The University Honors & Scholars Center has five pillars which they hope that each student will experience as they go through their program: global awareness, original inquiry, academic enrichment, leadership development, and service engagement. The hope is that each student will gain experience and knowledge in these five areas as they go through their chosen honors or scholars program. Global awareness is focused on examining what being a global citizen really entails, and is to be achieved by enrolling coursework that has an “international focus”, whether that be studying abroad, research, work and student organizations which cultivate and develop appreciation for diversity and the unique differences and experiences that each person brings to the table. Original inquiry is focused on understanding the research process by putting oneself through experiences in research or in class endeavors. Academic enrichment is the pursuit of academic excellence through a combination of rigorous course loads and curricular experiences outside the classroom. Leadership development is focused on the development of leadership skills through classroom activities, community experiences, co-curricular activities and being able to apply these skills to future roles in society. Service engagement is focused on a commitment to service to the community, and engaging in a variety of service opportunities which connect to their major or area of interest whenever possible.

For my own future professional and personal goals, leadership development and service engagement. These two facets in particular speak to me because they are large components of what my future job will entail. I hope to be a veterinarian for the Army Veterinary Corps. Any role in the military will require leadership skills, because of the sheer nature of what the military is. As Army Veterinary Corps, I would enter the service as a second lieutenant, and that means that leadership must already be one of my strongest skills before my enlistment. Being a part of the armed forces means that my leadership skills will continue to grow throughout my time as part of this organization, and that leadership must remain an active interest in my life. This facet in particular is important to me because I feel like the current culture of education and academics is focused on being as well rounded as possible, and doing as many things as you can to show whoever is looking at your application or resume that you did all these things and also maintained a good GPA, and that because of that, things like leadership skills have largely taken a backseat in importance while in school. This leaves people who are very poor leaders being placed in leadership positions they aren’t prepared for, and I don’t want that to be me. I want to develop my leadership skills as much as I can while I can fail and not have that be a major detriment to my career. And to continue to make those kind of leadership mistakes while I can still learn from them, but before the life of someone’s pet is at stake.

Service engagement is also a huge part of my goals, both professionally and personally. Giving back to the community has always been stressed in my family, and something that we try to do as often as we can. I have gained a lot of experience of the administrative side of service engagement by serving on the board of donors for a foundation, and recently have started to get more experience on the physical side of it – actively volunteering in my community to make a difference. I continued this in college by my service engagement through scholars, through the pre-veterinary club, and through my sorority, all three of which were we actively give back to the community as often as we can. I really love the act of volunteering as it is, but it is immensely more enjoyable and feels like less of a chore because I am so passionate about the volunteer work that I do. Professionally, it is a large component of veterinary medicine to be giving back in one way or another – whether volunteering in a shelter, or helping with the country wide epidemic of animals who aren’t spayed or neutered. It is a professional norm, and therefore so incredibly vital to what my job will entail. Also, working in the armed forces has a huge component of volunteer work and giving back to the community, and especially as a member of the AVC. It will continue to be a large part of my life throughout my career and personal life, and that’s incredibly important to me.