu Student Business Services 850-644-9452
Welcome Students,
KEEP IN TOUCH follow us on social media for updates on honors news, events, and opportunities
INSTAGRAM: @fsuhonors
FACEBOOK:
Congratulations on your acceptance into Florida State University and to the Honors Program! The Honors Staff and Student Directors of the Honors Student Association would like to welcome you to our program, and introduce you to everything we have to offer. Every month, our Marketing Team publishes a Newsletter full of important information, upcoming events, student and alumni features, and other fun content catered towards her;ping you create your best Honors experience. Inside this "Welcome Edition" of our newsletter, you will get a look at all that the Honors Program and HSA have to offer. We hope that will you consider joining us here at FSU and look forward to seeing you around Landis and HSF soon! If you would like to see what Honors and HSA are up to during the semester, check out the past issues of the Newsletters on our Honors website, and follow us on social media.
Florida State University Honors Program
TEXT ALERTS: Text @fsuh to 81010
Best, Jordan Block 2018-2019 HSA Director of Marketing & Communications
a word from your HSA president... Hello new honors students! My name is Emily Colpack, the President of the Honors Student Association (HSA). Firstly, I would like to welcome all of you to Florida State university and HSA. Along with the many opportunities at FSU, we hope to help you utilize the unique resources you have access to as honors students. As a part of HSA, you are invited to all of the exciting events exclusive to honor students. These events will help you build relationships within the honors program, develop professional skills, serve the community, and simply relax and enjoy free food! Some of the favorite events for honor students is our Monthly Breakfast (you must get there early!), social events in the Great Hall, and our finals week events to help cope with end-of-the-year stress. We already have many events in the works for this semester such as a free professional head shots, our Halloween Happening, and Light the Night. Because it can be confusing your first year in college, attending these events and staying up to date with honors news via our HSA newsletter will help you make connections on campus and and make the most of your next four years here. Additionally, our opportunities for community service will help you connect with the wider Tallahassee community and give back. I am proud to say that we have an excellent team of Directors and Chairs who are working hard to give you the best honors experience. I hope you enjoy your time here and I look forward to seeing you at some of our events! Sincerely, Emily Colpack HSA President
CAMPUS MAP KEY: Honors, Scholars, and Fellows Building
Landis Hall
Strozier Library
For an interactive map of campus please visit the following website:Â http://campus.map.fsu.edu/index.aspx
DISTINGUISHED HONORS ALUMNI ALEXA PENNAVARIA Alexa graduated from FSU in 2016 with a major in anthropology and a minor in museum studies. While at FSU, she was involved in UROP, GPE, Anthropology Club, leading Honors Colloquium, Academic Recruitment Org., and Phi Beta Kappa. Today, Alexa is a PhD student in Anatomy at UNTHSC (Fort Worth, TX) with aspirations to graduate and become a university professor. In reflecting on her time in the Honors Program, Alexa's favorite memory was getting the opportunity to lead/teach an Honors Colloquium section. She considers the year she spent teaching UROP & Honors Colloquium one of the best of her life since it helped her decide that she wanted to become a professor. Additionally, Alexa really valued her experience completing an Honors in the Major thesis. Not only did it make her very competitive while applying to graduate schools, but it also gave her an increased confidence in her capabilities since she was able to complete such a substantial piece of writing. When asked what piece of advice Alexa wished she knew before freshman year, she said that she wished she knew that it’s okay to not have it all figured out yet. She believes you will find what you love as soon as you start taking classes and exploring! She also encourages students to take classes in as many different topics as possible since you’ll likely never have another opportunity to just learn about anything you want. She took a dinosaur biology class and a class on Russian fairy tales which she thought were very cool!
EST 1939
LIFE IN LANDIS
Perks of Being a
Nole
1. School Spirit Simply walking across campus should give you a feel of just how much pride FSU students have for their school! On a game day, you will see flocks of students all decked out in garnet and gold heading to the stands. We have beautiful facilities for our teams. Doak Stadium is one of FSU's biggest landmarks. We love our stadium and we love our teams! Go Noles!
2. Honors Program Being a member of the Honors Program here at FSU is one of a kind! First and foremost, the Honors building is situated right in the middle of campus (conveniently next to Chick-Fil-A) with great facilities to help you study! Additionally, early class registration is a great benefit for us busy college students. Smaller class sizes help honors students get to know their professors and peers. Lastly, the Honors Student Association plans tons of FUN and FREE events including free breakfasts, philanthropy events, career related events, and athletic events and teams to help Honors students get to know each other!
3. UROP FSU is well-known for its vast undergraduate research opportunities! One of the best ways to get involved with research on is through UROP where you can choose from an array of various projects in different fields. Make sure to apply before it's too late! If you don't complete research through UROP, there are other ways to get involved with research. Many professors allow students to volunteer in their labs or complete a Directed Individual study!
4. Campus Resources FSU has an abundance of campus resources- too many, in fact, to fit in this blurb. One extremely helpful resource is The Career Center. The Career Center is a one-stop-shop for any and all questions revolving around interviews, jobs, resumes, careers, internships, and more. Another great on-campus resource is the Counseling Center which provides free counseling to students. The Academic Center for Excellence offers tutoring and academic workshops for students. Lastly, FSU has a variety of academic resources at the on-campus libraries, Strozier and Dirac.
5. Campus Recreation In your downtime, there are a lot of fun activities to participate in at FSU! The Rez is free for FSU students and has many outdoor activities including kayaking, canoeing, and swimming. The Askew Student Life Cinema has free movies regularly. The Leach is a great place to workout and unwind. There are also a variety of group fitness classes including yoga, barre, and dance.
INSIDE HSF Want to see more? Click here to take a virtual tour!
CLASSROOM COMPARISON Honors v. Non-honors
The biggest difference between Honors versus regular, nonhonors courses is the class size. Many non-Honors courses occur in large lecture halls and can have hundreds of students. Honors courses at FSU are typically capped at 30 seats! Smaller classes allows for more engaged in-class discussions and helps students get better acquainted with both professors and peers!
STATEMENT FROM AN HONORS STUDENT: "I really enjoyed my honors classes because it gave me a smaller atmosphere to get to Honors Class in HSF know people and learn the material. Instead of having cookie-cutter assignments in a 200 person lecture hall, my honors classes had 17 students with the freedom to interact with our professor in creative ways. My ENC2135 professor gave us a good bit of freedom in setting goals for the class, and he was even able to help me with an application for my major the following semester. He gave us access to his past publications, and he was able to spend more time giving us detailed help on papers and even just college in general. Plus, I still talk to many of the friends I made in honors classes and in Landis Hall!" Non-honors Class in Fisher Lecture Hall ~ Meredith
HSA'S
PHILANTHROPY PROGRAM "KIDS INC." The Honors Student Association prides itself in creating the leaders of our future. This is evident through the academic success and diverse involvement that our students show every single day. Now we are striving to expand our definition of excellence and to create a culture that is as focused on giving back as it is on individual success. Our philanthropy program focuses on giving students the opportunity to cultivate a long term relationship with a local Tallahassee non-profit. This year we adopted Kids Incorporated. They provide quality, comprehensive services such as Early Head Start curricula, developmental assessment, family engagement activities and classes, and health and disability services. They serve at-risk families with children aged 0-3 and pregnant women in Jefferson, Leon & Madison counties. HSA Philanthropy participates in bi-weekly outings to interact with the children, as well as fundraising for and promoting the great programs this organization offers. We hope to continue our relationship with Kids Inc. and to provide more opportunities to students that are looking to make a difference in our community.
Student Statements
Hear from current students about the benefits of being in The FSU Honors Program!   "With all of the resources HSA gave me, it was impossible to not be involved my first year at FSU. I knew that I had a place on campus to meet amazing faculty members, work on any academic problem I was facing, and form great relationships with peers. At the end of my first year, the Honors program gave me confidence in knowing that I am prepared to tackle the next three." -Kaci B. “Being a part of the honors program gave me the opportunity to be more involved in my coursework and meet other driven students. The support I received from advisors, professors, and other students made FSU feel like a home away from home." -Emily M. "My honors classes are smaller which means I'm able to know everyone personally and it feels more like a home. I've met so many honors students that I'm able to have class with again because we are in honors. -Emily C.
HSA EVENTS The HSA is responsible for planning and executing events that are focused on promoting the values of community, friendship, and creativity. Each event is catered towards the students, and their suggestions for events are always taken into account. Every month the HSA hosts breakfasts for the students and plans socials, skill-building workshops and more throughout the semester. During finals week, the HSA pulls out all the stops and throws events daily including the popular Cookies and Cramming, featuring hundreds of delicious cookies. Other events throughout the year help students cope with their busy schedules like Yoga on Landis, while still others promote students' professional development like Resume Workshops and Professional Headshots. While each event is unique, one thing is for sure, these gatherings unite students as academics, Noles, and, most importantly, friends.
STUDENT RESOURCES Honors Colloquium Every first-year student in the University Honors program takes a one-credit hour course called the Honors Colloquium. It is made up of two parts - a large lecture, and a small breakout group. On alternating weeks everyone meets together for a large lecture with a guest speaker based on the following themes: personal development academic development, and social development. On the opposite weeks you meet in small breakout sessions with your Honors Colloquium leader and approximately 25 other first-year Honors students. Additionally, every student must schedule at least one one-on-one meeting with the Honors Colloquium Leader to discuss their progress as firstyear honors students.
Graduation Requirements In order to finish the Honors Program upon graduation, there are a series of criteria that need to be met. It is useful to know about these even as a freshman, so you can start working on them to stay on track! Students must get a total of 18 honors credits by the end of their four years. 9 of these hours must be through honors course work. There are also other ways to achieve points including through community service or serving as a UROP Leader. More specific criteria can be found on the website below!
To learn more about Honors Student Resources, visit our website at https://honors.fsu.edu/student-resources
Photo by Blakely Baker
Editor-in-Chief: Jordan Block Content Creators: Lillie Brody & Martha Sizemore