Honors Link

By Christopher McCracken | HC Student Media Writer

In the final months of my last year of high school, I received a bright orange envelope in the mail from the Oregon State University Honors College. Inside that envelope was an acceptance letter, and I decided to take the college up on their offer.

I knew from a young age that Oregon State was a strong contender on my list of places to go to college. I looked at and applied to several other universities, but in the end I came back to the school that I had always known would be a great place for me. What I hadn’t thought about before applying, though, was the Honors College. When it came time to apply, I did my research and found that I could really see myself there. I would have access to exclusive honors classes and events, and have the opportunity to pursue an extended research project – an honors thesis – with support and recognition from the college.

More than that, though, I wanted to remain engaged in my learning. Getting a degree, especially as a first generation student like myself, is something that takes incredible amounts of dedication and effort. I wanted to challenge myself to remain actively engaged in that process, taking advantage of every opportunity and resource I could to set myself up for success after graduation. The Honors College was my way of reaching that goal.

[aesop_image img=”http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/honorslink/files/2019/04/First-Year-Blog-Convocation.jpg” panorama=”off” imgwidth=”110%” align=”left” lightbox=”off” caption=”Walking to the New Student Convocation
during Welcome Week 2018″ captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]

When I first moved in to the Honors Living-Learning Community in West Hall, I was unsure of how my first term would begin – especially the honors courses. I’d heard all about the big lecture halls typically seen in first-year schedules, and I could imagine what those would be like. Honors classes, though? While I knew what they were supposed to be like – small classes geared toward discussion and collaboration – I had some worries about them. After all, I had been warned at START about the legendary difficulty of the Honors General Chemistry series. What was I about to get myself into?

As it turned out, honors courses were a fantastic way to begin my college career. Honors Chemistry was completely manageable, and in fact quickly became one of my favorite classes. It wasn’t just the material that kept me interested as I explored these new courses – it was the people. I found myself working with people I had just met on difficult problems and complex ideas, coming together to find a solution, and sharing it with the others in the class. I found that same collaborative effort in my other honors courses, and it quickly became one of my favorite parts of the honors experience.

While I was busy figuring out how best to take notes in honors chemistry and exploring my major in the Environmental Sciences orientation (go CEOAS!), I was also getting involved around campus. Within the Honors College, I started going to some of the regularly scheduled events; I quickly found out that the Honors College Community Coffees, or HC3s, are my favorite events in the college. While the other events I attended had their own perks, I found that there was something about easy conversation within a relaxed atmosphere that really helped me to feel like I was part of the honors community.

[aesop_image img=”http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/honorslink/files/2019/04/First-Year-Blog-Climbing.jpg” panorama=”off” imgwidth=”80%” align=”center” lightbox=”off” caption=”Christopher with the Indoor Rock Climbing Club at a local climbing competition” captionposition=”center” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]

In addition to honors events, I also started attending meetings of the Indoor Rock Climbing Club and the Environmental Sciences club. Each of those clubs helped me to explore the many diverse groups at Oregon State, along with giving me a fun space to share with others who had similar interests to my own.

Later on in the term I found myself dreading midterms and finals. The benefit of living in the Honors LLC, though, was that I quickly found others who were in the exact same situation I was in. With so many of us taking the same various introductory series, we ended up studying together (and had a great time while we worked). The other people on the floor quickly became both great friends and fantastic study partners. Without the connection of the Honors College, we all would have been on different schedules and in different classes – we couldn’t have shared that experience of living, working, and playing together, all in the same spot.

My first term in the Honors College was a new experience in so many ways. When I started the drive back home for winter break, I found myself missing that time of fun and discovery already. I knew then, though, what remains true now – that the best is yet to come.