The Skyline College Honors Transfer Program (HTP) hosted our Fall Orientation on Thursday, September 7, 2023 in the Intercultural Center. The Honors Club Vice President of Advocacy, Princess Eusantos, hosted the event, organized by HTP Faculty Coordinator, English Professor Janice Sapigao. Eusantos delivered a passionate, detailed speech about what Honors means to her and how she has grown as a researcher.
The event began with a quick icebreaker, where students were encouraged to talk with someone new about why they were interested in doing research and joining Honors. Dr. Newin Orante, Acting President of Skyline College, shared his story to higher education through studying Biology, Public Administration, and Education.
Dr. Jing Folsom, Acting Dean of STEM, also welcomed students and talked about the importance of research. History Professor and former Honors Transfer Program Coordinator, John Ulloa, talked about his experiences doing research and working with students who had successfully transferred from Skyline College to top universities after completing the Honors Transfer Program.
Students learned about the program requirements as well as transfer opportunities from HTP Counselor Joyce Lee, and they learned about the Transfer Center on campus with a dynamic presentation from Program Services Coordinator Ernesto Hernandez. He invited all students to attend the upcoming Transfer Day University & College Fair on Wednesday, October 5 from 10:30am-1pm in Building 6. For students who are transferring, Joyce Lee asked them to consider enrolling in COUN 652, which helps students create an effective application for UC and private universities.
Honors student Mowen Tan, Chemistry Professor Susanne Schubert, and Psychology Professor Jennifer Merrill invited students to join Honors societies such as Phi Theta Kappa and Psi Beta and present at Skyline College’s Undergraduate Symposium of Academic Research (uSOAR) in the Spring semester.
To a crowd of over 40 newly admitted Honors Transfer Program students, current HTP students, John Rada, Isabelle Escobar, and Gabriel Hapin-Aranda shared their experiences, previous research projects, and goals for the upcoming year in the program. Rada gave an honest and humorous account of his experiences creating his bionic hand project. Escobar discussed how her Honors research project from a Political Science class last semester inspired her to become an organizer for a local political campaign. Hapin-Aranda talked about his robotic arm project and how important it was to manage time while having many starts and stops with his project.
The event concluded with a question-and-answer session. Honors and research is a growing student movement at Skyline College, and folks can contact Janice Sapigao (sapigaoj@smccd.edu) for further support.
Many thanks to Joshua Lindo, Thanh Nguyen, Theresa Tentes, Muang Pharn, Angelica Mendoza, Vice President of Instruction Dr. Vinicio Lopez, Dean of Social Sciences and Creative Arts Danni Redding Lapuz, Pacific Dining, and everyone involved for supporting the organization of this event.