A Community Within a Community

    The Bloomsburg Honors College, officially known as the Eileen G. Jones Honors College, is a collection of high-achieving students that spans all years of your undergraduate experience across all three campuses. Upon application to Bloomsburg, if your GPA is high enough, you will either receive an invitation to join the honors college (3.8 GPA or higher) or you will have the opportunity to write an essay in response to a prompt, and your acceptance will be determined from the essay submitted (3.5-3.79 GPA). Once accepted, a vast number of additional opportunities open up to you, such as honors-only study spaces and seminars with a small number of students for a more personal experience with your professor. Lastly, you get assigned an upperclassman mentor to meet with about once a month to ask questions and talk with. The honors college strives to set you up for success throughout your years of undergrad and after as you enter the workforce. 

    While the perks listed above are nice, and there are more that have not been touched on, arguably the most exciting being Tortellini, the red-footed tortoise. Members of the honors college have the opportunity to join the Tortellini care team to feed him, and let him roam around either in the Fishbowl or outside, if it is warm enough. During the warmer months, you may see him wandering around on the quad or on the lawn behind Lycoming Hall with an honors student supervising him. In the too frigid late fall and winter, he can be found in the Fishbowl, one of the study spaces open to honors students. He lounges in his enclosure of white wooden walls no higher than your knee, making it easy to pick him up and let him out to explore. On the left and right sides of his enclosure sit overhangs the same color and material as the walls and bottom of the enclosure. On the left dangles a small white heat lamp bulb and a long, rectangular black UV light, the light seeping over the white wood, dripping into the enclosure, hitting the mulch that lines the bottom. Inside his little pen features a brown wooden sleeping hut, a grey food bowl textured like pebbles,  a ceramic red clay water bowl, fake rock, and two fake pumpkins. "Sometimes when I come in for my Tortellini shift, I'll look in his enclosure, and I'll see him standing protectively over one of his two pumpkins, and he doesn't like me to take him out, even though he loves being let out and roaming around, he's kind of a pumpkin freak," comments Rue, one of his care takers this semester "It's also after I put him back he'll often go right back to him pumpkin and resume his protection of it" they continue. The meticulous effort and care put in by all of Tortellini's caretakers show the dedication, responsibility, and most importantly, enjoyment his caretakers share in having the privilege to spend time with him every week.  Taking care of Tortellini and having him as a mascot is probably the smallest perk of the honors college, but even so, the students still love him the most. 

    As great as having an adorable, sociable, and lovable mascot is, it pales in comparison to the importance of real-world preparation. The honors college strives to set students up for success in and out of the classroom. To graduate from the honors college, you are required to complete 3 honors seminars, a low-impact experience, and a capstone project on a high-impact experience. "Our high-impact experiences will often help students to give them some more additional experiences, both more academic and then sort of outside the classroom experiences, study abroad, for example." Reveals Dr. Doerschler, the director of the honors college. "It might be the sort of thing that looks good to an employer, to a graduate school, completing a capstone project." Joining the honors college in itself provides a great testament to the student, but being able to graduate with honors and put it on your resume is an amazing opportunity to show your tenacity and grit to work through hard classes and projects. To give employers and post-graduate admission counselors a glimpse into your list of achievements and qualities, even before an interview. "Graduating from the honors college certainly will open some doors. Doesn't look bad," he jokes with a wide smile. The honors college prides itself on its ability to help students continue growing their skills, as well as finding and developing new ones suited not just for schooling but also for the real world and future careers. 

    One last major part of the honors college experience is the sense of community it provides. From the application and acceptance process to the first year experience, and through the last 3 undergraduate years, the honors college creates a sense of community that the average admission to college can't provide. Dr. Doerschler stands at attention by the doors of the Fishbowl. He makes a final adjustment to his tie, suit jacket, and thin rectangular glasses that sit squarely on his face. Light bounces off his partially balding head with each movement. When satisfied, he awaits to greet and converse with a tour of prospective students. A few honors students wait with him, milling around and enjoying the sun that pours in through the panels of glass on the walls. Even Tortellini can be found making a sweep, ensuring the floor meets his expectations of cleanliness before toddling into Dr. Doerschler's office to continue on important paperwork. Then the tour appears, slowly climbing down the stairs on the left side of Soltz. The students and parents file in one after another, exchanging and returning cheerful greetings. Light conversation carries throughout the room as well as questions asked by the guests, and thoughtful responses are returned. 

    "On the website, it mentions field trips for the honors college," comments a mom in a red t-shirt and blue jeans, brunette hair spilling over her shoulders as her elbow rests on the back of one of two sofas that face each other in a small corner of the Fishbowl. 

    "Yes, the honors college has the opportunity for field trips, most of which are provided, but a few of them just need a small deposit of under 20 dollars. Last semester, we had a small number of students take a trip to a bowling alley, and we did glow bowling until they closed; that was a free trip. Coming up next weekend, we have a field trip to a hockey game. The cost is a deposit of 15 dollars if you want to go, but it's still very affordable for a ticket and a meal voucher," affirms one of the student helpers with a bright smile to match their vibrant ginger hair. "It's really nice to have bonding time with friends and make new ones. We also have all freshman honors students live here in Lyco, which really helps give new students their own community when they're moving in for the first time." 

    The activities and classes all help to bring people together and create a tight-knit bond and friendship between people that otherwise wouldn't have talked or met each other. 

    The honors college is an all-around great way to gain real-world experience and a higher level of classroom expertise. From the incoming freshmen to the graduating seniors, the honors college benefits everyone who walks through its door and leaves them with a lasting sense of community and the skills to become a self-sufficient individual and find a career after graduation.