FEATURES
OCTOBER 1, 2015
EL CAMINO COLLEGE UNION 3
Honors program leads students to transfer success El Camino’s Honors Transfer Program is one of the top three community colleges in the state for transferring students Clarissa Romo
Staff Writer @ECCUnionClarissa
C
ollege application deadlines are approaching and transfer program deadlines are around the corner. Students looking for help with going forward, academically, are encouraged to seek the El Camino’s Honors Transfer Program. The Honors Transfer Program (HTP) is a top-tier program that started about 25 years ago around the same time honors programs began nationwide, started by faculty, not counselors. It is one of the original founding programs in the whole state and one of the original TAP schools with UCLA, making it an even more unique program. The main goal of the program “is to prepare the students for the increase academic depth of classes, so that when they get to the UCs or privates they have that way of thinking and can look into the subject in a greater depth so its not just a GE but a whole discipline,” CoDirector of HTP Joe Holliday said. Even though the program consists of only 600 students, there is no problems with transferring. “We are one of the top three honors program in the state in size but we feel that we are the No. 1 in quality,” Holliday said. “Our number of students that got into UCLA was the highest out of the 110 community colleges and 93% of the UCLA applicants got in. That beats all the other schools.” “We’re the only community college that participated in all three
honor student research conferences last year and all over the state, It takes a lot of effort and budget to make this happen,” Holliday said. The program encourages students to apply as soon as possible so that it increases their chance of getting into a top university. For UCLA prospects, Holliday highly recommends them to apply because “through this program along with TAP allows UCLA applicants to list two majors on their application and this in turn doubles their chance of being accepted to UCLA.” “The HTP played a significant contribution to my overall experience at EC and the transfer process to UCLA,” former student Alex Cabrera, 20, sociology major said. “From the challenging honors curriculum courses, to the UC Irvine research conference, each service enhanced my academic abilities and interests in research and education.” The program has outreach programs that help identify and reach out to first generation students and other students from underrepresented populations. “We try harder than most honor programs, for students who may feel that they aren’t qualified, but we know they are,” Holliday said. Stephanie Pedrahita, 20, psychology major said that the program has helped her a lot. “Not only has the program been helpful to me,” Pedrahita said. “But it has also opened doors to a lot of other programs, such as the ambassador program. Also (I’ve become) ASO Vice President because of the HTP program and its workshops.”
Jo Rankin/ Union Kahea Kamahele, the program assistant for the Honors Transfer Program explains the rules to students before a HTP seminar on Sept 29. The Honors Transfer Program Office is located in the Counselor’s Office in the Student Services Center.
El Camino’s HTP will remain open for spring 2016 enrollment until Oct. 31 HTP encourages students to apply.
Keeping up with the new professors Recently hired full-time instructor answered questions about their new home teaching at El Camino
Joseph Evans Communication Studies Instructor
Q: Were you working as a parttime instructor before? or not?
Jo Rankin/ Union Professor Rhea Lewitzki interacts with her English 1A students during one of her Friday classes on Sept. 18.
Rhea Lewitzki English Instructor
Q: How long have you been a full-time professor? What was it like when you got offered the position?
A: “Yes I did. I was the assistant debate coach and part-time instructor for two years before I got hired full time. Q: Do you have any connection with EC? A: “Yeah, I do. I actually was a student here when I first came out of high school and then I competed in their speech and debate team, so I kew a lot of the faculty coming back here, I knew the administration.”
Claire Nitchman/ Union Joseph Evans is one of 19 new full-time faculty members hired by El Camino College. He is a commuincation studies professor and a coach on the debate team.
A: “It is my 4th week as a full-time professor. When I got offered the full-time position I was out of Q: What inspired you to teach? words to express how happy I felt.” Q: What has been your overall experience as a professor at El Camino? A: “El Camino is student centered. I get the impression that students come first. We look to have the best teachers, and as a result we have some of the best students.” Q: Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of school business? A: “I’m in a punk band and I am the bass player. I also enjoy boxing.”
A: “My mom is a teacher and I sort had it through out my life that teaching was really important. I got the chance to teach in high school, when I did some tutoring and I fell in love with that and decided that it was something to consider as a career path.” Q: What is your focus on teaching? A: “I focus on argumentation and debate and that’s what I primarily teach, so I am the assistant debate coach and the majority of my classes I teach in the communication department are argumentation classes.”
A new “Keeping up with the new professors” will be featured in each issue this semester