If a student decides to participate, what is involved?

The student must contact the Honors Program Coordinator to have his/her eligibility checked. To make an appointment, the student should contact Brooke Oehme at boehme@eicc.edu or 563-441-4129.
Students eligible for the S.C.C. Honors Program, with the help of the Honors Program Co-Coordinators, will register for the three-credit Honors Seminar, a one-credit Honors Independent Study or an Honors Service Learning Project. Note: Students may complete a maximum of two Honors Projects per semester.
Students enrolling in an Honors Independent Study, with the help of the Honors Coordinator, will find an appropriate instructor to mentor the course. Students enrolling for an Honors Service Learning Project, with the help of the Honors Service Learning Project Coordinator, will find an appropriate organization for the project.
Students in Honors Independent Study courses will discuss ideas with their perspective mentors as to how the minimum of 33 hours to complete the Honors Project will be spent. Students completing the 33 hours for the Honors Service Learning Project should follow the Guidelines for Service Learning Project Journals and Guidelines for Service Learning Project Reaction Papers (see appendix) as well as meet with their Service Learning Project Coordinator for advice and direction.
Students will complete the “Plan of Action” forms (see appendix), which include a description of what will be done for the project, how often the student and mentor will meet, and a timeline for completion of the agreed-upon work. Since all Honors Projects have a written component, the instructor and student should agree on what format (MLA, APA, etc) to use.
Next, the completing Honors Independent Studies and Honors Service Learning Projects students will give the “Plan of Action” forms to the mentor for approval and signature. The student, the instructor and the assigned proofreader should sign the form before it is given to the Honors Coordinator. Since the original form is given to the Honors Coordinator, the student and mentor should also keep copies.
The Honors Program Coordinator will give all of the “Plan of Action” forms to the SCC Honors Advisory Council for approval and signatures. If the “Plan of Action” is not approved at this point, a one-week rewrite period will be granted, and the new “Plan of Action” can be submitted to the committee for approval.
If the “Plan of Action” is approved, the student will spend 8-14 weeks and a minimum of 33 hours on the Honors Project, whether for the Honors Independent Study or for the Honors Service Learning Project. The student will meet with the instructor at least three times during the semester to check and discuss progress. (These dates are on the “Plan of Action” form.) The SCC Honors Advisory Council recommends that students and mentors meet more often than the required three times; weekly meetings are ideal.
Students choosing to complete academic research papers for their projects MUST meet at least once with the Writing Center to discuss the proper format to be followed before the paper is completed. The student, mentor and Writing Center representative must all agree on the most appropriate format for the research paper. The SCC Honors Advisory Council recommends that this step be completed early in the project, preferably before the first progress report with the mentor.
All students are required to meet with library staff to learn components of library research that includes credible sources. This meeting should happen early in the semester and must include the mentor.
All Honors Projects will contain some element of written work. (See the guidelines for projects in the appendix.) Writing should be proofread by the instructor before it is proofread by a designated Honors Advisory Council proofreader. Students will have approximately one week from this final proofreading by an Honors Advisory Council member in which to revise the writing for the final version of the project. The mentor reads the final project before it is submitted to the Honors Advisory Council for approval.
Students will turn in completed projects to their mentor for evaluation.
- The instructor will give the project a grade. NO GRADE OF INCOMPLETE WILL BE GIVEN. Grades for Honors projects will be “A,” “B,” or “F.”
- The instructor will recommend whether or not the Honors Advisory Council should approve the project for Honors Credit and will indicate such on the Approval form (see appendix).
- The instructor will submit the completed Honors Project and Honor Project Evaluation form to the Honors Coordinator for distribution to the Honors Advisory Council.
If the Honors Advisory Council approves the project, it will be bound and placed in the SCC Library, and it will count as one of the four courses required for the Honors program.
- If the project is NOT approved, it will not be placed in the library, and it will NOT count as one of the four courses required for the Honors Program.
NOTE: Disapproval by the Honors Advisory Council does not affect the student’s grade for the course as determined by the instructor. The course will be changed from an Honors course to an independent study in the discipline.
If the Honors Advisory Council conditionally approves a project but wants the student to further revise or “clean it up” before having the project placed in the library, the student will have until the end of that semester to complete the designated corrections. If the student fails to meet the set deadline or does not make the recommended changes, that project will not be housed in the library, but the student will still receive Honors credit towards the required minimum four projects.
Upon completion of the SCC Honors Program-a minimum of four Honors courses including at least one Honors Seminar, one Honors Independent Study and one Honors Service Learning Project and the student’s choice of an additional Honors Seminar or Honors Independent Study-the student’s official transcript will contain the following statement: “This student has completed the Scott Community College Honors Program.”