H496

The home stretch

What is H496?

IU Indianapolis

H496 is a Senior Capstone class that all students enrolled at IU Indianapolis from FA 2022 and onward must take in their last semester of their undergraduate career in order to graduate with honors in addition to the minimum of 24 honors credit ours and the 40-80 hours of volunteer work. This class is coupled with H200, something that the freshmen take in the spring semester of their first year to aid in the acclimation to their studies. This is to ensure the honors scholars feel supported in every stage of their education and are given an opportunity to reflect upon their journey. One of the main ideologies and practices of the honors college is to reflect upon your experience to chart you growth and find the deeper meaning of it all. It's what separates the honors students from the non-honors students.

What are"I Am" and "I Want To Become"Statements?

"I Am" and "I Want To Become" statements are intentional goal setting practices that the honors college decided to have its scholars do starting with those who enrolled FA 2022 at the formerly known IUPUI (currently dubbed IU Indianapolis). A huge part of seeing what you have learned is being able to compare knowledge gained from knowledge prior; it's how KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) charts work for those who come from an educational background. Part of how the honors college wants to demonstrate how being an honors scholar will enhance your college experience is by having its alumni go back and reflect upon what they learned from being in the program and compare it to what their non-honors peers got out of their experience. The HON-200 original is what I thought I knew at eighteen. The current H496 is what I currently know about myself at twenty-one. It's very interesting to see where I grew and where I remained stagnant, but that's all part of the fun.

HON-H200 Original"I Am" and "I Want To Become"Statements

I Am:

I really do value honesty, service, and furtherment of knowledge/education because I am too ambitious for my own good at times, a problem solver, and I try my best to be thoughtful/respectful. To make sure that I live up to my own expectations, I try to engage with my peers and faculty members, I try to extend/connect what I learn in the classroom to what goes on our in the world, and I try to stick to my study schedules, but in the famous words of Eleanor Shellstrop, "Pobody's Nerfect." I think that being an honors student in the School of Education specifically, these things really do embody me and push me to go forward in school and in life.

I Want To Become:

I’ve done a lot in life to get to where I am now as a freshman in the IUPUI honors college. I’ve worked my rear end off trying to prove that I am an honors student and that I deserve a spot at this table. I’ve been ambitious and innovative and a force to be reckoned with at times. I’ve also messed up and had to start all over from scratch a few times. But, I want to grow and improve from where I am now. I’m still proud of everything that I’ve done to get here, but I want to become more than what I am now.

I want to become the teacher that I had in school. I had so many teachers and professors that helped me get to where I am today. They helped me see how important academic integrity, volunteering and going out in the community, and pushing the boundaries of education is. They showed me why it is so important for educators to be thoughtful, intentional, and respectful. They showed me just how much one good teacher can truly change someone’s life. I want to provide that kind of support to my students and my peers. I want to use my time and experiences at IUPUI and the honors college to learn about as many different things as I can so I can be that amazing kind of teacher that helps students realize who they are and who they want to be.

It’s not going to be easy, but I don’t like easy. I want a task, a problem, something I can work on to fix. And I know that I will be able to fix it. It’s something I’m going to have to continue to work one long after I leave IUPUI, but I cannot wait to get started. To become everything I want to be, I need to lay the groundwork to get that started now. College is an amazing networking opportunity and I know that my parents are still grateful and using all of the connections that they made in college. Getting out there, putting myself out there is of the utmost importance if I’m going to be that teacher who gets to do all of that for their students.

HON-H496 Updated "I Am" and "I Want To Become"Statements

I Am:

I am an educator, and I am changing lives in my field. It's scary to know my practices have such an impact on the developing minds around me, but it is an honor and a privilege. To be able to use my knowledge to give others the same passion for education given to me by my educators is a feeling like no other. While I do not wish to be in a classroom setting forever, I do want to continue to advocate for the importance of education and to educate about things more related to mental health and the interpersonal relationships field. I am, and will always be, an educator. However, I do not see myself being a teacher in the same light.

I Want To Become:

I want to become someone who works with crisis intervention, specifically surrounding domestic violence, and I would not have been able to find that path in life if not for the time I spent at IU Indianapolis, specifically in the honors college. While it started out as a way to get service hours in, I ended up becoming co-president of Domestic Abuse Prevention Student Organization, and it was the most meaningful part of my college experience. The work I did with DV shelters in Indy is something I know I want to pursue professionally and think I could make a greater impact on my community here in Indianapolis and in the lives of the same children I am servicing now as a Pre-K teacher.

DAPSO

What are Journey Maps?

Journey Maps are a simple, graphic organizer to help visualize how you have grown. In HON-200, we were asked to plot how we envisioned our undergraduate careers going. Looking at how barren and in fragments mine is, it was hard for me to put into words what I thought was going to happen. However, now that it's said and done with, there were a lot of things that I didn't see happening which I had to overcome and appreciate. It was a messy, convoluting, and unconventional journey. But, it is one I would do all over again with little to no changes. It was my journey, and I'm quite proud of it. For aesthetics' sake, I tried to stick to the same format as my original journey map.

Freshman Year Journey Map

Blue Simple Packing and Preparing for Journey Timeline.jpg

Senior Year Journey Map

Secondary English Education and English Literature with Honors

The four years I spent as an honors student at IU Indianapolis did fly by much faster than I thought they would, but most people say that. Long days, short years, a time in your life you'll never forget. The thing that surprises me the most about going back to look at where I start to where I am now is how grown up I thought I was at eighteen and how young I feel now.

The enthusiasm and zest for everything I seemed to exude in my HON-H200 "I Am" and "I Want To Become" statements is beautiful in its own way. But, is is rather indicative of a teenager who thinks they are the next best think since sliced bread. I'm shocked and a little appalled I was that cocky, but mostly, I'm just grateful my professors took my ego with grace. Looking at it now, I've been able to refine my goals and intentions more, and it's such a relief. To know what I want from myself and to know how to get there feels clear and easy, and especially when a lot of things in our world are not clear and easy at the moment, it is a blessing that I am afforded that kind of clarity. Genuinely, I don't know what my life would have looked like if hadn't been in the honors college and done so many of the things at IU Indy that I did. It truly molded my viewpoint on the world, and so many of the people who mean the most to me wouldn't be in my life had I not come here. My part-time job has turned into a real career because I chose to work for the university. None of this would have happened without the honors college, so in addition to being relieved, I am grateful.

There is no more "proving myself" or any of that, there is just thankfulness and a little bit of awe that it all actually happened and these four years are coming to a close. It was wonderful to be able to spend them at 420 University Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46202.