Randolph-Macon College issued the following announcement on Aug. 25
“Resilience” is the FOCUS theme of Randolph-Macon College’s Honors Program for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Multidisciplinary exploration of a single theme over the course of the academic year is a core element of R-MC’s Honors Program. An extension of the Honors Program’s commitment to extending learning beyond the classroom, the FOCUS series typically includes guest speakers, panel discussions, and other events related to the year’s theme.
“Given what our community has been through over the past 18 months, we felt like “Resilience” was the natural theme for this year,” said Honors Program Director Dr. April Marchetti. “Throughout our yearlong programming, we will be exploring resilience through a number of viewpoints, and most of our programming will be open to the community-at-large. We’re really excited about the year of programming we’ve organized, and we hope our community will be as well.”
A common read also plays an important role in the FOCUS series. The book, provided to all Honors Program members as well as community members over the summer, is discussed in Honors sections of Yellow Jacket Success Strategies for first-year students and in several community-wide discussions. It serves as the thematic point of reference for the year’s FOCUS programming. Past common reads have included The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas and Dreamland by Sam Quinones.
This year’s common read is A Fire Story by Brian Fies. The graphic novel details Fies’ first-hand experience of the October 2017 Northern California wildfires, which killed at least 44 people and destroyed thousands of homes, including Fies’. Fies and his wife were only able to save the possessions they could fit into the back of their car, and A Fire Story details the resilience he developed through the tragedy.
“We are so excited that Mr. Fies has agreed to come to campus to meet with our students and speak about his book,” said Dr. Marchetti. “Getting to interact in person with the authors of the FOCUS books we’ve chosen has been a high point of our program since its inception, and we’re happy that can happen again this year.”
Fies will visit Randolph-Macon College on Thursday, October 21 and will be a guest in classes, interact with the community, and give a keynote address that is open to the R-MC community.
R-MC’s Honors Program gives students exclusive access to interdisciplinary classes that are designed to provide a small-group seminar environment. As part of the Honors curriculum, students receive unique one-on-one research opportunities with faculty members, while Honors projects give students the flexibility and freedom to pursue their academic and professional interests. Additionally, the Honors Program offers grant funding to help students present their research findings at off-campus conferences. Contact the Honors Program at honors@rmc.edu with any questions about the program.
Original source can be found here.
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