Valencia Honors

05/17/2022

Congrats to honors student Shaqori Smith (second from left) for being part of the team who hosted a successful Grand Buffet-Grand Patisserie at the Downtown Campus in the Walt Disney World Center for Culinary Arts and Hospitality last month! 🎉 The Grand Buffet is a special culinary tasting event that features a variety of mouthwatering dishes and artistically-crafted desserts created by a team of professors and students from Valencia’s culinary programs. Tasting options included Texas-style brisket with a chimichurri sauce, chicken ballotine, grilled rosemary oil-infused vegetable platter, a variety of tarts and pastries, and much more. We’re already looking forward to the next Grand Buffet!

05/13/2022

We are thrilled to share that two honors graduates have been named Cooke Transfer Scholars! 🎉 Leah Basaria and Miranda Rublaitus are recipients of the highly prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship and are among only 100 students in the nation to receive this award.

Both Leah and Miranda are nontraditional students whose journeys brought them back to school during the height of the pandemic. Despite the setbacks imposed by the remote learning environment, they became actively engaged in a variety of opportunities at Valencia in their respective fields of study, including faculty-mentored honors undergraduate research, service learning, campus leadership roles, and both formal and informal mentorship roles within the honors college. They both had a significant impact on their campuses and local communities and leave behind legacies at Valencia as they prepare to transfer to university for their Bachelor's degrees this fall.

Leah aspires to a career in mental healthcare (practice, education, reform, and accessibility), and plans to transfer to the University of Central Florida to major in psychology. Miranda aspires to a career in data science for public policy, and is currently considering admissions at several universities, including Columbia University, Georgetown University, and Yale University’s Eli Whitney Students Program.

We wish a hearty congratulations to both of them on this life-changing award! 🥳

For more information on the Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, visit http://www.jkcf.org. For more information on the Seneff Honors College, visit http://www.valenciacollege.edu/academics/programs/honors.

06/01/2020

The Seneff Honors College stands in solidarity with our black and brown community members, and against injustice and systemic racism. ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿. To read Dr. Shugart's message, click through the link below.

04/24/2020

We are thrilled to share that honors student Jennifer Tolliver has been named a recipient of the 2020 Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship! 🎉 This nationally prestigious award will provide her with up to $40,000 a year to complete her bachelor’s degree, personalized advising and support, and opportunities for internships, study abroad, and graduate school funding. She joins 8 other students from the Florida College System in this year’s class of 50 Cooke Transfer Scholars (representing 17 different states). Jennifer plans to transfer to Florida Institute of Technology this fall to pursue her degree in psychology. We wish her hearty congratulations on this outstanding achievement! 🥳

If you would like to read more about Jennifer’s story and her Valencia experience, please click through the link below.

Jennifer Tolliver decided at a very early age that she wanted to go to college – in part because her mother had struggled to attain an education. What Jennifer didn’t know at that age was how difficult it would be for her too.

04/13/2020

Did you know, as a Valencia student, you receive free Lynx passes?

However, due to campuses being closed in response to COVID-19, you’ll need to follow a new process to apply for a PawPass or to get your pass renewed. You can find out how to do this here: https://net1.valenciacollege.edu/lynx/

Please note, that due to COVID-19, some routes may have been modified. Be sure to check the Lynx website for updates.

03/18/2020

Good morning Honors community,

We want to let you know that we are here for you during this unprecedented college closure! To best support you, we have created several new virtual resources that we will be updating regularly and that you can access remotely:

1. Community and Online Learning Resource Documents: A shared Google document tracking a running list of local community resources in Orange and Osceola County, online resources for families with kids at home, and online learning resources to assist with the transition to online classes for the remainder of the semester.

Current students can access the document here: https://online.valenciacollege.edu/courses/25858/discussion_topics/633438

Alumni and prospective students can access a modified version of the document (sans current student information) here: https://tinyurl.com/shccovid19

2. Instagram Highlight - COVID-19: An IG highlight sharing credible information & resources from community and institutional IG accounts, and saved for your reference.

3. Instagram Highlight - Postivity: An IG highlight sharing positivity & good news from the honors community (keep an eye on our IG stories for opportunities to contribute).

You can follow us on Instagram here: http://instagram.com/seneffhonors

Finally, if you have any questions as you navigate the college closure and class transition process, please don't hesitate to reach out - the full honors college team is working remotely to support you!

03/16/2020

The latest update from the Honors College related to the Valencia College COVID-19 closure and the specific impact it has on honors activities and resources is now available in Canvas (Honors Students ➡️ Announcements). A copy of the update should also be in your Atlas inbox.

You can also keep track of general information from Valencia College about the closure in real time here: https://valenciacollege.edu/alerts/covid-19.php

Let us know if you have any questions!

03/14/2020

02/28/2020

Congrats to honors student Sheina Senat for her feature in today's Valencia College news article about the Valencia Brain Bowl Team and her role as the team captain! 🎉 We're wishing her and the team good luck in this weekend's tournament!

PS - Fellow honors students Arsene, Joao, Samantha, and Nikolai get shout-outs in the article as well. 😎

Make way for the brainiacs! Valencia College's Brain Bowl team is hosting the National Academic Quiz Tournaments' community college championships this weekend -- and has a chance to earn yet another title! https://bit.ly/2TpNOKM

01/24/2020

We are thrilled to share that several of our honors students are among the list of semifinalists for the 2020 Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship!

Meet the 456 Cooke Transfer Scholar Semifinalists, selected from nearly 1,500 community college students nationwide who applied for this scholarship.

09/23/2019

We were blown away by Bryan Stevenson's plenary address at the National Collegiate Honors Council Annual Conference in Atlanta two years ago, so we're excited to be reading "Just Mercy" as this year's Honors Book Club pick! 📚

Current honors students - You can learn more about Honors Book Club in Canvas.

Honors alumni - if you haven't read it yet, this is the perfect time to add Just Mercy to your reading list! A film adaptation starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx will release this winter.

Learn more about the book and film.