Messiah University Honors Program

06/10/2026

At the Honors Program, we seek to offer students opportunities to grow in both hard and soft skills. Recently, we caught up with alumna Abigail Ruth, ‘20, who shared with us how experiences in the Honors Leadership Counsel prepared her for her current work. Abigail studied International Business and French during her time at Messiah, and she is now the Program Coordinator for Ugandan Water Project!

Abigail says, “Being a founding member of the Honors Leadership Council helped give me the confidence to speak up in situations where I wouldn't have before, and the Honors Program classes helped me learn to question the status quo rather than accepting it. I would not be able to walk into conferences or meetings with the confidence I do if it hadn't been in part for the Honors Program and everything it includes.”

Thank you Abigail, for your important work and for sharing with us the ways the Honors Program has helped you develop in intellect as well as confidence!

06/08/2026

Messiah Honors alumna Olivia Reardon is featured on the latest episode of "Composed"

Many parents want their children to receive an education that does more than prepare them for the next test. They want an education that helps them become thoughtful, faithful, wise human beings.

In this episode of Composed, Christine Perrin talks with Olivia Reardon about what it means to grow up classical and how literature can shape a young person’s moral imagination.

Together, they explore how stories help students ask better questions, see themselves more truthfully, encounter others more generously, and return to the same books with deeper wisdom as they grow.

For families wondering why the great books still matter, this is a warm and thoughtful conversation about reading, formation, beauty, and the kind of education that attends to the whole person.

Listen to Episode 11: “Growing Up Classical: Literature, Wisdom, and the Questions We Carry,” with Olivia Reardon.

05/26/2026

For our Honors students, the summertime is an opportunity to further their studies at Messiah University in unique places!

This summer, Honors Engineering student Eliza Crawford is travelling to Peru with her Collaboratory team to do work with the WindAid Institute.

You can read more about the Peru WindAid Site Trip at https://messiahcollaboratory.wordpress.com/peru-windaid-site-trip/

This is such a great opportunity for Eliza to apply her engineering skills to serve other communities!

Keep up the great work, Eliza, and we cannot wait to hear how it went in the fall!

05/12/2026

A huge congratulations to our graduating seniors! Our Medallion Ceremony was a beautiful time of celebrating and reflecting on all our students have accomplished and God’s faithfulness to them throughout their years here at Messiah and in the Honors Program.

A special thanks to Dr. Christine Gardner and Dr. David Weaver-Zercher for participating in the ceremony, honors seniors Lu-Zheng Lau and Olivia Reardon for their impactful reflections on their time in the program, and honors seniors Anna Clement, Eliana McFate, and Anne McIlvaine for lending their musical gifts to the ceremony.

We are grateful for the contributions each of these Honors students have made to our community, and we will be praying for them as they head into the next chapter of their lives!

05/11/2026

It was such a delight to chat with Christine Perrin, host of the Humanitas podcast "Composed." I hope you enjoy our conversation.

A new episode of Composed is out today.

Christine Perrin is joined by James LaGrand, American historian and Director of the Honors Program and Professor of American History at Messiah University, for a conversation about building a culture of intellectual friendship.

Together they explore the habits that form students and teachers into a genuine community of learning: shared meals, seminars, walks, tea, concerts, trips to Gettysburg, and the reading of great texts aloud. Their conversation moves through music, memory, Augustine, Dante, Frederick Douglass, Lincoln, Tyehimba Jess, and the quiet image of a grandmother’s Sabbath table.

It is a rich reflection on education not merely as competence or achievement, but as the patient formation of persons who can receive beauty, honor the past, and seek the good together.

Listen to the new episode here: https://champ.ly/5KQMglvH

What habits help form a true community of learning?

05/07/2026

As the 2025-26 Academic Year comes to a close, we are reflecting on the great experiences our students have had this semester!

Our first-year students finished Augustine’s Confessions and participated in more group discussions, attended Dr. Christopher Perrin’s lecture “Why Confess? Augustine and the lost art of confession in an age where everything else is wrong,” and wrote papers in their Ethics: Pursuing the Good Life courses.

All students had the opportunity to engage with major questions and stimulating ideas through guest lectures by speakers such as Dr. William Doherty, Nicholas Westberg, and more!

In keeping with our mission of helping students grow in maturity of Christian faith, students participated in a Holy Week Scripture and Song service and Why I am a Christian hosted at the Harbor House.

Students also connected with local Christian educators at Messiah’s first Christian School Fair!

These experiences and so many more have shaped our students’ thinking about our theme of the year, reconciliation, and developed their intellect and Christian faith.

Stay tuned for what our students and alumni are up to this summer and announcements for our Fall 2026 events!

04/29/2026

Come and support Caleb Rice, Grace Sagna, Owen Walker and Ava Turnow as they present their honors culminating projects at the School of Science, Engineering and Health Symposium on Friday, May 1st.

04/27/2026

Come and support honors student, Anne McIlvaine, as she presents her honors culminating project entitled The Practical Musician's Guide to Practice: Strategies for Music Majors" on April 28 at 7:30pm in Martin Choral Rehearsal Room

04/27/2026

Come and support honors student, Evelyn Kelly, as she presents her honors culminating project entitled "an abundance of birds: exploring the relationship between poetic text & image" on April 28 at 4:00pm in Boyer 130.

04/24/2026

Come and support honors student, Elizabeth Wilkinson, as she presents her honors culminating project entitled "The Sensory Classroom: Understanding the Impact of the Environment on Students with Sensory Processing Disorders" on April 27 at 4:00pm in Hostetter 113.