University Scholars of Seattle Pacific University

The University Scholars Program is a series of honors classes at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, WA, one of U.S. News & World Report's Best in the West schools. The official program website, states:
University Scholars is an honors program for academically gifted students who seek a rigorous liberal arts education that encourages the development of a Christian mind and life. Its mission is to challenge the very best of our students to live out their faith within the academic and social arenas.
Class Makeup
There are an average of forty students in each year of the University Scholars Program. Invitations to apply are sent to accepted students, based on grades and SAT scores. Applications include letter of purpose and writing sample. Students who are not initially asked to apply for the Program, or missed the application for another reason, are invited to apply following the Fall Quarter of their Freshman year. These courses take the place of the Exploratory Curriculum, the general education courses at SPU. Transfer students are unable to participate in this program as it replaces the general education curriculum, but are still encouraged to get involved in SPU's honors classes.
Program Contents
The program is centered around four "Texts and Contexts" classes that cover history and literature from the Classical Era up through the contemporary period of Globalization. The classes are based on a Great Books reading list ranging from Chinua Achebe's classic Things Fall Apart to Homer's epic poem Iliad to Karl Marx's seminal treatise The Communist Manifesto . Students also take classes in Physics, Mathematics, and Christian Faith which culminates in a Senior Honors Project , lengthy research papers students design, research, and write during their last year of the program.
Staff
The program is currently being directed by Medievalist and Japanese literature scholar Luke M. Reinsma, distinguished graduate of Calvin College. He won Washington State's Professor of the Year award in 2004.
Other faculty includes staff from all other departments including English, Art, History, Classics, Physics, and Theology, providing a truly interdisciplinary education.
Extracurriculars
University Scholars (or UScholars) also enjoy having fun, maybe some friendly competition. In the Fall and Winter Quarters, students from all four years come together for their traditional Pizza and Play where they play Trivial Pursuit and attend the university's student theater. They also have an end of the year celebration for the graduating seniors, allowing underclassmen an opportunity to talk to finishing UScholars about their Honors Projects. Students also volunteer at local food center Northwest Harvest every quarter.
Recently, UScholars classes have begun their own traditions such as quarterly dress up days, a retreat during Winter Quarter, end-of-year "Paper Plate Awards" or "UScholars Music Awards," all of which build community and support the students during their four years at SPU.
Members of the University Scholars program are involved in many education and arts programs around the world including the NYCAMS graphic design program in New York, NY, Best Semester study abroad program at Oxford University in connection with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, and the faith based arts journal "Image".
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