Here are some of the ways Honors Students have been agents of change in the past. The list is far from exhaustive. You should note too that many of these activities are not for the faint-of-heart. Make the challenge meaningful for you.
- Cleaning up an abandoned cemetary
- Writing a children’s book that advocates good health practices
- Coaching kids’ sports teams , e.g., 8-10 year old girls in basketball or 5-year-old girls in soccer
- Knitting shawls to be given to a needy person
- Being a “Best Buddy” to clients at North MS Regional Mental Health Center
- Becoming certified and then serving as a First Responder (Emergency Medical Response); the time it takes to be certified can satisfy the CAC, and in later semesters being “on call” fulfills the component
- Taking an unpaid internship with the radio program Highway 61
- Starting a group to raise awareness (and funds) re: rights of victims of domestic violence
- Becoming certified and then serving as volunteer firefighters
- Working shifts (unpaid) in the Emergency Room at the local hospital
- Serving on an Academic Taskforce Committee for the Oxford School system to review the academics at all schools, identify problems and suggest ways to cope with them, explore ways to enrich the offerings, etc.
- Conducting independent research on affordable housing and submitting a plan to the city of Oxford
- Creating and implementing a program to deliver free area newspapers to locations around campus (the Readership program)
- Taking and developing photographs of historic sites in the area, to help the local Historic Preservation Association raise funds
- Volunteering with a hometown organization seeking to re-vitalize an inner-city neighborhood
- Creating a tutoring program to help members of the local Hispanic community master English
- Establishing campus chapters of Roots and Shoots (an environmental organization) and Engineers Without Borders ®
- Working with Stax Records Museum to create a music school for underprivileged children
Students in the Honors College have also taken on the tasks of organizing service projects that can involve a specific Honors class, the whole Honors College, or students around campus. The Sophomore Service Trip is one example; others are a medical mission trip to Bolivia or the SMBHC Senate-sponsored 5K run, a “trick-or-treat” for the Food Pantry or a coat drive for Interfaith Compassionate Ministry. Of course, Honors students are mainstays of many local programs. Common choices are Leap Frog (an afterschool program), the Animal Shelter, tutoring programs at local schools, Conversation Partners, Relay for Life, the Family Crisis Center, and Habitat for Humanity.