PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College is hoping to bring more awareness of its honors program as a path for student achievement.

 

For student Keira Codey, this was her first semester taking honors courses. 

 

"With the higher level of the class, I felt like I would be more engaged in these classes," she said. "And I can say that I have been more engaged."

 

Now she'll be leaving BCC to attend the online history program at Southern New Hampshire University.

 

"The thing about BCC is that we don't want you to stay with us," said Jonah Sykes, the college's associate director of marketing and communications. "We want you to transfer that is the outcome we most prefer, to either go away into the work force or transfer to a four-year school."

 

Codey and Sykes appeared with professors Christopher Laney and Matthew Muller on the recent "BCC Presents: Access Higher Ed" program that aired on Pittsfield Community Television.

 

The episode was to highlight the honors program and the opportunities it offers to students. 

 

"I think one of the reasons why we're really focusing in on the Honors Program specifically is because we don't do enough talking about the honors program at BCC," Sykes said.

 

Laney has been at BCC since 2004 and got involved with the program about 10 years ago. He is currently teaching "Conspiracies in American History" for the fourth time.

 

Muller has been a professor of English since 2013. This is his second year as an honors coordinator for the college.

 

"It's been a real thrill to work with the different honors faculty, to work with the honors students," Muller said. "And just to be able to go out and pitch and talk the honors program."

 

BCC is part of the Commonwealth Honors Program, which is in 14 out of the 15 community colleges in Massachusetts as well as state schools such as the University of Massachusetts.

 

The program's goals are to provide challenging, in depth, interdisciplinary courses for students who wish to learn at a higher level with more engaged classmates.

 

Honors courses tend to be smaller in size and allow close access to the professors and so there can be meaningful, in depth conversation between students.

 

Part of reason a student might think about taking honors classes is because of their rigor, because they show transfer institutions that you can handle a tough course-load and think critically, Muller said.

 

"Being born and raised in the Berkshires, going to Taconic High School, and having been just down the street from BCC my entire life I never would have assumed that there was something like an honors program at a local community college," Sykes said.

 

Muller said there is a pretty rich history of programs at community colleges that have built up a vibrant system for the honors program.

 

"The beating heart of honors program are the honors classes, that's really why we exist," he said.

 

Each year, BCC sends one student to present at the UMass Undergrad Research Conference in Amherst each year. This conference  brings together undergraduate students from the 28 public colleges and universities. During the one-day event, the public has a chance to see the diverse and defining research that Massachusetts students are conducting with the support of faculty.

 

The college also hosts its own Undergrad Scholars Conference each year, which many honors students participate in.

 

Muller said the program also participates in extracurricular events such as speeches from renowned scholars and field trips. Students in his Honors Literary Memoir class went to the New England Falconry while they were reading "H is for Hawk" by Helen Macdonald.

 

Honors classes have also visited the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. All field trips are focused around educational activities that can enhance the student's experience in the class.

 

Laney has taught normal 100-level courses with an honors component, so it is worth 4 credits instead of 3. To do this, students complete extra credit in the form of a paper or a project.

 

This method has had some practical outcomes, he said, as a recent student's final project wound up providing funding for a small cemetery with about 40 headstones from as early as the 1800s.

 

"I had a student last year that did a project that involved cataloguing the cemetery that's across the street from the college that's in some disrepair and doing a lot of research on that as part of her extra honors work," he said. "That actually went toward helping a group in the city get funding to restore the historic cemetery."

 

To participate in the program, a student must have a consistent 3.25 or above grade-point average, 12 completed college credits and maintain their GPA and earn a B-minus or higher. High school students on the verge of entering BCC are also welcome to apply based on their high school transcript.

 

Codey said Laney's "Conspiracies in American History" course has been a great experience and timely during the pandemic and presidential election. In Muller's class, she appreciated the unit on race and racism, feeling that it was extremely relevant.

 

"In reading all the different essays and books that we've had to read for both these classes I've found that I've been very engaged because of what's happening in the world," she said. "I think that's part of why I enjoy the classes so much and that's what really sticks out to me."