This year, the inaugural Honors floor at Whitworth was created to see what would happen if a group of Honors students lived, studied, and worked together all year long on the same floor. The group of first year female students that pioneered this new program was put in the large and energetic Warren community and lived on the Second East section of the residence hall getting to have both the experience of living in a large and diverse hall while also getting to experience closer relationships with fellow Honors students.

Honors Professor Schrambach formed the dream to have an honor’s floor after participating in the National Collegiate Honors Council conference in 2017 and attending an honor’s housing session seeing that having a similar program at Whitworth would be “A win for Whitworth honors students and for the institution overall” since students who participate in honor’s housing “boast higher GPAs, improved retention rates, and increased involvement in campus and residential life activities” in addition to developing “close community” that “fosters lifelong friendships.” Former director Doug Sugano worked with Admissions and Student Life to make the dream a reality that began this year and current director of the Honor’s Program Dr. Emerson has overseen the program into its first year. Resident Assistant of the honor’s hall Misikir Adnew described the Honor’s hall as an “initial and, hopefully, long-lasting community” for first year students to become accustomed to Whitworth and the Honors Program as well. Adnew went on to say that at first, she “didn’t see all of its benefits” of an honor’s floor, but “got to learn more about the numerous advantages living-learning communities serve” through talking to faculty and experiencing it first hand with the residents in her hall.

The group of women who were a part of this new program came from a variety of majors ranging from International Relations, to Mathematics, to Business, to Teaching and many more. And while they may all have different interests, they all came together to support a community focused on learning and growing deeply while here at Whitworth. One student on the honors floor this year Tiana Benham said this experience has been very impactful since she thought she “was going to have a hard time making friends at first” but after the first week she had made “a close group of friends thanks to the honors hall.” Benham also mentioned that having other students live so close who are as academically motivated as her has made classes easier since as she put it “if I don’t understand a concept I can walk ten feet down the hall and get help from one of my good friends” which has made freshman year a little easier and engaging.

Though the Honors program is very new, the benefits of having a living learning community at Whitworth have already started to show through the inaugural Honors floor in second east hall Warren. The group of women who began to shape this new experience will be remembered for their strong bonds and diverse engagement in the Whitworth community as new students come in to join the Honors Floor Program to make their mark.