MCHC Conference: Sustainability, Change, and Resilience

By: Jonathan Casero

     On March 1and 2, MC Germantown will proudly host the annual Maryland Collegiate Honors Council (MCHC) Conference, for the 2^nd time, in 3 years.  MCHC is in affiliation with honors programs and colleges within MD.

“The interesting part of this [conference] is we get an interesting mix of minds of students from different backgrounds, they come from public and private schools,” says Dr. Michael Taber, MCHC president and Professor at St. Mary’s College.

“[MCHC’s purpose] is to provide students an opportunity to present work they have done in honors courses or in an honors program. It also allows administrators and faculty that are involved in honors education and programs to come together and share their ideas, trials and tribulations,” says Dr. Taber.

Students are nominated by honors program representatives and reviewed for an invitation to showcase their extensive work.  Each 15-20 minute presentation, followed by a question and answer period, will given by individual students or groups of 3 to 6.

Member of the Executive Board of the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council, director of the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council Conference, College-Wide Honors Coordinator, among many titles of the Professor, Dr. Lucy Laufe, says, “one of the unique features of this year’s conference is the Vaddey Ratner presentation on Friday night.”  Ratner wrote In the Shadow of the Banyan, an autobiographical novel about growing up in Cambodia.

Each year, the conference has a theme.  According to Dr. Laufe, the novel ties into this year’s theme of: Sustainability, Change, and Resilience.  Friday night’s Vaddey Ratner presentation will be free and open to the public.

Two students will receive a Portz Award with a $500 stipend: one recipient from a 2-year college and the other from a 4-year college.  Winners are selected based on grade point average, initiative in taking leadership, and academic excellence.

The Portz Awards are named for the late Dr. John Portz, first director of the University Honors Program at University of Maryland, College Park as well as one of the founding members of the National Collegiate Honors Council.

MC Germantown is taking a weekend to thank honors students for their hard work.