On May 7, eight Highland students presented their spring Honor Projects via Zoom™ during the Clarence Mitchell Library Friday Forum. The Honors students created and designed the projects on a chosen topic.
The Honors Program at Highland Community College provides eligible students with enhanced educational experiences in select courses chosen by faculty. Students must maintain a 3.5\4.0 grade point average and possess an ACT composite score of 25 or greater, or 1200 out of 1600 on SAT, or finish in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class. This is the 13th year of the program.
“The Honors Program is a great opportunity for students to explore ideas and concepts in a variety of fields,” said Evan Talbert, Honors Program director, and HCC instructor. “As we saw during the presentation, projects can be completed in all areas, and allow students to conduct research and complete activities either related to their future goals or to gain a deeper understanding in current topics of the world today. We could not be more proud of the outstanding work this semester’s Honors students have completed.”
Spring 2021 Honors Program students:
- Kate Stevens (Freeport) – Social media campaign for a Humanities course in critical thinking.
- Sydney Hayunga (Freeport) – Manual/guidebook in the field of Speech and Language Pathology for an Educational Psychology course.
- Kerigen Hoffman (Pecatonica) – English research paper on the cognitive effects of video games.
- Austin Flemming (Freeport) – Two projects: An Anatomy and Physiology research paper on common supplements that affect organ systems and how effective their active ingredients are, as well as completed research and computational simulations revolving around the Diels-Alder reaction in Organic Chemistry.
- Meredith Janssen (Shannon) — Completed an English research current events paper on the Black Lives Matter movement.
- Ira Markley (Lanark) – Research and simulations on the topic of recycling plastic waste using microwave radiation and nitric acid oxidation for a Chemistry course.
- Brooke Wendler (Freeport) – Primary and secondary research on the financial and operational effects of COVID on various classifications of restaurants for a Hospitality Management course.
- Theodore Woessner (Shannon) – Two projects: A Geography research paper that delves into the landscape changes that have happened in Northwestern Illinois since human habitation in the area, as well as creating a model city for a Visual Arts course.
Honor projects help prepare students for the next step on an educational or career journey. The Honors Program provides an additional hands-on workforce and learning experience. Students work alongside an instructor to develop and complete the project. Topics vary from further research of a particular field of study, current events or trends, a course’s curriculum, and the student’s interests and goals.
For more information on the Honors Program, contact Evan Talbert at evan.talbert@highland.edu. To get registered for the Highland fall semester, call 815-235-6121 or visit highland.edu/new-students. Express Registration for new high school graduates will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 2 in the Student Conference Center, 2998 W. Pearl City Rd., Freeport, Ill.