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Fall Fun for All at Honors Weekend

9/27/2016

By Tanner Prewitt

Last weekend was Honors Weekend for members of the Honors College. Sponsored by the Student Honors Council, the events were fun-filled and jam-packed with excitement. Lydia Kotowski, a freshman pre-med and political science double major, enjoyed herself immensely.

“I thought the weekend as a whole was a lot of fun and had something that could appeal to everyone. The variety of activities was really nice,” Kotowski stated.

Thursday, September 22, kicked-off the weekend with Trivia Night in DeHority Complex’s Exhibition Hall. Teams assembled and faced each other in categories pertaining to Disney, pop culture, history, and the 90s.

“Trivia Night was very fun and challenging. Questions were seldom missed, so it was hard to get back in the lead after one was missed,” Allison Albright, a freshman nursing major, said.

The Fall Festival occurred on Friday outside of DeHority. Music was playing, and students joined in the dancing and eating. Popcorn, iced cookies, and drinks were passed around, as were Frisbees and cornhole bags. There was even a station for face-painting led by freshman Max Jolly, who is an architecture major.

Saturday was a day to burn off some energy. Catch the Cardinal was a parody of capture-the-flag, and students who participated dashed around DeHority in search of their team’s cardinal.

Sunday ended the weekend with a brunch at the Honors House. Students could assemble their own breakfast burrito and mingle with friends in the refreshing fall air. Michaela Karcher, a freshman nursing major, and Logan Gemmill, a freshman architecture major, had a blast at brunch.

“The brunch was delicious, and I enjoyed getting to know some more Honors students while playing cornhole and singing to the music playing,” Karcher said.

“The food at the brunch was very tasty, and the camaraderie with friends was an added bonus,” Gemmill stated.

Sunday's brunch gathered students at the Honors House for burritos and backyard fun! Back Row from Left: Eric Chavarria, Noah Nobbe, Brian Peterson, David Kosciulek Front Row from Left: Nikki Dixon, Alyssa Brisge, Emily Mixter, Devon Lejman Photo from: David Kosciulek

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Backyard Bash!

9/22/2016

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Photos by Alex Bravard
Story by Afrah Ali

On Saturday, September 17, Honors students and their families were welcomed to a Backyard Bash from 1 PM to 2 PM as a Family Weekend event hosted by the Student Honors Council.

The family of freshman Maya Reynon, a mathematics education major, enjoyed the clear Honors House backyard with her father, and sisters ages five, eight and eleven. Reynon said she has been enjoying her Honors College experience, especially in the smaller, more personal classrooms. Her sisters were especially excited to utilize the open Recreation Center for endless rock climbing.

Freshman Jill Gralak, a public relations major, agreed saying the Honors Living Learning community within DeHority is an extremely tight-knit community compared to other freshman dorms.

The Gralaks toured the Bell Tower, an annual event only offered family weekend, earlier that morning. It was the family’s first time visiting the Honors House after orientation. Mr. Gralak was delighted to chat and eat cookies at the beloved white house again.

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Getting to Know the Honors College’s Interim Associate Dean

9/18/2016

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By Olivia Power

Dr. Patricia Lang is the Interim Associate Dean for the Honors college. Lang previously taught in the chemistry department and taught Honors science classes earlier in her Ball State career.

Dr. Patricia Lang from the chemistry department recently took over as the Interim Associate Dean for the Honors College. I sat down with her in her new office, which was adorned with homemade coasters gifted to her by a former student, to learn more about her teaching career, aspirations for the position, and favorite Ball State memories with her students.

Dr. Patricia Lang, the new Interim Associate Dean for the Honors College, is no stranger to Ball State, where she has been a professor for 30 years, nor to the Honors College. Lang taught Honors science courses, served on the Whitinger selection committee for more than 10 years as a young faculty member, mentored students for their Honors theses, and even took students on a study-abroad trip to Oxford, England for an entire term.

After getting a phone call about the position from Interim Dean of the Honors College Dr. John Emert Lang first considered her own department, the chemistry department.

"My concern was that I would leave [my department] sort of short-handed, so I chatted with our chairperson and thought about how maybe he could get by and what I could still do there, and when I was satisfied that they could cover my teaching assignments and duties and so forth, I told [Dr. Emert] that I would be happy to help," Lang said.

While she will not be teaching this semester, Lang usually teaches a wide range of chemistry classes from introductory chemistry classes to physical chemistry to analytical chemistry. In the past, she taught HONR 296, a course which explored applied chemistry topics.

"As I recall, [in HONR 296] we talked about DNA and those experiments which allow one to determine DNA, we talked about radioactivity and atomic bombs, polymers, and sort of chemistry topics that you might be exposed to."

Lang says that she has known Dr. Emert for years, as they once taught in the same building when the math department and science department both occupied Cooper Science.

“[I] certainly enjoy working with [Dr. Emert]. I thought that would be the easy part, I guess, and learning the job is not as easy."

Lang says that she looks forward to lending a new perspective to the Honors College and offering her 30 years of experience.

"Maybe if there's something that I'd like to do, it would be to help Dr. Emert to have a stronger science presence in the college.” Lang said. “I know that's something that they've wanted to have for a long time, so I hopefully can help with that," Lang said.

Since taking over the position at the start of this school year, Lang says that she has attended the Freshman Honors Convocation in Sursa Hall, the Whitinger brunch, and a lunch the Honors College staff held to welcome her aboard.

Like many of her Honors College colleagues, Lang says that working with students is one of her favorite parts of working at Ball State.

"I love interacting with students, and the Honors College students are so great... I do love the students and I always have. This year, unfortunately, trying to learn the job I won't be teaching and I'll miss that, but I wanted to make sure I was able to do what I needed to do here," Lang said.

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Seminar Service

9/16/2016

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By Claire Boenitz

The 2016-2017 school year has brought a new change to the required Honors freshman seminar course, Honors 100. In the past, Honors 100 freshmen were required to participate in at least two social events on campus, such as Late Nite or a football game, in order to engage themselves in the social life at BSU. Now, the two events are split differently, with one social event and one service-related event.

“We want to give students the idea, from the very beginning, that we are interested in helping and working with the community,” Peer Mentor Coordinator Laurie Lindberg said. “By having this new requirement, the students, in looking for an outside service-related activity, get to be more familiar with what resources there are on campus.

Like the social event, freshman are allowed to take part in volunteering at any point during the nine-week Honors 100 class in order to get credit, though some mentors may require it be done earlier. The exact guidelines have yet to be determined, as it is still a new idea.

“Not only are [service activities] resume-builders, they also get students involved in service organizations, philanthropy and volunteering,” mentor Drew Miles said. “It’s about involvement, stepping out and giving back to the community. The social events help you become more connected to campus, but this is about being better connected to Muncie. There’s a trend of people actually going out into our community.”

The service requirement is intended to be fulfilled by an event or activity that involves the student going out into the community and being social. As such, something like a blood drive - which does involve giving back to the community - would not suffice, as it doesn’t necessarily fulfill the social aspect of service that Lindberg and the mentors are aiming for.

“I like that volunteering is encouraged,” freshman Maggie Sutton said. “But personally, I think it could be extended into second semester too, after freshmen have established themselves a bit and know where to find all of these resources.”

The ultimate goal of including service in the Honors 100 agenda is establishing connections within BSU and Muncie. Call-out meetings for service organizations and volunteering count for the service requirement, just as long as students are reaching out to connect with others. This, according to Lindberg, will help them to start thinking in terms of networking sooner than they may have without the requirement.

“We think this fits in with the whole idea that we want people who graduate from Ball State, the Honors College in particular, to be aware of the people around them, to want to help, to want to work together on worthwhile things,” Lindberg said. “Honors kids already tend to be involved in serving their community - this just adds an emphasis on it.”

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Fall Fun for All at Honors Weekend

Backyard Bash!

Getting to Know the Honors College’s Interim Associate Dean

Seminar Service

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