Oklahoma Christian University Honors Program

⏳ Time is running out! Apply by March 1 for Oklahoma Christian University Honors Program Global Academy!

High-achieving high schoolers, explore Vienna's rich history and culture, earn college credit and expand your global perspective. Don't miss this life-changing opportunity! 👉 oc.edu/hga.

February Pre-Approved Enrichment Events:

2/12 - Tar Creek Documentary - Today at 4 PM - register with this link for free (https://oklahoma-christian-university.ticketleap.com/tar-creek-documentary-event/dates/Feb-12-2024_at_0400PM)

2/15 - Winter Jazz Concert - 7:30 PM

2/18 - Winter Symphonic Band & Chamber Orchestra Concert - 3 PM

The first Honors Chapel for this semester is today at 11 AM in WBC 124!

Come join Honors Advisory Council and Davisson Hall for a Hot Cocoa Party! Enjoy hot chocolate and fellowship, open to all honors students.

Bring your own mug if you’re able!

Congratulations to our Fall 2023 University Honors Fellow graduates, Talby Duerksen and Rielyn (Glavan) Williams! We are so proud of you both and cannot wait to see what the future holds for you!

Christmas cookie decorating was a success! Thank you to everyone who came out and baked cookies with us!

We hope you have a restful dead week, and a good finals week!

Happy Dead Week, Honors Students!

To celebrate the end of the year, Honors Advisory Council is hosting a Family Dinner & Christmas Cookie Decorating night TONIGHT!

We'll meet in the caf for dinner at 6:00pm and then head over to the Davisson Hall Kitchen at 6:30pm for Christmas Cookie Decorating. Hope to see you there!!

Congratulations to Honors students Rielyn, Ali, Jackson, Sydney, and Jonah on their first and second place finishes at the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl - we are so proud of your hard work!

FREE FILM SCREENING - Killers of the Flower Moon

FREE to all OC students! The McBride Center for Public Humanities and OC Honors Advisory Council are partnering to offer a FREE SCREENING of the new blockbuster release of Killers of the Flower Moon at the Tinseltown OKC theater on Monday, October 23rd. If you would like to attend, please sign-up in the link in our bio.

Capacity is limited and will be first-come, first-serve for those who sign-up.

Our Honors Freshman got to visit this weekend in Kansas City, Missouri. They experienced beautiful art, delicious food, had the opportunity to grow both academically and spiritually together!

Our very first Honors Global Academy completed its journey home today! The past nine days at OC’s Vienna, Austria campus have been filled with so much learning, walking, laughter, and countless gelato stops. We are so thankful for this inaugural group of students and faculty leaders, and we already cannot wait to see what next year has in store! Want to join us in Vienna in July 2024? Current 10th-12th grade students can apply now at oc.edu/hga! Space is limited.

The OC+Honors Program has announced a 2023-2024 opening for Resident Director of our wonderful living-learning community in Honors House at Davisson Hall!

This position partners with the academic program to enhance and integrate the residential, academic, and social activities of both Residence Life and the OC+Honors Program. Our Honors House Resident Director works with a team of exceptional Resident Advisors and up to 80 wonderful students to build community among mostly first and second year students who have applied for and been accepted to our exceptional program.

Patricia Elmore has filled this position for a total of 4 years, but will be transitioning back into a full-time role as Managing Director of OC+Honors!

More details on the position and the online application are available at www.oc.edu/careers/job-postings (or visit the link in our bio).

Congratulations to some of our recent OC Honors graduates for matching into medical residency programs from OU’s College of Medicine!
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India Loyd (2017)
University of Oklahoma
Dermatology

Ryan Jones (2017)
Integrity Health
Family Medicine

Reid Reding (2019)
Washington University
Anesthesiology

Congratulations India, Ryan, and Reid - we are so proud of you! Know of any other OC Honors grads that matched this weekend? Be sure and let us know!

Congratulations to our Fall 2022 University Honors Fellow graduates, Kiva Maxwell and Bridgiet Alvarado! We are so proud of you both and cannot wait to see what the future holds for you!

Congratulations to on a fantastic performance at this past weekend’s Sam Freas Invitational! Special shout-out to Honors sophomore for two broken records!! We are so proud of you!
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A wonderful feature on OC Honors alum Nathan Jia. We are so proud of you, Nathan!

“You can pray all day long, but you have to work the field, too. I pray that He looks out for me, but I know I have to do the work, too.” - Nathan Jia 👨🏻‍⚕️
Nathan Jia's ('16) story is full of commitment and hard work.
He committed to a pre-medical school degree and got to work graduating in just three years at OC. ✨
Take a look at his amazing story 👉🏻 https://bit.ly/3LbNCJy
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Your story. God’s purpose.
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Last weekend, nearly 30 OC Honors students participated in a RestoreOKC workday! The day consisted of volunteering at a local congregation, helping them with a furniture and diaper drive open to residents of southeast Oklahoma City. These students helped clear an entire parking lot full of items being passed out to those in need! We are so proud of their work and for the opportunity to partner with such an amazing organization focused on building relationships of reconciliation for restorative justice. Thank you, .okc!

This past Saturday, our freshmen Honors students spent the afternoon at the as a part of their First Year Honors Experience! This year, they will be all be taking their first Honors course called Sacred/Secular Thought & Expression. SSTE is a course which asks an interdisciplinary class of outstanding, first-year honors students to analyze and describe visual texts, make reasonable assumptions about these texts, and to incorporate these texts into arguments in ways that support broader conclusions about ideas, historical developments, and cultures. Students were divided into groups, tasked to find specific pieces of art and to answer questions such as:
• How does this artist use or connect the text to its tradition?
• What might the text suggest about the nature of art, the role of the artist, the meaning of human existence, or the values or issues of the times in which the text was created?
• What might this text suggest for viewers today? Can you find “culture” at work in the artwork assigned by understanding this work in connection with another?

Stay tuned for a few feature posts from some of these bright students!

What an amazing move-in day for another GREAT year! Welcome home, Davisson Hall 🎉 We are SO glad you’re here!! Stay tuned for staff introductions coming soon 🥳

The 12th year of Honors Summer Academy has officially come to a close, and what a wonderful week it was! 68 students traveled to Oklahoma Christian University from 18 different states and 3 different countries for a week full of growth and FUN! These students spent a week on our beautiful campus learning from incredible faculty members, visiting field professionals in the OKC metro, and learning what life filled with both faith & learning can look like. Want to join us next year? We hope you will save the date for HSA 2023: July 9th-14th! For more information, visit www.oc.edu/hsa!

Congratulations to Honors alum Luke Swanson for being named to Tulsa World’s Oklahoma Best-Sellers list for his most recent book, “The Other Hamlet Brother” 🎉 We are so proud of you, Luke! Be sure and grab a copy for yourself, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Target!

A great spotlight for first-year Honors student, Joy Cortesio! She joins second-year Honors student, Talby Duerksen on the OC Volleyball team! Best of luck this season, Joy and Talby!

Cortesio joins OC volleyball team - Oklahoma Christian University Athletics OKLAHOMA CITY (Aug. 11, 2021) – Joy Cortesio, a middle blocker from a local prep volleyball powerhouse, has signed to play for Oklahoma Christian, OC coach Jason Skoch said Wednesday.

We are so excited to welcome our new Resident Director of Honors House at Davisson Hall, Jake Doberenz! An Oregon native, Jake’s first interaction with the OC Honors Program took place at Honors Summer Academy in high school. He then entered the Honors Program when he began college in the Fall of 2015. He graduated with his Bachelors in Bible from OC in 2018 and then two weeks later married his college sweetheart, Samantha, an accounting major and OC Honors alum. Jake then earned his Masters of Theological Studies at OC in 2020. In addition, Jake has also been an Associate Minister at the Mayfair Church of Christ for the last few years. Welcome to the team, Jake!

We are excited to officially welcome Patricia Elmore to the OC Honors Program team! Patricia has been serving part-time since October 2020, but recently transitioned a full-time position as Managing Director of the OC Honors Program! She most recently served as Resident Director of Honors House at Davisson Hall for three years after graduating from the OC Honors program in December 2018. She will also be serving as Associate Director of our annual summer program, Honors Summer Academy, which she attended in 2013 and 2014. Congratulations, Patricia!

With exactly ONE MONTH to go until Honors Summer Academy 2021, here’s a little !! Do you see any familiar faces? After taking last year off for COVID safety, we are SO excited to be back together making more memories with all of our HSA 2021 students! If you attended HSA in the past, what are some of your favorite memories? Comment below! 😊

We’re back to our series with graduating Family Science student, Allie Steward! During her time at OC, Allie has participated in OC’s social club Gamma Rho, Phi Upsilon Omicron (Family Science Honors Society – President), Psi Chi (Psychology Honors Society), and Earn Your Wings (Hub Leader). Allie has presented a poster at the Oklahoma Psychological Society (OPS) conference and has attended other various conferences through OC such as OKCFR, NCFR, and AATA. She also had the opportunity to intern at Family Solutions Counseling and NorthSide Church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas. For her Senior Honors Catalyst Project, Allie had the opportunity to illustrate a children's book that is now published (check out the link in her bio). After graduation, she will attend Springfield College in Massachusetts to complete her Masters in Art Therapy - Counseling and hopefully continue illustrating. About her time in the Honors Program Allie adds, “Through the Honors Program I have so many fond memories and friendships. From 5:30 dinner in the caf to celebrating Dr. Knedler and Dr. Maple and random late nights in the Davisson kitchen, I have been touched by so many lives and I will always appreciate and cherish my time here at OC.” Congratulations, Allie! @ Oklahoma Christian University

It has been a busy week around here, but we’re back with another for Mathematics graduate, Cassie Brown! During her time at OC, Cassie has been a part of several different organizations including Alpha Chi (President), Chamber Orchestra (President), OC’s social club Phi Omega Nu (Treasurer), and Kappa Mu Epsilon (Mathematics Honor Society). During her junior and senior years, she worked at American Fidelity in Oklahoma City as a Product Actuarial Intern. For her Senior Honors Catalyst Project, she worked towards her career as an actuary by getting pre-professional experience through job shadowing, conferences, and an internship with different companies in the insurance industry. She also completed three of the certification exams required to become an actuary! After graduation, Cassie is moving to Des Moines, Iowa and will be working as an Actuarial Assistant for the life insurance and annuities company, F&G. Congratulations, Cassie!

Today’s is Nursing Summa Cum Laude graduate Lauren Slagell! During her time at OC, Lauren has participated in OC’s social club Gamma Rho, Eagles Health Initiative, and Scientista. She has also worked as a mentor for OC’s Bridge Program and as a tutor for OC’s Student Success Center. For her Senior Honors Catalyst Project, Lauren completed a nursing externship through OU Medical Center in the Oncology/Nephrology unit. After graduation, she plans to work at OU Health-Edmond Medical Center in the ICU as an RN. Congratulations, Lauren!

Today’s is Computer Science graduate Tyler Joy! During his four years at OC, Tyler has played French Horn in the OC Symphonic Band and worked on campus in the Support Central office! For his Senior Honors Catalyst Project, Tyler created (from scratch!) a personal assistant focused on user privacy and cheaper accessibility to home automation. After graduation, he intends to continue in full-time position at Tinker Air Force Base. Congratulations, Tyler! @ Oklahoma Christian University

Today’s is Andrew Assaleh from right here in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma! Andrew is an Accounting major who will not only be graduating with his undergraduate degree, but also his Master’s of Accounting this July! During his time at OC, Andrew has competed on OC’s Varsity swim team and participated in several organizations including Student Athlete Advisory Committee (Men’s Swimming Representative & Treasurer), Alpha Chi (Academic Honor Society), and Delta Mu Delta (Business Honor Society). For his Senior Honors Catalyst Project, Andrew completed an internship as a Financial Accountant at Coldiron Companies in Edmond. He plans to sit for the CPA following graduation and, in the meantime, has accepted a full-time offer with Coldiron Companies beginning in May. Congratulations, Andrew!