Honors Living-Learning Community Kicks off its First Year

August 31, 2015

Students at the Honors Welcome Events – August 2015

One of the Honors Program’s missions is to provide bright and motivated students with an interactive, academically-enriching community, and this year’s inaugural Honors Living Learning Community (LLC) aims to take that experience to the next level. The Honors LLC will provide Honors students with an enhanced educational environment to broaden their college experience.  On August 13, freshmen settled into their new home away from home in Centennial Place Building 2, which exclusively houses Honors students. Their transition to dorm living was made easier by Honors volunteers, including Community Leaders and upperclassmen residents of the Honors LLC, who helped unload cars and transport students’ belongings to their new dorm rooms.

“The volunteers at move-in day were extremely helpful,” said Lilly Donnell (English & writing and linguistics ’19). “I appreciated having people there to help me get my stuff moved upstairs. It made me feel very welcome here.”

Following move-in day, members of the Honors LLC participated in a day of activities designed to get new students acquainted with one another and the Honors Program. The morning kicked off with Campus as Text, which required students to explore campus to formulate an understanding of how individual locations create one unified campus. Students shared their insightful findings with their peers and gained new perspectives on Georgia Southern.

The day’s events also featured a discussion of the common read for Honors freshmen, The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction by Michael Crawford. The conversation was led by Dr. Engel, who discoursed with students on topics inspired by the book, ranging from distraction in the digital age to writer David Foster Wallace to what it means to be an honors student. The activity session ended with several ice-breaker games meant to help students get in touch with both each other and their silly sides. These games also helped students learn each other’s names and develop team building skills.

“It was a good time to interact with my peers in a fun way we might not be able to in class,” said Connor Rentz (film and production ’19). “It was a great way to get to know my classmates.”