Who is Taking on The Challenge of This Year’s Honors Program?

Caption: Ms. Sarah Twilley and freshman Grace Meier discuss her topic for the social studies honors project. [by Annabelle Harper]

By Annabelle Harper

This year’s high school students at PACA are taking on the challenge of the Honors program in the hopes of bumping up their GPA (Grade Point Average) for their future college applications and to build a successful future for themselves. 

Paula Asare-Duah is a freshman this year and this is her second year attending the Pan American Christian Academy (PACA).  As freshmen are allowed to choose no more than two honors projects among their high school courses, the decision is focused on which class to add the additional work load that an honors project would require. 

For Asare-Duah,  the choice involved the level of difficulty as well as the enjoyability of the subject.  

“I took History Honors because I love history,” Asare-Duah said, “I’ve loved history since I was ten. It’s really interesting to learn about. I think it’s a really easy topic to do a project or presentation on.”  

This year also brings a change to the Math Honors program as well. One of the freshmen students who chose to do this year’s math honors project is Nathanael Agcaoili.

Caption: Paperwork and deadlines are an important part of successfully completing the honors program. [by Annabelle Harper]

Typically, the Math Honors Program would only require an essay and a math equation.  However, this year they will also have to present in front of a panel of judges the same way that the other honors classes do.

This way, all of the honors students will be expected to present themselves in front of a panel of judges to make it a little more fair for everyone.

Sarah Twilley, is a new social studies teacher at PACA and she teaches various high school history classes.  Although this is her first time participating in the PACA Honors program, she is hopeful in guiding her honors students in this process.  

“I think it will go pretty smoothly,” said Twilley, “but I feel like you guys have some pretty good ideas like there’s some good topics and research questions.”

One key element for a successful Honors project, according to Twilley and other teachers at PACA, is starting off with a good topic and research questions. 

“I feel like everyone for the most part has come up with something that they’re interested in,” said Twilley, “so it’s not just someone assigned me a thing to do and I have to do it.”

This truly shows her faith in her students. She also mentioned that since the students chose their own topic, it makes learning it a little more enjoyable. This way the students are more likely to be successful with their Honors project.

Having a successful outcome is something that was at the forefront of Asare-Duah’s mind when she chose to do the History Honors project.  She has taken into consideration that, although it may be beneficial academically, it is also very difficult to do. 

“I think it is a good idea because it helps the people doing it explain their knowledge, but as I said I would never do it,” Asare-Duah said. 

For freshman Grace Meier, one of her considerations in choosing an honors project is the time required to work on it.  

“Honors can be a big responsibility,” said Meier. “It can take up a lot of free time that I’ll have without honors. I will have more responsibility that I’ll need to keep track of and try to manage my time around, but at the same time I also know whether or not I do good. Honestly, it won’t really affect my grade in a bad way.”

Meier also chose to add the Honors project to her social studies class and has found that the responsibility has not added too much stress to her schedule at this point. 

Though Honors may be challenging at the moment, it will ultimately pay off for those successfully completing their projects.  According to the parent student handbook, students who successfully complete the honors project and maintain an 85% average in both the project and the course, will receive a .30 bonus in their GPA.