About Rose Winters: I’m a History and Philosophy double major with a minor in Ancient Studies. This is my third and final year at Ball State. I am the President of History Club, Vice President of Cardinal Cardboard, Editor-in-Chief of Stance, a member of Honors Association for Community Engagement (HACE), and an Undergraduate Teaching Fellow.

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What is your role in Student Honors Council (SHC)?

I hold the position of the Director of Administrative Affairs, which means I take the meeting notes and I’d send out the emails, but this year we’re not. We’re trying to move further away from emails and more into the Microsoft Teams zone. I also run the Academic Committee and oversee everything that happens within it.

What are the goals of SHC this year?

Our goal for SHC this year is to maintain the socialness of the club and the community it creates while social distancing and being online. We’re trying to create fun Zoom and online activities so that we can still participate and get to know each other. We want to involve the students of the Honors College like we’ve done in previous years, but in a safe online fashion.

What can someone expect when attending a virtual meeting?

Our meetings are on Zoom. We start at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays. At the beginning, there is a general introduction. We also check in with everybody to see how they are doing and how their week went. After that, we’ll go through the agenda and list out the plans that we have for the meeting. There are also on campus shout outs, where people can shout out anything going on that they want to promote. Then everyone will break out into committees, either using Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Within the committees, we plan our events, get to know people, and wrap up. Once the committee is done, members are good to go for the evening.

What are some of the aspects that you are looking forward to about virtual meetings?

One thing that I really like about online meetings is being able to see people without masks. I think that for SHC online meetings are generally safer since we are a bigger club. With the meetings online, we will be able to continue to plan more events and more people will be able to participate wherever they are living because it is more flexible.

What is your favorite thing about SHC?

I really like getting to know other people in the Honors College via SHC. I’ve become close with a lot of people in the Honors College that I never would have known before because we’re completely different majors on separate parts of campus. I don’t know that we ever would have interacted without SHC. I love the community and being able to get to know other students. Also, the leadership opportunities are great, along with being able to plan events for other people.

Why should an Honors College student be involved in SHC?

They should be involved in SHC for a number of great reasons. One, you really get to learn more about the Honors College. You feel more like a member of the Honors College. I know some people live in DeHority and that helps, but other than that, especially in your later years, it is harder to feel connected to the Honors College. SHC is one thing that helps you stay connected to the Honors College and feel like a member, which I really like.

Two, you get to learn more about the professors and what other people are doing in the Honors College. You get to make great friendships and relationships with other people in the club that you might end up having an honors class with later on.