Enhancing the Academic Experience Through Honors

Intellectual curiosity, seeking connections among academic disciplines, and collaborating on undergraduate research—these things are what describe College of Coastal Georgia students in the Honors Program. This spring, two extraordinary students have successfully completed the Honors Program and have been inducted into the Student Hall of Fame—Kendra Paulson and Isabel Del’Acqua.

The Honors Program offers a variety of opportunities for students to approach their coursework from an honors-level perspective, and become leaders in their classrooms, on campus, and in the community. To graduate from the Honors Program, students must earn a minimum of 12 honors credits through designated honors courses, work with a faculty member to complete honors-level work within a 3000/4000 course, and complete an honors capstone project. Lecturer of English and Director of the Honors Program Emily Boyle said there’s a lot of independent thinking and initiative that goes into honors. This gives students the opportunity to create an experience that will further their interests and deepen their learning. 

KENDRA PAULSON

This May, Paulson will be graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences, with a concentration in biomedical science. Many students may know her as the president of the College’s Activities Board in Student Life. She oversees events organized by the Activities Board, collaborates with other campus organizations for events, and contacts outside vendors for Activities Board events. In addition to promoting campus life, Paulson has helped to improve the lives of members of the community. She is currently a medical scribe for Scribe Solutions Inc., was a physical therapy aide at Advance Rehabilitation Physical Therapy, and was a patient care assistant/medical technician at Help at Home LLC. She worked at Help at Home at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, aiding residents with personal hygiene, maintaining safety standards, managing doctors’ appointments, and much more. Boyle described Paulson as the “gold standard of a well-rounded College of Coastal Georgia student.”

“She excels academically, seeks employment that helps connect her scholarship to her career goals, and then gives back to the College by sharing all of those skills with the campus community,” Boyle said.

Paulson did two honors research projects. For Professor of Biology Dr. Jennifer Hatchel’s Foundation of Microbiology course, she explored tuberculosis and compared how it affected developed and underdeveloped countries from a historical perspective.

 “I agreed that this would work as an honors project, and Kendra ran with it. Over the summer, she compiled her research, and ultimately submitted both a written paper and an oral report on her results,” Hatchel said. “She did a fantastic job! Kendra is going to excel in graduate school, and I also look forward to seeing the fabulous things she does next! It was a joy to have her in class and to work with her on an honors project! I am very proud of her!”

Paulson’s second honors project was with Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Holly Nance. It focused on how maize responds to salinity stress. At the time, Nance didn’t have any current projects, so Paulson created her own.  

“She thought to understand this by looking at how gene expression was altered under high-salt conditions, specifically looking at differences in DNA methylation. Kendra took the initiative to dive into the literature on this topic, deciding what genes to target and what to expect. She also had to learn how to develop primers to amplify specific regions of her gene of interests. She spent last semester optimizing these primers and has continued to work toward assessing variation in methylation,” Nance said.

Nance believes that Paulson will go on to do very well in graduate school, where she will be able to devote more time to a project.

 “She’s been great to mentor, and I’ve enjoyed seeing her mature into a capable, diligent scientist over the years that I’ve had her in class and as a research student,” Nance said. “I’m excited to see what comes next for her after graduation.”

ISABEL DEL’ACQUA

Del’Acqua will be graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting with honors. She’s maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout her time at the College, and currently works as a bookkeeper for a local accounting firm. Del’Acqua truly lives up to the Mariner spirit as an actual mariner. She has served as first mate for 675 Charters with Captain Josh Morgan since October 2021.

Del’Acqua has been very active during her time on campus. She is the current secretary of the Student Accounting Society (SAS), was prior president of SAS, was secretary and member of the Performing Arts Club, and has contributed to Seaswells Literary Magazine with her beautiful photography.

Boyle first met Del’Acqua in Fall 2022 when she inquired about joining the Honors Program.

“New to the position of director, I immediately appreciated her questions and organizational skills. Her keen booking skills have helped me streamline this process and make it accessible for faculty and students,” Boyle said.

Del’Acqua put her bookkeeping and organizational skills to great use for her honors projects with Professor of Accounting Dr. Wanda DeLeo. She created an informational package for an advisor to hand out to students who were ready to start the internship process.

“Isabel initially created this package for the accounting internship. It was so well-received by students that when we moved to standardize many of the requirements for all business internships, we asked Isabel to create a package for all the business school internships,” Deleo said.

What Del’Acqua created describes the requirements to sign up for and complete an internship. Her work received very positive feedback from both advisors and students.

Del’Acqua also partnered with Professor of Accounting Dr. James Benton, doing research and analysis. The project was to determine whether or not investing under a long-term dollar cost averaging strategy would provide a better rate of return than the traditional buy and hold strategy. For her part, Del’Acqua accumulated the closing price of the S&P 500 stock index over a 13-year period, equating to approximately 2,500 data points. Benton and Del’Acqua presented their collaborative research, “The Lost Decade: What Dollar Cost Averaging Overcomes During the Supposedly Flat Decade of S&P Stock Market Index Returns” at the 2023 Coastal Scholars Showcase. Del’Acqua discussed her work of the project—data accumulation, analysis, and her concluding outcomes—as well.

“She is nothing short of an amazing student and individual,” Benton said.

Del’Acqua also participated in another session at the Coastal Scholars Showcase that focused on the Honors Program. She volunteered to serve on a roundtable and share her experiences with the honors coursework.

“At this forum another Honors Program student, who is currently a junior, thanked Isabel for her leadership, stating that Isabel’s work in a class they shared together had greatly inspired her,” Boyle said.

Boyle is very proud of Paulson and Del’Acqua. She recommended them both for the Student Hall of Fame, and when reading their resumes and accomplishments, it all came together.

“I think that they will be leaders wherever they go. I think they are very flexible,” she said. “At first, they were both not sure what honors meant, but once we talked about it, they were able to come have a conversation with me, and then they absolutely ran with it. They’re both so good about organizing and thinking through the fine print. Working it out with them helped me figure out how to do the program.”

One of the main components of the Honors Program is faculty involvement. It’s an opportunity for faculty to get students engaged in their research.

“Isabel helped Dr. Benton with a project he was already working on. So, you’re getting a collaborative voice, and you’re not doing it by yourself. It can be really rewarding and more fun,” Boyle said. “I think for a lot of us, when we’re doing scholarly work, we are in a silo. To have someone else in there that you’re mentoring and collaborating with can be fun and exciting.”

The collaboration with faculty also prepares students on how to interact with future employers and graduate school supervisors.

“This is a good place to start. The faculty I’ve worked with have been overjoyed with the collaboration, and are really proud of these students. I want to spread that with other faculty, and want other students to have these same opportunities,” she said.

The Honors Program is accessible to any current student with a 3.0 GPA or higher. Incoming freshmen are invited to the program based on GPA, and/or standardized test scores. Dual enrollment students with the requisite GPA are welcomed to take honors courses as well.

To learn more about the Honors Program and how to get started, visit ccga.edu/academic/honors.