[UWF Kugelman Honors Program - Why Honors? graphic]

[Victoria Hennick speaking]
I think college is crazy, alone, by yourself, on its own, and going into a college where you don't know many people. Honors is like a family. Even when you start going through these things in college, you don't know what's going to hit you; you don't know what you're going to go through. And having that support system, having that community and that family of so many different types of people, you have people who are going to be in the same majors, you people who are going to be in completely different majors than you, people from all over the United States who are going to come here, and you're going to have events, you're going to have all of these different activities that are going to bring you together to create a community. And that's the kind of support that you may not have in other areas of the university.

[Desi McQueen speaking]
Starting early with Honors, I think, is really important because the experiences you gain along the way allow you to be the best you can be by the time you graduate.

[Martha Londoni speaking]
Honors is a great, great opportunity. I really wish I joined earlier on, like I said, like there are certain things, like learning in your major is good, but you only learn things from in your major, and it's nothing else, like it's just that. So I think Honors will also just help you look at life, just life in the broader picture. Because college is not like, life is not all about what I learned in college. There's a lot more to it. And so I think honors points you in that direction and opens your mind. And I believe that it's such like, if anyone can do it, I highly, highly recommend.

[Desi McQueen speaking]
Overall, when it comes to the honors experience, I think anybody who wants to go to graduate school or wants further education, this is a standard that most students should join Honors, because the things you are allowed to learn through the Honors Program are extremely helpful.

[Kelsey Valente speaking]
You get to explore other different opportunities, and you're able to learn alongside other majors, which you would never be able to do in your like your pathway, and it's really nice to have other people that have different thoughts than you.

[Quinn Gibson speaking]
Honors is really cool, because it's not only for freshmen. There is a two year pathway, which I got to be a part of because I'm technically a transfer student from Pensacola State College. We make it so that you're still able to graduate on time while still getting that really important Interdisciplinary Studies. We've even got special classes like systems thinking for transfer students.

[Khuyen Tran speaking]
I think that for a high school student, there's a lot of unknowns in where we kind of want to pursue our life in general. You know, not everyone knows what profession they want to do, or maybe they don't know specifically what their interests will gear them toward. And I was that kind of undecided student back in high school, and I think that the benefit of Honors really is being exposed to a whole lot of different worldviews and fields of study. So Honors, Honors is very intentional, and trying to get people to immerse themselves in different majors, and I think cooperating with different majors and kind of being open to trying different things was what really helped.

[Martha Londoni speaking]
When I actually started, I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna get through it, but I did so it actually is doable, and there's so much support that they give you. Like, everyone is willing to help. Everyone's always asking how you're doing. So it definitely is something you can do. It's definitely a lot more challenging, I'd say, compared to just, you know, obviously have extra stuff to do, but it's definitely doable. It's not impossible.