Program aids students to 4-year university Honors bene ts include smaller classes, transfer agreements, and transcript recognition

to be in the program,” Anderson said. “You just need to be motivated enough to keep your grade point average up to a certain level and work hard.”

With dreams of transferring to a four-year university, students have the educational support of a program offered at Pierce College that strives to meet the needs of motivated students.

The Pierce College Honors Transfer Program works to prepare, inspire and empower students to achieve their maximum potential.

The program has requirements for joining such as having a grade point average of 3.00 or better, and students must be eligible for English 101, according to the Pierce College Honors Transfer Program website.

Director of the Honors Transfer Program Mitra Hoshiar strives for students to be ready for transfer.

“We are expanding our honors program and our goal is to help students transfer to universities, such as University of California, Los Angeles, feeling prepared to take on vigorous classes and succeed,” Hoshiar said.

Barbara Anderson, the dean of Academic Affairs, used to be the director of the Honors Transfer Program. She agrees with Hoshiar that the main focus has always been to recruit and help enable students to transfer to their dream school.

“You don’t have to be a genius

The benefits of being an honor student include smaller class sizes of a maximum 25 students, university transfer agreements, scholarship opportunities, orientation visits to universities, transcript recognition and so on, according to Anderson.

“We give the student an opportunity to be in smaller classes, which then allows more dialogue and interaction with the professor,” Anderson said.

Pierce College Professor of Biology Raymond Wells is part of the Honors Transfer Program faculty and was always interested in teaching honors.

“I like the program because it is very well-known throughout California. It is pretty solid, and the small class sizes just allow teaching to be that much better,” Wells said.

There may be a misconception about honor students focusing solely on grades, according to Wells.

“Honors students need to understand that their education is a major process and not just about the grade,” Wells said. “The Honors Program is not just about having good grades but how well you understand the information.”

To be in the program the student needs to be motivated and ready to study a lot, according to Hoshiar.

“Even though the Honors Program is difficult, students come out of it feeling more prepared to take on the world and really appreciate the opportunity given,” Hoshiar said.

Some students are not aware of the program or take advantage of the program until their last semester, but because of the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society more people are learning of the program.

Iona de la Torre, a 22-yearold music history and literature major, found out about the program through members on the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society, and she has been part of the Honors Program for a year now.

“Originally I wasn’t in the program but when I took an honor class I found it to be a really nice experience,” de la Torre said. “The honor classes are very agreeable environments with smaller classroom sizes, less chit-chat and more motivated students.”

There was a longitude study over 10 years for UCLA students that showed honor transfer students did as well or better than the native students, according to Anderson.

“Our main idea is ACT, which stands for applying yourself, committing to it and transferring,” Hoshiar said.

A workshop about the Honors Transfer Program that will explain the program as a whole is scheduled for mid-November but the exact date and location is still in the planning process.

Candidates must complete and submit the Honors Transfer Program application that can be found on the Pierce College website.

The Honors Transfer Program office can be found in Village 8340.

DEDICATED:

Pierce College is a place where many nationalities roam the campus and where diversity exists in a melting pot of culture.

International Students club meets

every Tuesday in English 1202 at 1:30 p.m. and Wednesday in English 3805 at 12:30 p.m.

A curious student may ask the question: where do these students come from? Where do they live? What do they eat? Why do they dress the way they dress? All these answers can be found at the International Students Club every Tuesday in English 1202 at 1:30 p.m. and on Wednesdays in English 3805 at 12:30 p.m. . Marketing major Abdullah Alawaja, 29, is one of these students at Pierce that stands out.