On Tuesday, April 21 the National Collegiate Honors Council accepted the project proposal of three representatives of the Elizabethtown College Honors Program.

Sophomore Tyler Latshaw, senior Phil Belder and assistant professor of political science Dr. Kyle Kopko will be traveling to Chicago next semester to discuss the revamping of the College honor’s program that has been taking place over the past couple of years.

The annual conference, which has been occurring for 50 years, will have the theme “Make No Little Plans,” which fits perfectly with Latshaw, Belder and Kopko’s project, which is entitled “Making Big Plans: Transitioning Honors Programs Seamlessly and Efficiently.”

Between November 11 and November 14, the three, as well as any additional honors students that may attend on behalf of Etown, will meet up with thousands of other honors students from institutions around the country. All three attended last year’s conference in Denver, where they became close with members of the Central Michigan University Honors College. According to Latshaw, the opportunity to collaborate with students and faculty who partake in honors programs similar and different to Etown’s is an invaluable experience. “A lot of [what we’ll talk about] is what we’ve learned from the conference,” he said of attending in the past.

Latshaw hopes that their fifty-minute presentation and question-and-answer session will help other honors programs understand how to make change in a big way. “It’s a pretty rigorous process,” he acknowledged. But he is confident that the success that the Etown Honors Program has seen recently as it changes directors and expands to make it more feasible to graduate as part of the program.

The audit of the Etown Honors Program will allow the group to share what has been most successful about its renovation. “I have a new appreciation for the honors program ever since going to the [conference last year],” said Latshaw. He hopes that their presentation will inspire other schools to adopt some of the same changes as Etown.

One point in particular that the group will be touching upon in the presentation will be the reduction of the number of representatives on the honors council to only 12 students. They will also address how to create a more social atmosphere on a budget.

This year saw a record number of project submissions. Latshaw, Belder and Kopko are extremely proud to have been selected to present from 818 proposals.

“[Speaking at the conference will] help us solidify what’s going on in our honors program,” Latshaw said.