by Allison Roberts
Staff writer
“The mark of an educated person is the ability to entertain a thought without accepting it.” According to Dr. Lisa Coleman, director of the Honors Program at Southeastern, this quote by Aristotle is one that Honors students need to keep in mind throughout their tenure at the university.
Coleman explained that students of the program will “learn to live, learn, serve and play together in ways that will lift up the entire community, inside and outside of the university.”
Honors Day, a day when prospective freshmen compete for scholarships in the Honors Program, is coming up on Saturday, Feb. 18.
The Parsons Program, funded in 1978 by SE alumnus David L. Parsons, served as the basis for the current Honors Program, which came to be in 1994. Coleman said the Honors Program is now funded by the state of Oklahoma and Southeastern, though a Parsons Scholarship is still offered each year.
Among the scholarships currently offered to the Program’s students are the Parsons, Academic, Regional University, Academic by Nomination, Presidential and Out of State scholarships, according to the Honors Program brochure.
These scholarships vary in dollar amount and number available, so the program hosts a day each year for prospective freshmen members to compete.
To be invited to this year’s Honors Day, high school seniors must meet the ACT score requirement of 25 and submit complete applications that are postmarked by Tuesday, Jan. 31.
In 2010, the Honors Program, President’s Leadership Class and music department began to host their interviews or auditions for potential freshmen on the same day, said Program Office Assistant Lyndi Standefer-Scarberry. The Scholarship Competition Weekend was created in order to lessen the load of any faculty members who volunteered for multiple events.
The schedule changes since then have been minute: the day’s events now start at 8 a.m. rather than 8:30, Standefer-Scarberry said, and the groups now share an auditorium for general welcome speeches by various campus speakers.
Other events of the upcoming Honors Day include registration, an ice breaker and a departmental fair, during which time light refreshments will be served in the Student Union.
After hearing from speakers Dr. Larry Minks, Coleman and Dr. Stacy Weger in the Montgomery Auditorium, Honors applicants will break into groups to participate in interviews, essay writing and college success sessions.
Each Honors Day attendee will be offered a free lunch in the Southeastern Cafeteria, after which optional financial aid sessions and campus tours will be offered, according to the day’s schedule.
Standefer-Scarberry said Honors Program members volunteering for the day should wear one of the Program’s shirts.
Current members of the program along with faculty and staff volunteer to assist with the day’s events by acting as group leaders, interviewers or overseers of registration, among other positions. Standefer-Scarberry explains, “Every student is intelligent and unique in their own individual way, but the dynamics of the group could not be achieved without them collectively coming together as a whole.”
Program member and current Honors Advisory Council President Heather Hartline shared about her experience in the Program:
“The most valuable thing that the Honors Program has taught me is how to engage in the world around me. The program encourages us not only to succeed academically and to be good students but to be active members of our community in order to benefit the world around us.”
More information about the Honors Program can be found online at www.se.edu/honor.