Growing Into Honor: My Reflection of Fall 24 - Spring 25
Prompt: What is your definition of a global citizen scholar and how has it changed throughout your time in UHP? Using specific examples, how have you made progress toward becoming one this year? Discuss how this connects to and continues to influence your academic and professional goals.
Global Citizen Scholar. A word I once used to look forward to hearing every Monday morning. A word I grew to loathe for every bit of false positivity it appeared to represent. And a word I would soon soon grow into and love as I'm made to appreciate the title more and more all over the course of a year.
I was pushed into taking Gateway to University Honors during my first semester. And it sounded even then like one of those programs a school would have for its own face-saving more than anything else. Kind of like the weekly class I had during middle school on morality based on MBTI personality tests.
But as I took the class, I grew to enjoy the small glint into the community I had. Many of the students there were extremely supportive of one another, and seemed to genuinely want to see one another succeed as much as themselves. I even had a long conversation with one student about art one morning when we had to propose a creative solution to a problem in class. It was truly one of those classes that sounds pointless on paper, but you had to be there to see the amazing positive difference it makes for you. Especially when you're majoring in IT with no other passions than the profits it promised and failed to deliver.
As the semester went on, and as I saw less and less opportunity to put in my first honors experience and truly be part of the program, my opinion of being a Global Citizen Scholar began to shift. Although I was accepted into the Tales of Resilience program, I was waiting on another opportunity to get back with me. And I ultimately lost out on both because research programs at UC seem to get a thrill out of ghosting their future student assistants. Slowly, the University Honors Program felt less about having a community, and more about funding the endeavors of those who want to take a vacation across the globe or play around with microbes in fancy labs. I was seeing less open doors for the everyman IT student, and less opportunities to feel like I truly belonged.
It was only when I was able to admit to myself that I wasn't your everyman IT student that I was eventually able to see the true meaning in being a Global Citizen Scholar again. It wasn't about going around the globe or studying in state-of-the-art opportunities. You can throw away the glitz and the glamour, the pomp and the circumstance, the glorified stories that sound more like fairy tales than genuine anecdotes. None of that matters.
Being a Global Citizen Scholar was always about the honor. It's in the name – University Honors Program. To include when nobody else wants to be inclusive. To innovate; learning new things, seeing the world in a new light, gaining new perspectives. And to make an impact – not just on those around you, but on yourself. I wasn't just your everyman IT student. Those who run the program saw someone worthy of honor. And now I'm someone who is going to try their hardest to show that honor in all the work that I do, as I embark on my first ever honors experience over the summer, and as I continue to work towards being someone who can both share my knowledge and gain new insights no matter where I am in the world. Global Citizen Scholars are about showing honor and making an impact no matter where they're at, and I've grown proud to be one of them.
