mu honors

DanielaVidalStudent Spotlight | Pursuing a passion for learning

September 16, 2013 | honors.missouri.edu

Dr. WestOn Clubs

and Events

Fresh FacesThe HC Freshman Class

in this issue

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Announcements

Fresh Faces: The HC Freshman Class

Student Spotlight: Daniela Vidal

Dr. WestOn Clubs and Events

Graduate Research Fellowship Program

Honors College Ambassadors Tri-Chair Aaron Braverman and Honors College Director Dr. Nancy West present raffle prizes during the Induction Ceremony on August 18 at the Missouri Theatre. Photo by Dr. Gregory Triplett.

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Connected

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FacebookUniversity of Missouri Honors College The Honors College Newsletter

Editor | Rachel KoehnPhotographer | Katy Mersmann

Faculty Advisor | Dr. Gregory Triplett

Cover photo by Dr. Gregory Triplett.

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Announcements

Upcoming Passport EventsHow to Arrange Physician Shadowing and Volunteering Experiences

Friday, Sept. 20, 11am - 12pm and 2pm - 3pmJesse Wrench Auditorium, Memorial Union South

How do you really know you want to be a phy-sician? How do you convince the admissions folks that you truly know what it is like to be a physician and involved in patient care? This presentation will cover the basics of physician shadowing and instructions for arranging clin-ical volunteer and shadowing experiences.

Saturday Morning Science: How Old Is A Rock?

Saturday, Sept. 21, 10:30am - 12pmMonsanto Auditorium, Bond Life Sciences CenterSPEAKER: Alan Whittington, Geological Sciences

To a geologist, this can be a surprisingly com-plicated question. Learn about the rock cycle, the history of attempts to determine the age of the Earth, and how scientists finally measured the age of the Earth at 4.55 billion years.

MU Campus Gallery and Museum Crawl

Thursday, Sept. 26, 4:00pm - 8:00pmMU Campus

Enjoy a free evening of food, music, and prizes while visiting the rich variety of resources on the MU campus. In addition to galleries, museums, and the observatory, the Residence on Francis Quadrangle, the oldest building on the oldest public university campus west of the Mississippi River, will be open until 7 p.m. Stroll through the campus’ botanic gardens while listening to MU School of Music students along the route. With unique experiences at all locations, there is something for everyone. Get your Crawl map at artifact.missouri.edu, or pick one up at any of the Crawl stations. The Crawl has expanded this year to include the Gaines-Oldham Black Culture Center and the Reynolds Journalism Institute.

MU Office of Service-Learning Programs

MU Office of Service-Learning is currently seeking individuals interested in the following programs. Honors sections are available for each of these Service Learning courses. Please use our online scheduler to Sign up for a workshop today!

CLIP Government: Would you like to experience the excitement of helping a state legislator during the 2014 legislative session? If so, you may want to hear what MU students are saying about our CLIP Program! The Civic Leaders Internship Program awards aca-demic credit to sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a 2.8 or Higher GPA who serve the State of Missouri through intern-ships in publicly funded offices. Students from all backgrounds and majors are encouraged to apply. Further, we provide $2,000 stipends for program participants who commit to a limited number of competitive full-time internships. You must attend a workshop before you can apply! Hear what students are saying!

TaLK: Earn a full scholarship and MU academic credit to serve in Korea! Each year, over 300 students from across the U.S. are funded to teach conversational English in rural Korean after school programs with TaLK (Teach and Learn in Korea). The program awards students scholarships that fund round-trip airfare, living expenses, health insurance, and organized trips in Korea, Japan and China. Students from degree programs across campus can apply for an MU Credited experience or simply apply as an intern.

Global Service Programs:The MU Office of Service-Learning offers programs that combine academic studies, community service, and cultural im-mersion through programs that benefit local communities and fulfill critical human and environmental needs. During the 2013-2014 academic year, students can serve in locations such as: Costa Rica (Winter Break), Costa Rica (Spring Break), Ghana (Summer), Ecuador (Summer), Ireland (Summer), Thailand (Summer). These interdisciplinary programs allow stu-dents from a variety of academic backgrounds to participate. Service may involve teaching, health education and outreach, community development, environmental projects, tourism, construction, or a variety of other activities that contribute to the wellbeing of individuals, communities, and nations where the students serve.

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MU Campus Gallery and Museum Crawl

Thursday, Sept. 26, 4:00pm - 8:00pmMU Campus

Enjoy a free evening of food, music, and prizes while visiting the rich variety of resources on the MU campus. In addition to galleries, museums, and the observatory, the Residence on Francis Quadrangle, the oldest building on the oldest public university campus west of the Mississippi River, will be open until 7 p.m. Stroll through the campus’ botanic gardens while listening to MU School of Music students along the route. With unique experiences at all locations, there is something for everyone. Get your Crawl map at artifact.missouri.edu, or pick one up at any of the Crawl stations. The Crawl has expanded this year to include the Gaines-Oldham Black Culture Center and the Reynolds Journalism Institute.

Saturday Morning Science: Microbial Methylation of Mercury: A Solution to the Mystery of Neurotoxin Production!

Saturday, Sept. 28, 10:30am - 12pmMonsanto Auditorium, Bond Life Sciences CenterSPEAKER: Judy Wall, Biochemistry

Mercury in nature can become the dan-gerous neurotoxin methylmercury. The source of this toxin was recently discov-ered. Learn how this discovery will help make us all safer.

Bouncing Back from a Bad 1st Exam Workshop

Thursday (September 19th) from 5pm-6pm in Lefevre 112.

The purpose of this workshop is help calm those anxious nerves and to prepare students for future exams. We will have two special guests (Dr. Keller from the Chemistry Department/Honors College and Dr. Maruniak from the Biology Department) that will provide helpful test strategies that are applicable for all classes. Also, there will be two senior Biology students to share their “bouncing back stories” and provide a peer perspective.Announcement sponsored by the Biology Department.

Law School Information Session

On Tuesday, September 17 from 5:30-6:30pm, we will be hosting an informational session about the law school application process, the LSAT, financial aid, and/or any other law school related questions. We will have a short presentation and then answer general questions you may have about Mizzou Law or the application process in gen-eral. The information session will be held in Hulston Hall, Room 7. No RSVP is required, but if you have questions, contact: Michelle Heck, M.Ed. Director of Law School Admissions 573-882-6643 www.law.missouri.edu

Volunteer Fair

The Volunteer Fair is an opportunity for students to receive information about various volunteer opportunities around Columbia. Non-profit organizations will set up booths to talk with students and pass out information on how to get involved with their organization. Come learn about all the different ways you can serve directly in the local Columbia community! This is a rain or shine event on Tuesday, September 17, 9am-2pm on Lowry Mall. For more information, please visit leadership.missouri.edu. Announcement sponsored by Center for Leadership & Ser-vice, Department of Student Life and University YMCA.

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Fresh Faces The Honors College Freshman Class

On August 18, freshman inductees to the MU Honors College made their way to the Missouri Theatre for the Honors College Induction Ceremony. The fresh-man class heard from Director Dr. Nancy West, the four Associate Directors, the Honors College Ambassadors, and HC senior Azheem Khan. They signed up for Food with Faculty, Tea with the Direc-tor, and Honors College Book Clubs, and each student committed to upholding the Honors Pledge.

(Left) Honors College senior Azheem Khan addresses the fresh-man inductees. | (Above) MU freshman Honors College stu-dents make their way down Ninth Street toward the Induction Ceremony. Photos by Dr. Gregory Triplett.

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The Honors College Freshman Class

(Left) Freshman Honors College students enter the historic Missouri Theatre, located in downtown Co-lumbia. | (Above) Associate Director Dr. Steven Keller and Director Dr. Nancy West await the beginning of the ceremony. Photos by Dr. Gregory Triplett.

HC Students’ Top 15 Home States (Spring 2013)

1. Missouri2. Illinois3. Texas4. Kansas5. Minnesota6. California7. Iowa8. Colorado9. Nebraska10. Tennessee Ohio12. Wisconsin13. Georgia Arkansas15. Oklahoma Florida Michigan

HC Students’ Top 15 Home States (Fall 2013)

1. Missouri2. Illinois3. Texas4. Kansas5. Minnesota6. Iowa7. California8. Colorado9. Tennessee10. Nebraska11. Ohio12. Wisconsin13. Georgia14. Arkansas15. Virginia

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student spotlight

Vidaldaniela

Daniela Vidal is a freshman Honors College stu-dent from Peoria, Illinois. She is pursing majors in Journalism and English and a minor in Spanish.

RK: What made you decide to come to Mizzou?

DV: The journalism school, for sure, and when I visited here everyone was friendly and open and, I don’t know, it felt like home when I was here. Yes, that’s pretty much why. And the j-school; I felt that they were really looking to push everyone to their full potential. They have very high expec-tations and high demands, so I really like that, and they wanted each stu-dent to have this global perspective but also really fine-tuned skills to go into their job field and make a differ-ence. So, that’s what attracted me to the j-school and Mizzou in general.

RK: What kinds of activities or orga-nizations were you involved in in high school?

DV: I did cross country and track, and I was in student council as par-

liamentarian, so that was fun, doing all the voting and elections. I was also in orchestra, and I was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper the last two years of high school. So, it was a pretty big load, but it was fun.

RK: Which of those activities are you going to continue at Mizzou?

DV: I’m taking violin lessons now, but I can’t do orchestra since it conflicts with my schedule. I had my first les-son [recently], and that was really great. I love [my teacher]; she’s a very nice woman, but she’s also really de-manding, so I know I’ll just get bet-ter with her. And then I’m doing club cross country, club running, too.

RK: What else are you involved in or hoping to get involved in at Mizzou?

DV: I do really want to get more in-volved in like The Maneater and other newspaper organizations, journalist organizations. There was a fall wel-come for the j-school; there were so many things, and I was just really ex-cited to see so many opportunities that I could take advantage of.

RK: Which (if any) Honors College courses are you taking this semester?

How are they different from your oth-er courses?

DV: I’m taking Ancient World and English 2100 Honors. It’s a lot more discussion-oriented and more like Socratic method, so we can ask ques-tions, pose questions to our classmates and they answer, and our professor poses questions. You can see more di-rectly how passionate the professor is about his or her field when you’re in the smaller class, like the Honors set classes, so that gets you engaged in the work, too, which is what I like. Like Professor Schenker, you can just see his eyes light up when he’s talking, like he knows that book inside and out. He’ll flip to a page and say, “Oh, yeah, this is the line,” like he knows every single part of it. So, that’s really exciting, to see someone who has such expertise and knowledge in their field.

RK: What are you hoping to gain from being in the Honors College?

DV: I’m hoping to gain a great and full academic experience where we can sort of delve in to the building blocks and foundations of thought today. So, like in the Ancient World we’re kind of going back to Greek philosophy like Plato and Socrates and Aristotle

at the moment; I don’t know if any other ones will come up.

RK: What are you most excited about for your future at Mizzou?

DV: Opportunities to, it’s kind of cli-ché, but get involved with the things I’m really passionate about. And to take advantage of the opportuni-

ties that are available and look for those opportunities, because it’s not like people are just going to present them on a silver platter, like “here, you should take this.” Basically, that through the oppor-tunities and classes and engaging with professors and classmates on different ideas that I can be more

sure about myself and what I do and choose to do with my life will have an impact on not necessarily the whole world, but like pieces and parts of dif-ference countries maybe or different people. At least having that and know-ing that I learned something and was able to give back and give that knowl-edge to someone else is what I hope I’ll get from Mizzou.

that still changed the world today. So, basically, having that understanding and then going on to the future with that knowledge to interact with people and give out your voice and see what changes you can create, too. I think the Honors College offers good opportuni-ties for that. I know there’s the culture sequence where professors are talking about that, so that’s very good. There’s a good concern for what’s going on in our world today in the Honors College.

RK: What was the biggest surprise about college for you?

DV: That the transition hasn’t been as hard as I thought it was going to be. One of the nicest things, I don’t know if it’s a surprise, is just how the classes seem to overlap. Now that I’ve been here, it’s kind of like my creative engine is going and there’s just more stimulation; I guess because you’re more intensely focused on class and you don’t have the structure of high school, like in school for eight hours in the same building. You can go on and kind of look at things on your own. And I really love office hours, so talk-ing to professors, that’s been nice.

RK: What’s been the hardest part of ad-justing to being in college?

DV: I think not having my family here has actually been pretty challenging and not having my little dogs to see every day…I miss the family dynamic of sitting around the dinner table and talking about everyone’s day. That’s kind of what I miss the most, that’s one of the hardest parts for me. Even though families can get kind of crazy sometimes, they’re part of who you are.

RK: What would you say you are most passionate about?

DV: Learning. I’m most passionate about learning, and I think that ev-ery opportunity you have to talk with someone, to read a different book, you can read carefully and pick up on ideas that the author has, and maybe that’ll light a fire in your head or something to go ask a question or search for some-thing and then kind of build this bigger understanding of it. What I like about

college so far is that you’re basically kind of forced to express your ideas as fully as possible, so you have to develop each argument, and that is something that kind of forces you to go out and in-vestigate and look for it. So, very much like we’re all sort of journalists in that sense and we have to go out and search for something learning-wise. Basically, college is such a treasure trove of op-portunities to do that, and we won’t have that chance again, so I think col-lege is the perfect place to continue a passion for learning in any field – in music, in club running, in English and journalism and Spanish. We’re able to see how all these academic subjects come back to the heart rather than just the head, so that’s my passion.

RK: What would be your dream job or desired career path?

DV: Within journalism, probably working for a magazine like National Geographic doing international re-porting. Another job that I really think I’d enjoy would be being an English professor or a comparative literature professor or something; that’d be pretty sweet. So, those are my two dream jobs

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What’s Your Story?

Vidal“College is such a treasure trove of opportunities, and we won’t have

that chance again, so I think college is the perfect place to continue a

passion for learning.”

Do you have a story that deserves to be in the spotlight? If you or some-one you know has a story you would like to see in the Honors College News-letter’s Student Spotlight, let us know.

Send your story idea and contact information to rnk7cd@mail.missouri.edu.

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It’s the start of a new academic year, and as you begin it, you’ll hear again and again how important it is to get involved in various clubs and activities, and to attend a variety of dif-ferent events. Those of us in the Honors College are certainly part of that chorus, encour-aging all our students—from freshmen to seniors—to become active members of our honors community. To this end, we’ve put together a lineup of wonderful events, work-shops, and clubs for you to participate in this year. A book lover? Then consider joining one of our Honors book clubs, hosted by honors faculty. A science enthusiast? Then at-tend the weekly Saturday Morning Science lectures, held most Saturdays in the Life Sci-ences Center at 10:30 a.m. (coffee and bagels provided!). Interested in music, literature, and art? Then make sure to come to the beautiful Orr Street Studios, located downtown, where you’ll hear a monthly lecture on Sunday afternoons about a range of cultural top-ics. The amazing Michael Budds will be delivering a talk on Verdi next month, which marks the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. And my indomitable 84-year-old mother will provide the homemade cookies. . .

Attending events and clubs like these isn’t just about “getting involved.” It’s about pursu-ing what Samuel Johnson once called “the life of the mind.” Years ago, in the late 1920s, a man named Antonin Sertillanges wrote a wonderful book on the subject, arguing that every human being, if possible, should attend at least 3 cultural events a week! “As we acquire a breadth of knowledge in various subjects,” Sertillanges claimed, “our minds will grow more easily receptive and thus less easily burdened.” He also observed, “We only begin to know ourselves when we learn about what is not ourselves.”

All the events we’ve lined up this fall provide honors students with the chance to expand their breadth of education, and to learn more about themselves—their humanity, their shared interests—by learning about people and places and phenomena that are not them-selves.

Dr.West On Clubs and Events

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Advice ColumnExplanation

Discuss and learn about the role that religion plays in American cul-ture at the first Religious Studies Club meeting of the year.

Where: Arts & Science Room 102When: September 24th at 6pm

Non-majors are completely welcome!

Join the Religious Studies Club!

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

The prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program provides $32,000/year plus a tuition waiver for three years of graduate study. Competition is now open for high achieving college seniors and first year graduate students studying in sci-ence, social science, engineering, life sciences, mathematics, computer/informa-tion science or STEM education and learning. Must be a US citizen, US national or permanent US resident. Learn how to apply at an upcoming info session:

Monday, Sept 16, 4-5 PM in 2206 B Student CenterTuesday, Sept 24, 3-4 PM in Ketcham Auditorium (Engineering). Learn more on our GRFP page. GRFP applicant resources: grfpessayinsights.mis-souri.eduNSF GRFP deadlines this year are November 4-8th; however, most successful applicants will begin preparing their application packet in LATE SEPTEMBER/EARLY OCTOBER! A complete application requires personal statements, letters of recommendation, and transcripts. GRE scores are NOT required.

September 16, 2013 | honors.missouri.edu