Want excellent academic achievements? Be an honor student at MC!

Author: Yasmine Toure, Staff Writer

Montgomery College recognizes the efforts of its students by providing them honors courses to help them transfer in good four-year institutions with honors awards, internships, and scholarships. The honors program at MC is not just for specific majors: anyone who meets the requirements to be an honor student is welcomed to join the program.

The MC Honors program is called the scholars circle. To join the scholars circle, students need to either:

· complete at least 12 MC credits with a 3.2 GPA or above in transfer-level classes, including an A or a B in ENGL101/101A

· have a minimum high school GPA of 3.5 unweighted

· be eligible for 102 depending on the placement score or SAT

The MC honors programs are different from each other; thus, every student can find a program appropriate for his/her major and interests. The two major programs are:

· The Macklin Business Institute (MBI): this program is located in Rockville and reserved for business majors who are full-time only. This program offers special service-learning to its members in courses related to business, allowing them to have experiences in the business field and build relationships with corporate executives. The program also offers full tuition scholarships up to 30 credits to its members and give them the opportunity to make presentations at regional and national competitions. You can contact them at [email protected]

· The Renaissance Honors Program: This program combines a rigorous curriculum of honors courses followed by research projects and special advising. Students choose the courses in which they feel interested and the program is available on every campus and provide scholarships for Renaissance courses. The courses offered may vary depending on campuses. Moreover, students are eligible for summer travel programs and can participate to regional or national programs. You can contact Prof. Joan Naake at [email protected] or Dr. Carole Wolin at [email protected]

What we like the most about the honors programs at MC is that you don’t have to join these two programs to graduate as an honor student! Montgomery College puts everything in place to make sure that all its high achieving students interested in an honor completion program but not interested in one of the programs above graduate with an honor award. Independent classes are available in honors every semester to allow students who are not in the MBI or the Renaissance program to take honors classes. For more information, you can contact Dr. Lucy Laufe at [email protected] . By taking independent honors courses, students are members of the MC Scholars Circle. Students who want to take honors courses without joining the Scholars Circle need to meet the requirements for the Circle.

The MC Honors programs also focus on social interactions between honors students and professors. Clubs and meetings are scheduled by professors to allow honor students to get to know each other. For example, in the Germantown campus, the “Honors Writers Group” takes place either on Thursdays or Fridays in the PK building, where the provost provides a rooms to honors students to discuss scholarships, get helped by professor Devlin, the English professor who created to Honors Writers Groups, and get to know each other in a friendly and working atmosphere. The provost office is in PK108 and every honor student is invited to join the groups and have pizza with the rest of the group!!

So, if you have good grades and want opportunities that match your efforts, don’t wait and become an honor student at MC!