The UA Honors College completed its annual Honors Action Week Aug. 16, offering students the opportunity to earn course credit while serving the local community.
Enrollment for Honors Action, or UH 103, involves two sets of applications. Applications for leader positions roll out in the fall semester, followed by an interview process, and any subsequent notification of acceptance comes via the Honors College newsletter.
Applications for Honors Action freshmen are open January through April. After students are accepted, registration for the UH 103 class section occurs during one of the Bama Bound sessions offered in May, June and July. This year’s Honors Action class comprised approximately 230 freshmen and 50 student leaders.
Students enrolled in Honors Action settled into their residence halls on Friday, Aug. 9, and began their five-day community engagement experience on Aug. 11.
“It’s a wonderful way to be introduced to both the campus and the Honors College, and it offers students a much wider view of the city of Tuscaloosa at large. This will be my sixth year, and it has opened my eyes to people and parts of Tuscaloosa that I’ve never been to before. I really have enjoyed it,” said Anne Franklin Lamar, director of Honors Action.
Each student worked at one of three schools with a UA professor: Holt Elementary, Westwood Elementary or Brookwood Middle. The Holt section was overseen by Megan Bailey, the Brookwood section by Christopher Bishop and the Westwood section by Lamar.
Lamar said there were 12-15 freshmen with two leaders per project and six or seven projects at each school.
Anna Parker, a senior majoring in communicative disorders, served as the service director at Holt Elementary. Parker’s role involved leading service and commuting with school administration, group leaders and Honors Action directors.
“Our main goal is just to really listen to the community as a whole and do something that both the school and our students will be proud of at the end of the week,” Parker said.
Emily Rabbideau, a senior majoring in studio art and creative media, acted as the service director at Westwood Elementary.
“I hope that the students are able to come back and see that their school is a beautiful place to be at and that their school is a place that they can enjoy and feel comfortable learning in,” Rabbideau said.
Mixed within these five days of service projects were five afternoon lectures as well as additional discussions. These were assisted by a group of lecturers who shared valuable insight regarding working in the community, along with what it meant to be a well-servicing member of any community.
“With the lectures, what’s really emphasized is the idea of service learning and experiential learning. We’re not only in schools to serve, but to learn about community needs,” said Ryan Farneth, a senior majoring in accounting and Spanish who acted as the service director at Brookwood.
According to Bishop, students at the Brookwood section worked on projects building picnic tables, painting murals, cleaning and more.
Participants concluded each day with dinner and nighttime festivities. The latter ranged from more active involvements like kickball or a night at the Robert E. Witt Activity Center to more low-key activities like trivia and crafts.
This all-encompassing mixture of working, listening and actively socializing was intentional on the part of the Honors College faculty. According to both Lamar and Bishop, it provided an opportunity for proactive freshmen to warm up to the forthcoming Honors curriculum, as well as any networking events associated with the college a week in advance.
“You’re not just going to school; you’re working together with others in community areas,” Bishop said. “I couldn’t be happier that the first thing I get to do is be working with students with service projects.”
