I work at a Christian liberal arts university, and I have the privilege of teaching in our honors program. Our honors students participate in a great books program that replaces much of their general education program and exceeds what most other honors programs do in depth and in range. Those classes are run Socratic-style with students leading discussion. Participation is essential for everything to work well, but it isn’t always easy for everyone. Some people are naturally shy, our students come from a variety of academic backgrounds, and many are accustomed to less active class attendance. Sometimes it is hard for the professor not to lecture.
In the last few years, some remarkable things have been happening in our honors program. In the spring of 2024, I taught a junior-level class in which every single student participated in every class session that they were present. No honors class had ever achieved 100% participation across an entire semester before. (If people were sick and absent, we did not count that against them. No one has time for contagion.) I wrote about that streak class for FPR and called it a “legendary semester.” That 2024 class was transformative. Students were more engaged and they got more from the readings and each other. The streak was only possible because students took ownership of the class. Our class felt like a team working together toward a goal.
A year later, it happened again. In my spring 2025 junior-level honors class, we repeated the participation streak. The second time was just as exciting and legendary as the first. I wrote about it for FPR, suggesting: “We can begin to think of ourselves as cultivating a habit of a certain kind of excellence across our honors program. What the first streak initiated, the second streak has carried forward into our program’s culture.” All our students are capable of excellence and most are highly interested in engaging with the materials and each other.
In 2024, I described what happened as being like catching lightning in a bottle. In 2025, I wondered if we were becoming a “lightning bottling facility.” Now I wonder if we are not something more like the Rural Electrification Administration in terms of scope. Under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Rural Electrification Administration brought dramatic changes to parts of the United States. When it began in 1936, 90% of American farms lacked electric power. By 1950, almost 80% had electricity. Isolated families and communities long remembered “the night the lights came on.”
I entered this school year thinking that probably this spring, 2026, my junior-level honors class would attempt another streak. Many students are eager to join their peers on Mt. Olympus. Last year some sophomores told me that they intended to go for it this year. That class has not yet had an opportunity to achieve the next streak because the spring semester is just beginning and because something even more dramatic has already happened.
This was the semester that the lights came on. This fall, our program had four classes complete 100% participation streaks. Two were freshman classes and two were sophomore classes. Only one class was taught by me. The electricity from the first two streaks has charged the culture of our honors program.
It is hard to say who is prouder, the students or the faculty. For our freshmen, what a way to start college. College freshmen are often busy staying up late, printing assignments at the last minute, skimming the reading, and being self-conscious in class. Sophomores are about the same, but they are more engaged in campus activities and are trying to lock in their major. A participation streak requires working as a team. The students hold themselves and each other accountable. Each person has to see the value of their individual contributions. Each person has to keep up with the class. The students encourage each other and keep the conversation going. To see that kind of community and leadership from underclassmen is special. When the fall semester began, several classes attempted streaks. No one expected all the classes to succeed, but it seemed especially unlikely that underclassmen would. Yet they succeeded. They earned honors program hats.
These fall streaks are exciting on many levels. For the underclassmen who completed them, if they keep this momentum going, they will have an exceptional college experience. Many students don’t really click on until later in college, but this crew has already unlocked what it takes to have a really great class and committed to bringing their best to the table. Through their enthusiasm and example, they are already leaders in our program and local legends.
Like the Rural Electrification Administration extending power, these streaks have made a certain kind of excellence more common across our honors program. This excellence reflects our program culture, not just one special class or professor. Individual charisma runs out and excellent students graduate. Culture carries on traditions and holds a community together across time. It is bigger than any one of us or any year. It’s the water we swim in together.
In truth, most university “honors” programs would be better named “accelerated” programs. They offer advanced versions of existing classes or a special general education program, but the idea is to attract students with high test scores and then graduate them to spectacular achievements. When we compare honors programs, what do we look at? Incoming SAT and ACT scores. The fame of the faculty and their publication record. Prestigious study abroad opportunities. Many students want to know if they can graduate early and get on with their plan to reach the top of their field before they turn thirty. Many honors students are very interested in being “ahead” and very anxious about falling “behind.” None of that has much to do with anything we might call honor or virtue.
This fall’s achievement is a sign that there is honor developing in our honors program. A participation streak hinges on a way of being present and accountable. No one student can make a streak, but any one student can break it. Students have to show up themselves, but also for others. And why do they do it? Not for points. My class received no bump in their grades. They won’t graduate early because of it. The honors hats are very cool, but they aren’t coveted off campus. These students did it because it was good to do. They did it because excellence is good in itself. They did it because they respected and cared for each other. Grades are not the only thing going on around here. This fall’s achievement is a testament to the high quality of our students and their desire to pursue genuine honor.
What happened this fall was special, but it also simply reflects some truths about humans and education. People want to be part of something. Students want to be excited about what is happening in class. People learn better in community and with encouragement from their peers. The whole class moves forward together when everyone participates. If we give students the opportunity to rise to a high standard, many of them will seize that opportunity with enthusiasm.
Thanks to the Rural Electrification Administration, more rural people could use electric power for agriculture, and they could also stay up late and read under electric lights. The REA changed what was possible for many people. This fall’s participation streaks have lit up our honors program, and they offer us a great deal of light to read by. They reflect what is possible in a culture of enthusiasm and excellence.
Image Credit: Harriet Backer, “By Lamp Light” (1890) via Wikimedia.
