Above & Beyond: Westminster Honors Program

From a student learning to use high-powered equipment that will give him a huge advantage in a graduate program in chemistry … To another student writing a Master’s-level thesis on major European philosophical movements … To another engaging in a sophisticated study of the impact of medical advances in a variety of communities as he prepares for medical school …

The Westminster Honors Program provides in-depth, individualized learning experiences for a select group of  students. Led by Dr. Heidi LaVine, the Honors Program challenges and stimulates students – above and beyond the traditional college experience – to accomplish more than they even thought possible.

“The Honors Program offers particularly motivated students the chance to take advanced courses early in their college career, and to design their own off-campus experiences and thesis projects in advance of graduate school or post-Westminster job interviews,” says Dr. LaVine. “The students have also played an active role in shaping the structure and content of the program, and I can’t tell you how much I enjoy collaborating with them.”

In the Honors Program, students …

• Receive one-on-one attention from  professors in studying some of life’s most interesting topics.
• Play an active role in shaping the structure and content of the program.
• Dive into in-depth seminar style course work.
• Participate in inspiring group-related activities.
• Work and travel together in fascinating academic and social experiences.

Honors program work culminates in highly specialized graduate school level research, individual projects that will make a difference in the community, or public presentations at major professional conferences.

“What I find so valuable about the Honors Program is that it allows students to tailor their final honors project to their individual needs, while pushing them to aim high in designing these projects,” says Dr. Carolyn Perry, Senior Vice President and Dean of Faculty.

Class of 2014 Honors Program Projects

Kyle Klahs from Bloomsdale, Missouri, job shadowed doctors in both rural and urban areas for two semesters. What he learned about differences in lifestyle, treatment methods, scheduling issues and a host of other topics helped him decide how and where he wants to practice medicine.  He also put together a seminar for other students in the health services track to use in successfully shadowing multiple professionals simultaneously.  Kyle was admitted to medical school early in his junior year without having to take an admissions test and plans to enter either the Army or Air Force to pursue medical school through the armed services.

Utsav Malla, a biochemistry major from Kathmandu, Nepal, conducted an independent research project that taught another student with no experience how to use underutilized scientific equipment in the science department to determine the content, purity, and molecular structure of a lab sample. Utsav is now enrolled in the biochemical engineering program at Washington University with a substantial scholarship.

Felicia Lang from Brooklyn, New York, spent a semester in Chicago doing arts, entrepreneurship, and urban studies course work.  Her finished project from the experience was a piece of performance art incorporating dance and the spoken word to portray life the way Chicago homeless people experience it.  Not only did she compose and choreography the piece.  She directed and performed it.  Then once she returned to the Westminster campus in Fulton, she created and performed another version of her piece with an ensemble of students which explored the sub-communities and cultures of Fulton.  Felicia is now applying to a number of graduate programs that focus on the arts and social justice.

A political science major from Mountain Grove, Missouri, Michael Applegate aspires to a career in urban planning, with a focus on designing community spaces that are accessible to and easily navigable by historically marginalized groups (eg. the deaf and hard of hearing, refugees, etc.). To prepare for graduate school, Michael’s project involved working with Refugee and Immigration Services of Columbia, Missouri.  She worked closely with an Iraqi employee, Nadeem Ramiydh, and helped him to facilitate access to doctors’ offices, social services, library and internet services, etc. for the area’s Arabic-speaking community.  She learned what kinds of paperwork commonly need to be translated for immigrant and refugee communities (school forms, medical forms, applications for social security cards/benefits, applications for temporary housing assistance, basic vocabulary for use in grocery stores, etc.) and assisted local residents with these things.

For more information on the program or to apply, go to www.westminster-mo.edu/go/honors program.

Above, Michael Applegate, ’14, and Tyler Haulotte, ’15, at the 2014 Undergraduate Scholars Forum.