Tag: experience

An Honors Marriage

Hello Honors Community,

This is a brief story we just had to share!

Andrew Catauro ’06 and Shannon (Grotzinger) Catauro ’07
Andrew Catauro ’06 and Shannon (Grotzinger) Catauro ’07

Meet Andrew Catauro ’06 (TRF/ITA) and Shannon (Grotzinger) Catauro ’07 (MAG/SOC) . Andrew and Shannon met in the Honors Program on their first day of class for PHI 107, completed what was then “General Honors”, and went on to get married!  Andrew works on the acclaimed documentary POV for PBS and Shannon provides social services to homeless men in NYC. They stopped by the Honors Suite before the semester began and asked if we’d take their picture in 304C.   They even remembered where they used to sit!

These are certainly the kinds of stories we love to hear from our alumni. Remember that if you have any interesting stories like this one, to let us know so we can share them!

Honors Students Engage With Traditional Artists During Folk Arts Fieldtrips

Students at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY
From left to right: Kenny Arbuckle, Katie Headley, Sadik Yaqub, Habiba Hassan, and Sara Cho Sangeun pose at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY

 

We’ve always heard that in the liberal arts tradition of the West, one needs to know about a wide range of things to be a complete citizen and that those who are to be educated and productive members of society have to be exposed even to things that they may (initially) deem not worthy of attention. Honors students in Professor Felicia McMahon’s course, “Folk Arts , Festival and Public Display” recently visited the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY where students were introduced to  traditional artists of the region as well as refugee communities in Central New York. The previous week the students visited Syracuse’s African International Restaurant, a popular gathering place for new immigrants from Somalia and other African countries. As Professor McMahon  emphasizes, “To know the soul of a people, learn about their folklore.”

First “Honors Footnotes” Event Is a Hit!

On Thursday, October 18th, Honors Core Faculty member and chair of the Magazine Journalism Department, Melissa Chessher, hosted the inaugural “Honors Footnotes” event – a guided tour of Oakwood Cemetery, led by Sue Greenhagen, a member of the Historic Oakwood Cemetery Preservation Association, a local historian, and a retired librarian from Morrisville State College .Designed by one of America’s earliest landscape architects, Howard Daniels, Oakwood Cemetery opened its gates on November 3, 1859. The 160 acres of this outdoor museum feature a Gothic style mortuary chapel, 19th- and 20th-century architecture styles, including works by Horatio Nelson White and Archimedes Russell, and hundreds of 150-year-old trees, which showcased their fall colors. Sue Greenhagen (who, along with her sister, are known as “the cemetery chicks”) has spent years researching those buried in Oakwood. In addition to the general history and featured architects just mentioned, the tour highlighted a few of the more notable characters including an abolitionist, a robber baron, a Civil War commander, and several celebrated writers, artists, and philanthropists!

In a sentence: “Honors Footnotes” are small events hosted by Honors faculty or staff that encourage informal interaction around a variety of topics! Stay tuned for future opportunities!

Oakwood Cemetery - Honors Footnotes
Inaugural “Honors Footnotes” group posing during their tour of Oakwood Cemetery
Honors group listens to guide during Oakwood Cemetery tour
Honors group listens to guide during Oakwood Cemetery tour

Honors Community Outing

We in the Honors Program are always impressed by the bonds created between our students and professors. It is no wonder we call it an Honors COMMUNITY. We wanted to share these wonderful photos of a recent trip that our Honors professor and Core Faculty member, John Western, took with his former students to the Whetstone Gulf Gorge. Yes, former students. We are proud that the bonds in the classroom lead to relationships well after our students have left the seats of their former classes. This recent trip just goes to show what wonderful friendships can be created here in the Honors Program!

Students on Nature Walk
Students on the lip of the Whetstone Gulf Gorge.     

Group on the very northern end of the 15 miles or so of continuous sand dunes at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. This place is called Black Pond, a couple of miles north of Southwick Beach State Park.
Dramatis personae: Hannah Louys, John Western & Belle, Paige Jarmuz, Bo Stewart, Andrew Frasier, Margo Woodring, Brian Cheung.