At the end of spring semester, students in the Honors, Global Scholars of Distinction, and ePortfolio programs presented their projects at the first Evening of Excellence symposium and banquet to celebrate their achievements with their families, faculty, and administrators.
SPCC’s Honors program provides students with the opportunity to challenge themselves academically with supplemental projects in their curriculum courses for honors credit. The program requirements include a high school GPA of 3.7 or higher for Early College, Career and College students, or students who graduated from high school the previous semester. Other college students should have a GPA of 3.5 or higher and complete 12 or more curriculum hours before applying. To graduate with full honors, students complete four projects and present one project at an Evening of Excellence symposium.
Spring semester Honors presenters included Rosa Abarca Nicolas, Parker Cook, and Jason Reynolds. Abarca Nicolas created her project, “Surgery in Art,” in art appreciation with Morganne Couch as her faculty mentor. Parker Cook worked with John Muir, Department Chair, Humanities and Social Sciences, in his public speaking course to create “An Analytical Examination of the Causes of Public Speaking Anxiety.” Jason Reynolds presented “The Haber Bosch Process and the Future of Agriculture” which was created during his chemistry course with Marissa Cominotti, Chemistry faculty.
Diego Morgado-Alfaro created his capstone presentation, “Could the Second World War Have Been Avoided?” in world civilizations with William Dick, History faculty, as his advisor. The Global Scholars of Distinction program is an academic program that focuses on global education and experiences. Students with a GPA of 2.5 or higher are eligible for this program. SPCC is part of the North Carolina Global Distinction program, a partnership between UNC Chapel Hill and community colleges that offers global education opportunities and resources to two-year college faculty.
Each year, three awards are given to students in critical thinking, the capstone course for the Associate in Arts and the Associate in Science degrees, for creating the best ePortfolios of the year. The 2018-2019 winners are Angela Pallassino, top award, Grace Morgan, 2nd place award, and Kamryn Flake, 3rd place award.
An ePortfolio is a learning focused website that students create over the course of their program at SPCC. After collecting and studying their best college work, students select examples to represent what they have learned. To grasp the overall impact of their learning, students use reflection to create a series of writings that illuminate their academic and co-curricular experiences. The ePortfolio offers students a way to present themselves virtually to scholarship teams, honors programs, and employers.