Students from Jesuit universities nationwide met at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) Honors Conference, which concluded on March 29, with discussions on shared campus challenges and solutions.
Fordham University was represented by students in the Honors Program, overseen by Olena Nikolayenko, Ph.D., Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) Honors Program director and professor of political science.
Hannah Teligades, the Honors Program administrator for FCRH, shared some context on the conference. “The FCRH Honors Program has attended the annual AJCU Honors Conference since 2006,” said Teligades.
“Our students attend the event to connect with and learn from other Jesuit Honors Programs across the country,” she added.
The conference is attended by Fordham honors student leaders. “The intention is for them to bring back what they learned from other programs to continuously improve our program,” Teligades said.
Other assistance and mentoring programs have been established through the conference. “One of the things that has been implemented as a result of these conferences was the program’s mentorship program, which has now helped to model other mentorship programs on campus, such as HEOP’s mentorship program,” said Teligades.
“The AJCU Honors Programs meeting provides a superb opportunity for an in-depth discussion of the successes and challenges that the Honors Programs face in today’s world,” Nikolayenko said. “The conference brings together program directors, staff, and students to reflect on ways in which Jesuit colleges and universities strive to uphold the principles of Jesuit education.”
Kate Turnbull, FCRH ’27, attended the conference. “Getting to know and hearing from other honors students about their college and honors experiences was super fun,” she said.
Turnbull noted how she made several new friends from Gonzaga University and Fairfield University, among other Jesuit institutions present at the conference. She also heard from two speakers at the event. “Both talks were captivating and taught me a lot,” she said.
She and her peers spoke with other honors program administrators to brainstorm ways of improving the Fordham program.
“After the Friday session, we all went to dinner at a well-known local diner in Kansas City,” Turnbull said. “It was a great bonding experience and nice to talk in a non-academic or structured setting to hear even more about the other students’ honors programs and ask questions we may not have gotten answers to during the conference.”
Turnbull described how she agreed with several other students that it is challenging to embark on something new without a clear end in sight, but was inspired to embody a persevering mentality.
“I learned from the speakers what makes a good leader and how to be a better mentor for my peers and honors students younger than me,” said Turnbull about what she learned from attending the conference. “I also learned about the importance of helping my community and was given skills to make a change in my community.”
She said the conference allowed her to understand the similarities and differences between different Jesuit honors programs and work to improve on her own.
“In the conference’s final session, the students from each university shared their favorite part of their honors program, and I took notes on what sounded interesting to share with our director and possibly implement for the FCRH honors program,” she said. The program is actively seeking improvement following the conclusion of the conference.
“We shared with Dr. Nikolayenko that many other schools have service requirements for their students and early move-in for freshmen,” Turnbull added. “So we are looking to try to add those things to our program as well.”
