First, allow me to thank Wesley Vaughn and the CW for a very insightful and relevant statement regarding the Honors College Assembly.  Indeed, a large number of HCA leadership includes University Fellows, and other leaders within the organization are those who frequent Nott Hall and have very good, standing relationships with Honors College faculty. While these things are true, I feel that the “Proceed with Caution” column has given me a magnificent opportunity to express why HCA has the ever more apparent potential to become a highly efficient connector of students within Honors College, as well as a future facilitator of events, projects and initiatives that are relevant to many aspects of this university.

While I am a member of Honors College, I have not always been a member with good standing. Apathetic freshman year actions led to my GPA dropping below a 3.3, leading to a yearlong probation from the program. During this time, I screwed my head on straight, set some clear goals, made one of the best decisions of my life by applying for Creative Campus and took an extra semester (during which I was out of Honors College) to set my academics in order.

I hardly ever visited Nott during this time period, nor did I spend time with many other Honors students. To be quite honest, I had no clue who was in the college and who was not. Then, while meeting with Dr. Jacqueline Morgan about my reinstatement into Honors College we took some time to catch up, and she informed me of the Assembly and the Director of Arts Awareness position.

It was extremely surprising to me that she would tell me this, considering that I had thus far done a horrible job of being a good honors student.  I thought that only exceptional, well-known favorites of faculty and such would be informed about such openings.  Although this confused me a little, I applied for the position, and now I am the Director of Arts Awareness in HCA…that’s with almost no previous HC involvement.

While I am in no way encouraging students to avoid becoming involved, my experience leads me to believe that had more students known about the leadership positions, the Assembly brass would be a bit more diverse.

I hope this brief glimpse into my life demonstrates that the exclusive image of the Assembly is really due only to both the speed of spreading information and the necessity of beginning an organization by using a foundation of core individuals who are already known and trusted. The HCA officers were elected, which means that the winners were well known among the voters, and the directors were selected via application and interview process.

Meanwhile, HCA is already engaging the community and the student body through various means. Just weeks from today, HCA will be joining forces with the Black Student Union to host a mass cultural open mic Express Night on Common Ground, for example. So, HCA is both reaching out within Honors College and externally to various other groups on Campus to further a growing mission of connectivity and collaboration amongst UA organizations.

Based on the way that we have been able to grow and make positive things happen thus far, I am positive that next year’s assembly will involve a far larger number of students from multiple groups and backgrounds.

Ryan Davis is a senior majoring in interdisciplinary studies: interdisciplinary media.