Ryan Petersen’s Honors American Politics class goes through the daily announcements. September 22, 2016. University Center, MI.(Delta Collegiate/Drew Moore).
By Ethan Moore, sports editor.
The Honors Program is coming together to celebrate all the achievements of the program in a few weeks. They will be hosting a party on Oct. 12 in Founders Hall where free cake will be provided.
“Being apart of the program gives students so many great opportunities on campus as well as out in the world,” says Honors Leadership Board President Michael Dwan.
The Honors program allows for students to have priority registration. It also offers various college trips including ones to Wayne State University and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in late October. Honors is also implementing new academic travel options, where you can take a class and travel to a foreign country that’s associated with what you learned.
“It’s a unique chance to collaborate with other individuals that care deeply about their education,” says Dwan
In the early 1980’s, Delta college brought a committee together to talk about starting up an Honors Program. With the president’s support at their back, the Honors program started in 1986 and featured an Honors Colloquy class and a new track to receive an Honors certificate.
“We wanted to have a unique program dedicated to thinking and learning. But unlike some other colleges, a program that brought in Delta’s best students but was not elitist and exclusive,” explains former professor and Honors director Skip Renker
Renker took over in 1990 and led the program until 1994. Under his leadership, the program attempted to reach a more diverse student body, along with trying to connect more to their community and the college.
“Under my direction the number of students in the Program increased,” says Renker. “We developed strong relationships with transfer institutions like Western and Eastern Michigan Universities.”
After his tenure, English professor Drew Colenbrander took over as director and tried to keep the program moving in the right direction. At the time, they were offering 12 Honors courses a semester, and a population of around 400 students. Colenbrander says that the program was running so smoothly, he just wanted to keep the momentum with some added perks.
“We added the President’s Award for Excellence in Honors and the Caroline Gruenburg Wirtz Leadership Award, which made it possible for more Honors Students to be recognized by the Program and College, overall.”says Colenbrander.
The program continued to grow under every new director that came.
“The articulation agreements were one of my points of pride,” says Faulk. “It helped us to connect with the four-year schools, and it’s something we’re still trying to grow today.”
When asked, every past Honors director said that the students were the reason they loved their job so much.
“I love getting to know the students on a deeper level through Honors,” explains Starkey. “Going home and constantly replying to students frantically emailing me with problems and questions, I actually kind of like it.”
If you have interest in joining the Honors Program, or just want to learn more about it, go to Delta.edu/Honors, or email them at honors@delta.edu.