For the fourth year, the Honors Program is participating in the university-wide #GivingBlueday online fundraising campaign, which falls annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Here are Director Mika LaVaque-Manty's words on your impact opportunity, sent recently as a letter to friends of Honors and alumni. Giving at every level is appreciated. Thank you for your support!

Begin letter:
Greetings from Ann Arbor! I write this from the newly renovated Honors Program office suite. With significant support from the College of LSA and our own funds, Honors was able to bring our space to the twenty-first century. (If you had been in our space in the last ten years, you will remember it looking, as the dean put it, rather sad.) The renovated space is more welcoming to our students, whom we want to feel comfortable during advising, at events, or even stopping by to study. We also have a new conference room, which is getting a lot of use particularly by our Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships (ONSF).

Indeed, ONSF, which is part of Honors but provides a service to the entire U-M community, has been remarkably successful. Last year, its director, Henry Dyson, shepherded an unprecedented four U-M students to national finals for the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships — and ultimately to yet another Rhodes Scholar for Michigan, Nadine Jawad. These our four finalists were just the tip of the iceberg,
as you may have read in the Honors Forum.

Also in the Forum, you may have read about English senior Kai Mason, who is pursuing our new Honors graduation opportunity, Honors in Engaged Liberal Arts (HELA). With HELA, instead of a thesis, a student can graduate with Honors through a rigorous integration of leadership or other type of civic engagement with their academic work. This recognition arose from our observation that some of our best students forgo the conventional thesis because they are too busy making the world a better place — doing it intentionally, often inspired by something in their curriculum and using further coursework to make sure their action is not just morally commendable, but exemplifies the high standards of Honors.

One of our goals is to make HELA a feasible option for all students, similar to the ways we already have of supporting our students’ research. It is, therefore, one of our primary philanthropic priorities in the next year or so, as the program grows. Of course, we welcome your help for any of the ways we have supported and will continue to support our students. You may participate in U-M’s #GivingBlueDay on Tuesday, November 27, remember us in your year-end gift — or just reward us by staying in touch. We love to hear from our alumni and friends!

Meanwhile, I wish you a lovely Thanksgiving
and holiday season.