Latest News - NMU Honors

We had a jam-packed school year here in the Honors Program! Things kicked off right away with our first-ever Honors Program Opening Banquet for incoming freshmen. This event took place at the Northern Center on Sunday, August 27th, which was the evening before classes started. We have a whopping 122 students in this year’s freshman cohort, almost all of whom were able to join us for this night of delicious food and wonderful conversation.  Additionally, some current honors students joined us for dinner in order to greet our new students and answer any questions they had. This event also gave us a great opportunity to snap a photo of our incoming freshman class (left).

Less than two weeks after our banquet, we held our yearly ice cream social for all Honors Program students. This event, which was held at the Wahtera Pavilion here on campus, gave honors students the chance to mingle with each other, catch up on their summers, and get to know each other better. While enjoying our ice cream, we played a few ice breakers and various lawn games. 

On October 7th, we departed for our annual fall Honors Program overnight trip! This fall, we went back to Minneapolis, this time partnering with students and faculty from NMU’s English Department. During this two-day extravaganza, we visited the Mall of America, saw an absolutely hilarious staging of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Guthrie Theater, and explored the Minneapolis Institute of Art. We also had plenty of time on our bus ride to chat and get to know each other.
Pictured on right: Honors students Erin O'Donnell and Claire Branding outside of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

On November 9th, the Honors Program team (Dr. Joy, Dr. Zimmer, and Sam) and four students departed for the 58th annual National Collegiate Honors Council Conference in Chicago, IL. Over our four days in Chicago, we attended conference sessions, connected with fellow honors students and faculty, and explored the city. Senior Honors Program and environmental science student Kata Rothhorn (pictured below) also won an award in the Diversity category for her poster entitled “Rural LGBTQ+ Oral Histories at Northern Michigan University.”

As a fun start to our Winter semester, some Honors students and faculty members were invited to watch an NMU hockey game from the Presidential Suite! During the game, we got to enjoy some delicious food and chat with President Brock Tessman (pictured on the left watching the game with his daughter, who was quite invested the entire time). It was a close and exciting game, and we ended up winning 3-2!

We had a busy February, with two events. On February 21st, Honors students gathered in Whitman Commons for a HSO game night with sandwiches from Northern Center catering. Students played cards and assembled a 500 piece puzzle. A few days later, on February 25th, students, faculty, and staff from both Honors and the English department traveled to Appleton, Wisconsin to see the national tour production of Les Misérables at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. While in Appleton, we caught up with Honors Program alum Veronica Line (‘22)!

To celebrate this semester nearing its end, the Honors Program and HSO hosted a Bob Ross Painting Night on Friday, April 12th. Eighteen students joined us to create their own renditions of the Bob Ross piece titled “Sunset Aglow.” Although many of us failed to reach Bob’s level of painting prowess, we were all quite happy with our pieces!