Santa Barbara City College’s Honors Program offers academically motivated students an opportunity to foster individual creative thinking and communication skills, concepts many have not experienced before.
Student Melika Rahimi describes the classes as “giving the students a chance to speak and join the conversation, rather than having the teacher-student conversation be a one-way pipeline.”
Currently, 300 students are enrolled in the SBCC Honors Program, according to professor Melanie Eckford-Prossor, faculty director. The curriculum — which crosses disciplines — helps develop the skills of critical thinking, expository and argumentative writing, and effective oral communication Outside research, field trips and literature prepare students to contribute to the development of the ideas and themes of the Honors courses.
Combined with strong academic majors, the Honors curriculum provides rigorous preparation for transfer to four-year universities and colleges as well as satisfies all requirements for the SBCC associate in arts or science degree.
Melika serves as one of three student co-presidents for the Honors Program. A native of Tehran, Iran, she is a chemical engineering major with a goal to transfer to UCLA.
“The program gave me a chance to prove myself,” she said. “I learned to speak up in class and how I can join the discussion while my professors are teaching.”
Co-president Austin Davis-Hunter from Santa Cruz plans to transfer to UCLA or to USCB. With his eye on psychobiology or pharmacology majors, his goal is to ultimately attend medical school.
“The tagline for the Honors Program is ‘Expect More. Be More,’ and that is exactly what my experience has been,” he said. “This program has not only given me an excellent education but also fostered a strong student community that had led to lifelong friendships.”
The third co-president, Chino Chasakara, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, is a philosophy major with plans to transfer to a small liberal arts college or a large research institution.
“Joining the Honors Program was probably the best decision I’ve made at SBCC,” he said. “The single biggest thing I’ve learned is confidence, that I have the ability for higher education and a greater appreciation for what the next step will be.”
Professor Eckford-Prosser added, “Students who never considered themselves honors students are encouraged to join as long as they have the grade point average and the focus and desire as exemplified by Melika, Austin and Chino.”
As co-presidents, the “Honors Triumvirate” has focused largely on offering students special events, including the biweekly Tea with the Professor and outreach to the local high schools. For the last 11 years, the Honors Program has hosted a campus-wide conference on important topics such as revolution and the environment. The 12th annual SBCC Student Conference is open to all of the college’s students with this year’s event, titled “Shifting Boundaries,” scheduled for April 24. Honors students will help select the papers and run the conference.
Click here for more information about the SBCC Honors Program.
— Joan Galvan is a public information officer for SBCC.