Welcome Back to Honors!
Article by Daisy Arvonen / Photo by Nate Edwards, BYU Photo
On long bike rides to campus this summer, Richard Gill, Dean of Undergraduate Education, listened to classical literature that reminded him of his experience in the Honors Program as a student many years ago. Now as summer winds up, he welcomes returning and incoming students back to the Maeser Building, and offers some advice about how students make the most of their Honors experience.
“I’ve loved the Honors Program for decades now and recognize how important it is,” he explained, recollecting his personal experience. “It's always been a place of community.”
Whether it’s socializing at a chocolate chat, or engaging in an unexpected connections class, Gill encourages students to get involved in all that this student community of disciple-scholars has to offer. The program has many opportunities to be part of networks of people that share common goals.
“It's one of the great paradoxes that as the campus gets bigger, our ability to feel connected to it gets smaller,” he said, “but here in the Honors Program, there is a smaller sampling of people who have a shared value system, a shared commitment to the university mission and aims.”
In a place where it may feel hard to connect, Gill said that classes in the Honors Program give everyone an opportunity to contribute. “Whether it's inside the classroom or outside of the classroom, there's an effort made to ensure that you're intersecting,” he said.
Along with offering opportunities to serve and being involved, Gill also mentioned how the program’s interdisciplinary approach has enhanced his career as a biologist. Learning from different disciplines is a unique experience that BYU’s Honors students can take advantage of.
“There's a humility and a meekness that should be emerging out of the Honors Program, which is in stark contrast to honors programs other places,” Gill said, explaining that many other university honors programs focus on an elite group of the smartest students.
“We don't need that at BYU,” he said, “our students are really bright.” Instead, he explained that the Honors Program focuses on being intellectually humble and learning from all perspectives. “The beauty of the Honors community is that it is this mosaic of individuals where everybody brings their own light and we can put it together,” he said, “and as we put that together, we can create something beautiful here.”
This humility comes as Honors students ask big questions. In a recent BYU devotional, Gill motivated students to follow the issues and questions that they feel drawn to. Restating his message, he encourages Honors students to do the same as they investigate their own great questions this semester.
“Being an Honors student really is a time of discovery,” he said, explaining that it is an opportunity for students to ponder what they are good at, what they are passionate about, what interests them, and how their unique gifts benefit society.
While being in the Honors Program is a great time to find oneself, Gill warned, “There's a danger in the process of self-discovery of becoming selfish.” Of all the questions students ponder in the Honors Program, Dean Gill hopes that students will ask the question of discipleship, or how they can best serve others.
“The intersection of those three things, what am I passionate about, what am I good at, and where can I be of service, is the place where we're going to discover our own discipleship,” he said. He also explained that if the Honors Program is doing what it should, students will acquire empathy as they learn from others, and increase their capacity to love and serve in the community.
Listening to Tolkien, Steinbeck, and countless books on rides to campus this summer reminded Gill of the purpose of the Honors Program—to lift students' eyes to higher academic goals, to be reminded of the human condition and where their talents can help. Just as he was intellectually stretched as an Honors student years ago, he hopes students in the program this semester will do the same.
“I think I'm a better biologist because I am engaged in literature, and I think that I'm also a better disciple of Christ,” he said. “As we engage in these big ideas, we're better able to serve elsewhere.”
Welcoming all Honors students back to fall semester, Dean Gill said, “We're thrilled to have you on campus. Everyone is bringing something unique.”
From all of us here in the Honors Program, welcome back!