Community in Honors

The Honors Program provides a framework that helps students develop as scholars, lifelong learners and contributing members of their communities. Here are some of the ways we do that.

Students at the Homecoming Tailgate.

Honors Living Learning Communities

There are two Living Learning Communities that support and enhance our Fellows’ development within the program: the Kenan Honors Pavilion and the Honors Floor in Colonnades C. Each has unique benefits. The Pavilion is a stand-alone community with its own building that is centrally located near the Academic Village’s many classrooms. The Pavilion has very nice rooms, excellent common spaces, laundry and kitchen facilities, and a resident faculty member. Colonnades C is in a brand new complex with large rooms in various layouts, a variety of common spaces, and proximity to the Colonnades dining facilities.

Both communities have the support of Residence Life and the Honors Program for events and outings throughout the year.

Residence Life will have housing applications available in late spring for incoming students. If you’d like to live in a learning community, there is a check-off and you fill out a short application describing why you’d like to live there and what you think you have to offer to that community. Honors housing is an option. In recent years, about 80 percent of incoming Honors students applied for Honors housing.

Having Fun at the Habitat Build (Asheville Gothic).

Working hard!

Community Events

Throughout the year the Honors Program arranges a number of social events to encourage cross-cohort connections and create a sense of community. These events typically include:

  • Welcome Picnic
  • First Year Retreat
  • Homecoming Tailgate
  • Asheville Service Trip/ Habitat for Humanity Build (Winter Term)
  • Senior Banquet

Student leaders in Honors also plan a variety of informal events such as movie nights, s’mores, group games like Assassin, and an Honors “formal.”

Student Leadership

Honors seeks to nurture student leaders by offering Fellows a variety of opportunities to work as part of the program: Teaching and Learning Apprentices for Honors Sections of Elon 1010 (3 opportunities every fall), RAs for Honors Living and Learning Communities (2 openings each year), Honors Fellow Community Director (HFCD), Honors Director of Inclusion and Diversity (HDID). Other opportunities for student leadership are announced at various times throughout the year.

Honors Fellow Community Director

The HFCD, a position created in Fall 2012, is responsible for building community within and between Fellows cohorts. The HFCD organizes a number of our community initiatives, including peer mentoring, bonding events (e.g. First Year Retreat), and service projects (e.g. Winter Service Trip to Asheville). The goal is to enhance the sense of community within the Honors Program, providing students with a strong and supportive Fellows Program that is both academic and social. Further, the HFCD will work to increase student involvement in the Honors Program, whether through attendance, planning or leadership. The HFCD, selected at the beginning of each calendar year, receives a stipend over 12 months to compensate for their work.

Honors Diversity and Inclusion Director

Created in Fall 2018, HDID is a position intended to contribute to the program’s efforts at creating a supportive environment for students from underrepresented and historically marginalized communities. The primary goals of the HDID include 1) helping to build an inclusive environment for fellows from underrepresented and historically marginalized communities and 2) supporting all members of the Honors community in their efforts at becoming more inclusive and appreciative of diversity. To facilitate these goals, the HDID will work with the Program Directors to build bridges between Honors and relevant campus resources (e.g. CREDE, the GLC, El Centro) and alongside of the Honors Fellows Community Director (HFCD) to organize select events and initiatives pertinent to fostering diversity and inclusion within the program as a whole. The HDID, selected at the end of the academic year, receives a stipend over 12 months to compensate for their work.

Photo: 3 college students smile at the camera in the grassy quad outside of Billy House. First-years Adam and Evan are matched with their peer mentor, Carter!

First-years Adam and Evan are matched with their peer mentor, Carter!

Peer Mentoring

Interested incoming fellows are paired with current fellows with similar academic or extra-curricular interests. These mentoring pairs are arranged by student leaders and provide an opportunity for new students to connect with a network of supportive colleagues and future friends.

For questions about the Elon Honors program, please contact the Honors Director (sbednar@elon.edu) or Associate Director (bkesgin@elon.edu).