Honors Program redefines access

True to the college’s access mission, the GGC Honors Program minimizes barriers for students wishing to join.

The GGC Honors Program provides a distinguished, integrated educational experience that enables high-performing students to enjoy a rich variety of experiences that challenge them academically, develop their creativity, enhance their leadership skills and foster within them an abiding commitment to civic engagement.

With about 200 members, the program’s benefits include special courses, seminars, field trips, guest speakers, learning communities, workshops, lunch-n-learn events, cultural events, project-based service learning, mentoring, advising and more.

Like programs at other institutions, the GGC Honors Program requires that prospective members have a high grade point average (GPA) and complete an application that includes an essay and details about extracurricular activities.

That is where the similarity ends.

“Many programs automatically admit members based on GPA and test scores,” said Dr. Jennifer Wunder, director of

Qualified students who are interested in the GGC Honors Program are able to try out one of the program’s project-based classes before joining. One such student is Ayanna Henderson, ’20, psychology, shown here preparing to present a demonstration using a robot she built from scratch, including welding and programming, during an Honors Program course.

the GGC Honors Program. “We look at students more holistically. Ours is one of only a few programs that interviews applicants.”

Other schools’ programs only accept members as incoming freshmen or after one semester.

“This type of policy omits transfer students, those returning to college after a break or those who improve their GPA,” said Wunder. “This doesn’t meet GGC’s access mission. We wanted as many qualified students as possible to benefit from our program, so we aligned its requirements with the characteristics of our student body.”

Students may join the GGC Honors Program at any time, as long as they have at least four semesters remaining before graduation, which ensures they have enough time to benefit from membership. If life circumstances require them to leave college for a while, they may rejoin the program when they return. This is not possible at other colleges.

GGC’s program requires a 3.5 GPA, but it has no ACT/SAT test score requirements. And while many institutions charge a program fee as high as $500, there is no cost for GGC’s members.

This creative approach established GGC’s Honors Program as uniquely accessible. As a result, about 25 percent of its members started college with learning support courses. About 11 percent are of non-traditional college age. The program membership also reflects the ethnic diversity of the college’s student body, Gwinnett County and the northeast Atlanta region.

“It is very rewarding to see our members grow through our activities, knowing that many of them would not have had such an opportunity elsewhere,” Wunder said. “That’s what GGC is all about.”