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Honors Program

Navigating the LDE

Learn about the Honors Leadership Experience

You’ve heard about the LDE. You’re curious about your friend’s exciting leadership project. You see the Honors Student Leadership Council members bustling around events with their name tags. But where do you get started?

This week’s feature is all about helping Honors students learn more about the Honors Leadership Experience and how to get started. Hopefully by the end, you’ll have a few questions answered and know your next step is.

The Leadership Development Experience (LDE) is an exciting component of the Honors program. You will receive Honors credit for developing your own leadership skills, and then completing an experience designed to help you become an effective leader.

When should you start thinking about the LDE? It’s never too soon, but you do need to complete HONRS 110, 120, and at least one Unexpected Connections course before you begin.

For students who committed to the Honors Program during 2020 or later, there are a couple of options for how to complete the leadership requirement:

Option 1: HONRS 310 and HONRS 390R

Option 1 offers a tremendous, self-directed growing experience. Students first complete HONRS 310, and then within a year, propose a project and enroll in HONRS 390R, the practical application of the theories learned in 310. Here’s a bit more information about each class:

HONRS 310: Foundations of Interdisciplinary Leadership

Good news! HONRS 310 is a one-credit class, which means you can easily fit it into your busy schedule. This class is usually offered for a two-hour block once a week, and it is only a one-term class. That means you will take it for either the first half or the second half of the semester, depending on which section you join.

HONRS 310 is designed to give you a vocabulary and foundational understanding of leadership theory. In this class, we want you to learn that you are a leader! You will identify your leadership strengths and weaknesses and receive personalized feedback about your competencies.

At the end of the class, you will write a paper about how you want to grow as a leader based on what you’ve learned. Once you have a solid understanding of the principles and various theories of leadership from HONRS 310, you will be prepared to tackle your LDE project.

HONRS 390R: Leadership Practicum

Don’t slow down now! From the time you finish HONRS 310, you have one year to begin your leadership project—and that’s after getting it approved. Here’s the process:

1. Think of the leadership project you would like to do. You’ll have some time to reflect on this in HONRS 310, but you can keep deciding after class.

· There are some pre-selected options such as the Ballard Center Social Impact Projects, Model United Nations, and more.

· Or, you can identify or design your own project, keeping in mind the project requirements (see below). Students have done all sorts of things—from founding a D&D club, to connecting Brazilian autism specialists with resources, to starting an LED lighting company. Make it yours and own it!

2. Then you will need to propose your project. Check out the proposal form on the Honors website here. Make sure to submit your proposal to the Honors office before beginning your project—giving the office at least two weeks to process your form. Even if you choose a pre-selected project, you still need to submit a proposal. Whatever you choose, your project needs to:

· Impact the community served, others, and yourself;
· Develop you as an influential leader;
· Demonstrate your ability to solve problems;
· Provide opportunities to work effectively and collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team;
· Have measurable outcomes;
· Be scoped appropriately. The project should require approximately 150 hours of work on the part of the student and be completed within 1-12 months.

3. Third, if your project is approved, you will enroll in HONRS 390R. You need to be enrolled while completing your project, not before or after. The number of credit hours you enroll for depends on your project and the length of time it will take to complete. You can work with the Honors LDE advisor to figure out timing and how many credits to add over the appropriate number of terms/semesters. While you are enrolled in 390R, you will submit reflections throughout your experience. Each will help you get the most out of your project, with one final presentation as a culmination. Once you have completed this presentation, you are finished with your LDE!

Option 2: Honors Student Leadership Council (HSLC)

Do you want to make some of your closest friends in the Honors Program? Are you pumped about the Honors community and want to find a way to get more involved? HSLC might be the place for you! The Honors Student Leadership Council helps plan and run Honors events, spearheads and implements a variety of projects, acts as the voice of Honors students to bring input and ideas to administration, and engages in leadership development. It’s a terrific way to be even more involved in Honors! For more information, talk to a member of this year’s council, or visit the Honors Office. We’re happy to answer your questions. You can find the application form to apply for the 2024-25 council here.

Pre-2020 Students

Students who committed to the Honors program prior to Fall 2020 are also required to complete a leadership project, but are not required to enroll in HONRS 310 or 390R (though many students choose to do so anyway!). Students who fall under this older program should still propose and receive approval for their leadership project in advance by completing and submitting the LDE form here. Contact an Honors advisor (honors@byu.edu) with any questions you may have!

There’s an LDE out there that will be an amazing fit for you. If we can do anything to help you prepare, please come talk to us in the Honors advisement office (102 MSRB)!