Theme: Experimenting in Honors

Too often as we toil in the honors vineyard, we allow the demands of our day-to-day routine to consume the better part of our energies. With complacency comes inertia: we become inclined to put off reviewing our initiatives, policies and procedures until change confronts us in the form of, e.g., new leadership, program review, and budget vicissitudes.

A proactive approach to reviewing how we do what we do has its costs—but it also provides significant potential for noteworthy, even exhilarating, improvement. Let us resolve to shake off the cobwebs and approach our endeavors anew. Let us move beyond what is obvious and easy, and let us do so boldly. Thinking big and taking risks can energize our students and, not least, our honors staffs; and for this reason alone, experimenting has merit quite apart from any improvements that result.