
My Honors Program Experience
Mike Knecht, Director of Library Services at Henderson Community College, describes his own experience
in an Honors Program:
I participated in the honor s program at Emporia State University (KS) from 1985 to
1989. The program mostly consisted of general education courses with emphasis on philosophy
and ethics. The pace of learning was fast and my instructors expectations were high.
I had never been exposed to books such as The Decameron, Democracy in America, The
Prince, or Confessions by Saint Augustine. Nor had I ever been assigned an entire
floor of my university s library as a textbook for my history class. My endeavor to
be a special student was immediately humbling, and if it hadn t been for the support
of my instructors and fellow honor s students I would have reverted to the path
most traveled.
Additional honor s courses were available outside the general education core to involve
most academic majors offered by the college. For me, this meant greater exposure to
economics, finance and business law. The related work permitted little free time,
and for the first time, I had to consciously prioritize my academic, work and social
activities. (In retrospect, this experience forced me to improve my time-management
and study skills, and, ultimately, helped prepare me for graduate school).
I greatly enjoyed the honor s program at my college. Although competition existed,
the prevailing motive was personal satisfaction. We worked closely with faculty who
were leaders in their respective professions. We experienced late night study sessions
with bad coffee, cold pizza, and cheap beer. We harassed librarians for odd reading
material because the internet didn t exist, and we developed long-lasting genuine
friendships. In the end, we simply had fun.