Bucks broke the fifty-year barrier by launching Honors@Bucks, and looks to continue its growth as it builds on an effort to challenge the gifted.
Bucks is an open admissions school that focuses on serving everyone.
Dr. Stephen doCarmo, head of the honors program, said, “Our goal is to help students who aren’t ready for college, so it only makes sense to specialize with those who need to be pushed and challenged.”
“It’s our mission to serve everyone, and some of our students are gifted and hardcore ambitious. We have to serve them too. It’s only right. It’s only fair,” doCarmo said.
The biggest achievement so far is about to come, as the first seven students to obtain an Associates with Honors degree are graduating this spring.
doCarmo said he hopes to “call out to those leaving,” including those who are not graduating and are moving on to another institution “to find out what happens to them.”
He said, “Students will fly the coop.”
The program launched quickly in the fall of 2014 and saw low enrollment. Since then it has only grown and continues to flourish.
The program currently adheres to 64 active students and offers seven dedicated honors classes. The goal is to reach 75-100 students by next fall.
When compared to the 10,000 students who are enrolled at Bucks, 64 sounds like a small number, though doCarmo said, “We are right on track.”
“A lot of students don’t think of themselves capable of succeeding in honors courses and simply don’t challenge themselves. Our goal is to raise awareness and let people know it’s here and that anyone can join,” said doCarmo.
Allison Aquilone, a 19-year-old Business Administration major from Bensalem, said, “I was interested in being involved in a more research-based program, and there is definitely an emphasis on research, critical thinking, and in-class discussion in honors courses.”
So what is expected of honors students besides a 3.25 GPA?
“Energy, focus, and drive. These are small classes that should be discussion driven and seminar styled, and students should be ambitious, hardworking, and excited to share their thoughts,”doCarmo said.
Aquilone said, “The SRC [Student Research Conference] is a stressful event, but doing presentations in front of a large group of people definitely prepares you for the future.”
Many students view this as twice the amount of work, but it is not.
“The point of this is not to kill honors students, but to challenge them. They do require more work, but no one is out to do you in and double the number of hours per week,” doCarmo said.
Sarah Semple, 20, communications major said, “It definitely takes up a lot of time, and if you’re a student who is working full-time and taking five classes, it can get a bit unmanageable.”
doCarmo said there has been a “high rate of success” and he has only seen a few students burn out. He said, “This happens due to over commitment.” It is the programs biggest stumbling block.
Sometimes we all bite off more than we can chew. “We need to be careful and wake students up and say, ‘Hey, don’t overburden yourself,’” doCarmo said.
The Honors program is not an all or nothing program. doCarmo said, “The general population can take a semester off, though scholarship students have to do it every semester.”
“Any work you can do is for the good. We would rather see two or three classes on a transcript than none,” doCarmo said.
Semple decided to take the semester off from honors courses as she focuses more attention on herself, though she said, “I think the honors program here at Bucks is one of the best.”
“As my professor told me, if there’s one thing you should do in college, it is take an honors class, especially for one like writing. It will not only help you in writing for your COMP class, but also for every other class and improve your writing as a whole,” Semple said.
Semple said she will not continue on with the honors program here at Bucks, but her experiences with Dr. Groth and Professor Kelleway taught her how to “dig deep when it came down to my writing and improvement.”
So what’s next for the honors program? “We are also looking to set up a transfer agreement with Lehigh University so that transfers can join honors in their junior year,” doCarmo said. He hopes to focus on continued growth and design bigger honors-dedicated menus in the semesters to come.