Events – Page 34 – University Honors Program Blog

5 Reasons the Vern Spelling Bee Will Blow Your Mind

November 9, 2013Events, Featured

The MVC’s epic spelling bee is in a matter of days (Wednesday, 11/13 at 8pm in Post Hall) and it’s crazy. Here are five reasons why you’ll actually want to go to this spelling bee.

1) The competitors are called “Tributes,” and there are 2 from each “District.”

This definitely isn’t going to be a regular spelling bee.

2) Tricks, traps, subterfuge, and sabotage are required to win. It’s not just spelling.

Wait, what?

3) There’s a thing called a “Cornucopia” and tributes use items in it against each other.

Some items let tributes force competitors to spell their word, some items can be used for protection. Some give immunity, and one item makes a tribute spell their word backward.

4) Just by showing up, you could help a tribute win the game.

Did we forget to mention sponsor gifts? There are sponsor gifts. Districts with the biggest audience get sponsor gifts that let their tributes re-do a question.

5) There are 2 Honors districts. These Honors tributes need you to be there.

From District Dor: Emily Long and Katie Formosi. From District Jacob: Shelly Sharma and Allen Allen.

Find out if your friend is a tribute, and then go get (free) tickets to support them. They’re actually going to need your help.

Breakfast with the Director!

November 7, 2013Events, Featured

Honors students are invited to have breakfast with the Director of the UHP, Maria Frawley! All your ideas are welcome, but seats are limited.

Register Now

Breakfast with the Director
Tuesday, November 19th at 10am in the Foggy Bottom Townhouse.

Food for Thought w/ Prof. Xiaofei Kang [Free Lunch]

November 4, 2013Events

Honors students are invited to a Food for Thought discussion with Honors Professor Xiaofei Kang:

Gender, Revolution and Religion in China

Friday, November 15th at 12pm in Foggy Bottom

My current research aims to bring the seemingly missing “religion” into the study of women, gender, and the Communist revolution in China. It explores the gendered representations of both traditional Chinese religions and the Communist Party’s rise of power in the Chinese revolutionary propaganda.

Seats are limited, reserve yours now!

We’ll provide lunch, you bring your questions!

Advising without an Appointment….. and Pizza

October 29, 2013Events

Privileged registration is Friday, November 1st. Are you prepared?
Meet with Catherine in Foggy Bottom for walk-in advising from 10am-4pm on Thursday (Halloween, spOOoOOoOOOoky!) and on Friday of this week. Show up between 12-2pm on Thursday (Halloween, spOOoOOoOOOoky!) and we’ll have pizza for you too! (Halloween pizza, taAAaAAaAAAasty!) You don’t need an appointment! Just come in!
CCAS students can get their advising holds removed by Catherine, and everyone can get all their advising and scheduling questioned.
Don’t miss it! You don’t need an appointment, just come in.

Embassy Trick-or-Treating! [SPA Grassroots Event]

October 24, 2013Events, General News

There’s a chill in the air, and you know what that means… Halloween. Can you think of a better way to spend it than trick or treating at the embassies with all your honors friends? We thought not.

On Thursday, October 31st (umm, Halloween), your SPA Laura and Michelle will lead a trip to Embassy Row to get as much multicultural candy as possible. They’ll be meeting outside of Funger Hall at 12:30pm, trick-or-treating for a couple of hours, and then walking back. Come dressed as something other than yourself and bring a vessel for transporting goodies. (Start composing your #onlyatGW tweets and Instagram captions now.)
RSVP to the Facebook event here!

Carve Pumpkins with the UHP …. Also, Candy.

October 14, 2013Events

And candy eating, too! Carve pumpkins in the UHP town house (714 21st street) in the spookiest club room in all of Foggy Bottom. Or should we say Foggy BOOOOOOOOOOOOttom?!

Help us plan to have enough candy. RSVP on Facebook, please.

Friday, October 25th from 2-5pm
UHP Townhouse – 714 21st Street NW
Limited supply available of pumpkins for $5 each, or bring your own magnificent gourds! We’ll also have cheap carving kits (really, they’re cheap. If you’re a pumpkin artiste, you might want to bring your own.) Also, a big supply of candy.
Also on deck: spooooooooooooky videos on the TV, scaaaaaaaaary music, caaaaaaaaaaaaaandy!
Let us take a picture of your abominable creation and we’ll enter it in our annual pumpkin carving contest! The winner gets a gift card, which you can then use to buy candy!
No tricks, all treat! See you there! Candy.

About Your Writing Mistakes…

October 11, 2013Events

Don’t miss out on discovering what embarrassing writing mistakes are making your Origins professor wince. Get your tickets now!
Based on his new book, How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them, Ben Yagoda describes some painless ways to improve your writing–including not using the thesaurus.
Wednesday, October 23rd at 3PM
Ames Hall, B101 (Mt. Vernon Campus)

Seats are limited, register now!

This event is hosted by the University Honors Program and the University Writing Program. Please attend, your University Writing professors will thank you.

Whitewater Rafting: This one is for Alcibiades!

October 7, 2013Events

–The following post is written by UHP Professor Mark Ralkowksi, who recently went on a GW TRAiLS led whitewater rafting adventure with Honors students and other MVC residents.
The rafting trip was a success! There were six honors students, and the other positions were filled by non-honors students from the Vern. I ended up as a “captain” in a raft with non-honors students. These are some pictures of us going down one of the more challenging rapids. Our approach was traditional, recommended, etc.

One of the rafts was all honors students. They took a “different” approach to the same rapid. Here are some representative images:

The other thing worth noting about this raft is that it was later “captained” by Nikki Frick, and it was notably bellicose. I’m pretty sure they’ve all been reading too much Thucydides, because they wouldn’t stop ramming the other rafts and yelling, “this one is for Alcibiades! This one is for Alcibiades!” Honestly, the rest of us were terrified.

(Free) Lunch and Discussion w/ Prof. Hammond

October 7, 2013Events

Prof. LaTisha Hammond leads this Food for Thought discussion. Don’t miss out! The UHP provides lunch to students and faculty as Prof. Hammond tells how she mad ethe leap from investigating larval sea urchin gene expression in response to the environment in California, to investigating science learning and teaching practices in middle, high school, and undergraduate science classes on the east coast.
We’ll provide lunch, you bring your questions! Seats are limited to 15.

Register now!

Monday, October 14th
11:30am-12:30pm
714 21st Street, UHP Club Room at the Foggy Bottom campus

[SPA Event] Intro to Advising on the Vern!

October 4, 2013Events, Featured, Student Peer Advisors

Calling all Honors freshmen!
Do need advice about some aspect of life here at GW? Do you need help figuring out if you should spend a semester abroad, or deciding between five possible different majors (and three minors), or wondering how to score a sweet internship or research assistantship? Or do you just wanna chill with some UHPers?
Then join your SPA for some lively conversation and free food at our Intro to Advising event this Wednesday, October 9th. The event will be held on the Vern in West Hall, room B215, from 7-8pm. SPA will be there to advise you about studying abroad, writing your four-year plan, getting involved on campus, research and internships, choosing a major, and more!
Did we mention there will be food?

So join us next Wednesday and let your SPA drop some serious knowledge on you.