By Glorys De Jesus, Staff Writer
Dr. Patrick Crerand from the department of English, Humanities, and Fine Arts is now the new Director of the Honors Program. Many students are unaware of the Honors Program that Saint Leo has to offer. Students have six courses they must take within their first three years here. These classes are even smaller than the ones already experienced here by students. They involve a little more writing than the average course and have many team projects.
“Though being difficult sometimes, it is a challenge that is well worth the time and effort,” said sophomore Katie Gwinn, a biology major who is an Honors student.
Another honors student, sophomore Sumira Salim, a Biology major, expressed her gratitude for the program also.
“I was enrolled to the Honors Program because of my SAT scores. The classes can be difficult but they help expand the thinking process on certain subjects. Crerand is a great teacher and I’ve learned a lot from him. I am very excited to see how the program expands,” said Salim. She spoke of her great experiences, community service work, and the large amount of knowledge she has gained from the Honors Program.
All Honors students are provided with a free laptop to accompany their courses. Along with the classes, Honors students also make time to participate in special community service and national and international service opportunities. In the past, they have worked on Veterans Day to help clean up and landscape a veteran cemetery. Along with the perks, Honors students can also participate in undergraduate research projects with Saint Leo University faculty. Students also graduate with a Saint Leo University Honors medallion to wear proudly on graduation day.
The six courses required for Honors students to take are Classical World View, Christian Vision, Humanistic Tradition, Scientific Revolutions, Human Condition Reexamined, Modern World View, Special Topics, Honors Research Methods, and Senior Honors Project.
The classes tie in aspects of the real world with Saint Leo’s core values in order to produce well-rounded students, and graduating from a university with Honors is a great thing on one’s resume. Under Crerand’s direction, Saint Leo’s Honor students are getting the best education possible,” said Gwinn.
When interviewed, Crerand explained the changes he planned on making to the program. He has extended an invitation to the new Saint Leo faculty to teach in the Honors Program. Professors Tkacik, Woodard, and Alaimo are all new to teaching the Christian Vision course. Dr. Ellis has also joined, and will be teaching Scientific Revolutions, and Dr. Draves and Crerand himself are teaching Modern World View. Crerand is also planning a visit to the City of Text conference in hopes of bringing the program to our Saint Leo campus and the Honors program. As for current Honors students, he plans onbringing more travel and service components to the program. With this idea, he is looking for Honors students who seek leadership roles or who want to help organize trips and service events. If any Honors students are interested, please email Dr. Crerand. A trip to the Dali museum is on the way soon also.
The bigger changes are coming for the prospective Saint Leo students looking to join the Honors Program. Dr. Crerand is planning on increasing the standards to qualify for the program. Now, a writing sample and letter of recommendation are required along with meeting the test scores and GPA requirement. He says he will more than likely be raising the GPA requirements to 3.5 and also the SAT scores requirement to 1100. He wants these new requirements to give Saint Leo a more competitive group of students in the approaching semesters. If any students seek to join the program, do not hesitate to contact Crerand.
