Legacy, Honors student finds home at Radford

As a Radford University legacy student, sophomore education major Emily Stinson is following in the footsteps of successful Highlanders.

Involvement in the Honors Academy helped Stinson find her niche in college.

“The Honors Academy has allowed me to work closely with a lot of faculty who ended up being essential to my success freshman year,” Stinson said. “The Honors faculty care about your grades, about how you and your roommate are getting along, about your plans and dreams for the future and just about your life in general.”

Events are held year round for Honors students, especially at the beginning of the semester to foster new connections. Stinson has a fond memory of going to RU West her freshman year for an Honors retreat and spending time with older Honors students, as well as Professor of Psychology Neils Christensen and Assistant Professor Jason Davis.

“It was while I watched Dr. Christensen walk across a log suspended 40 feet in the air that I realized we are all just people,” Stinson said. “I think a lot of the time in college, there is such a line between professors and students that can cause stress and rigidity. Going on Honors retreats allowed me to get to know the people in the Honors Academy as people, not just classmates and professors. That’s a really important experience.”

The Honors community is a group of scholars who are there for each other through both success and failure, while leaving their own signature mark on the program.

“Whether an Honors student is scoring a winning soccer goal or studying animal behavior in the Amazon, all of these accomplishments are considered ‘honorsy’ things and will be celebrated by the Honors community,” Stinson said.

The extra coursework and requirements that come along with being a part of the Honors Academy can be intimidating, but there is a huge network of faculty and students to assist those in the program.

“The benefits of being in the Honors program are indescribable and greatly outweigh the potential downfall of the extra coursework,” Stinson said. “The students are so diverse but also so alike, and living together in Floyd Hall makes finding community a breeze. Being an Honors student is all about learning more, doing more and always looking for the next thing that will challenge you.”