The McCarthy Arts Center was bustling with activity on April 17 as the Honors Program prepared to present SMC Feud, the St. Michael's version of the game show "Family Feud."
There were 70 to 100 people in attendance for the Feud, which is less than junior Honors Program member Molly Roy had been hoping for. She blames it on the beautiful weather, and it being held so close to the end of the semester.
On your marks... let's start... the SMC FEUD!
The atmosphere in McCarthy that night was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. The audience was getting into the questions, laughing at team reactions to wrong answers and trying not to yell out their own.
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The Honors Program captivated the audience throughout the entire show with humor and engaging of audience members. (Photo by Abby Robitaille) |
Participating staff included: Brian Lee, assistant director of Residence Life; Stacy Peet, administrative assistant; John Payne, director of Library and Information services; and Michelle McCaffrey, reference and instruction librarian. English professor Nicholas Clary, psychology professor Dave Landers, and philosophy professor Ron Begley represented the St. Michael’s faculty.
"It was great to see so many faculty and staff," Roy says.
Residence Life, the chemistry department, the library, Klein, and the economics department were some of the teams participating.
To come up with answers to all the questions, the student Honors Committee surveyed about 50 students, faculty and staff, but not all answers were able to be shown because they had to keep it appropriate, Roy says.
One of the questions asked was "Name one of the Ten Commandments" and an answer they received through e-mail was "don't bang your neighbor’s wife," which they had to cut, she says.
In addition, when students were asked what was the largest piece of furniture in their house, some responded with refrigerator, Roy says.
“Is a refrigerator even a piece of furniture?” she says.
The Honors committee thought about charging admission, but they decided that participation was more important than fund-raising for them, Roy says.
They would like to charge admission of $1 to $2 in the future, she says.
The donations collected from SMC Feud will go towards supporting Backpacks for Sudan.
Sophomore Jen Noyes says the Feud was a lot of fun.
She attended because she thought it would be entertaining, Noyes says.
"I went because I didn't want to do my homework," sophomore Jen Heels says. "No, I really went because I thought it would be fun."
The program was entertaining and enjoyable, but could have been done a little better, Heels says. Although she would "most definitely" attend another one.
What is the Honors Program?
The Honors Program at St. Michael’s currently has 200 students, says John McDonald, coordinator of the program, but the number can change almost day to day.
“The Honors Program makes up about 12 percent of the student body,” McDonald says.
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It was a close game for most of the night,. but the athletic department team, "The Jammers" |
The main requirements to be in the program are to maintain a 3.5 GPA, take at least five Honors classes,Honors colloquium, and completion of a Capstone project.
These requirements are all ideals, but there are many ways to achieve them, and the program is very flexible, McDonald says.
Not all departments require senior seminars, but the program can always figure out something for each student, McDonald says.
There are also allowances when students fall below the required GPA, but it depends on the student’s year. If a first-year has a bad first semester, the grades will be overlooked, but if a pattern of bad grades begins to unfold, he would be forced to remove the student from the Honors Program, McDonald says.
“What we’re looking to do is to support the students in doing the best they can,” McDonald says.
Junior Shannon St. Pierre, a member of the Honors Program and representative to the faculty committee, doesn’t feel that the requirements are too difficult.
She is an English and education double-major, so there are plenty of Honors courses offered and completing the requirements is fairly easy, she says.
Roy says the Honors Program does not ask too much of its members; she will have taken seven Honors courses.
The Capstone project currently adds about 5 to 10 pages to the senior thesis, but that differs from major to major. But the program is looking to better establish the project, getting each department to have a specific Capstone, Roy says.
Students are normally accepted based on their predicted GPA from high school into their first-year, or during second semester, Roy says.
During Roy’s first year, Michelle Kayser, Jeff White and Zachary Wood came up with the idea of a student committee but it wasn’t very popular at first. This year, they have a group of 10 or 12 strong, says Roy, who is the moderator of the student committee.
It’s still really difficult for the committee to get things done because the faculty honors committee questions the student role, St. Pierre says.
The Honors Program of tomorrow
Roy is excited that people are now asking to join, she says.
People have never asked to be in the program before, usually students are invited. Now students are asking to join.
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The Residence Life team were tough competitors throughout the night. (Photo by Abby Robitaille) |
“I think the Honors Program is going to be a larger and larger presence on campus,” Roy says.
They want it to mean something to graduate in the Honors Program, she says. They want people to benefit from it, to get a fuller experience.
The Honors Program has one more event this year, but next year they plan on doing more programs involving the entire student body, faculty and staff, she says.
“We want to connect with the students,” Roy says.
We also want to get our name out there, she adds.
The goal of the Honors Program is to encourage students to challenge themselves academically and in leadership ways, McDonald says.
His attitude is one of support and motivation directed towards the students.
“We know the students are capable of doing well, so we try to do everything we can to help them to continue and to get better,” McDonald says.