SCC Honors Program
Challenge yourself!
SCC's honors program allows highly motivated and talented students to take on elevated levels of academic freedom and responsibility as they assume more control over their college education.
With expanded opportunities for personal growth in areas of cultural awareness, community responsibility, and transformational leadership, members are empowered to grow, discover, and become the best version of themselves.
Why join the Honors Program?
There are many benefits to participating in SCC Honors. They include:
- All honors courses fulfill general education requirements. You don’t need to take additional courses or pay extra tuition to participate!
- Work one-on-one with faculty advisors;
- Join a learning community such as the President’s Leadership Academy or Phi Theta Kappa, SCC’s official honors society;
- Honors credits transfer to The University of Iowa, Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa, and Western Illinois University. Most other four-year institutions will accept SCC honors credit as well.
- Honors certification on your diploma and transcript;
- Participate in campus events such as
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- the President’s Welcome Dinner
- Meet-and-Greet with the Board of Trustees
- Spring Appreciation Dinner
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- Student Legislative Seminar in Des Moines
- Go on field trips;
- Honors study prepares you for a career and life outside the classroom!
Studies consistently show that young people today will change jobs—and even careers—4-6 times over the course of their working life. This is especially true for Gen Z, which is more prone to “job hopping” than older generations. You will need to develop core skills that transfer from job to job and career to career.
Honors study develops those skills. Reading broadly and critically; learning to think globally; summarizing and analyzing information in written form; and presenting effectively—these are the skills that employers prize when evaluating potential employees.
The Honors Program seeks highly motivated and academically qualified students from all backgrounds who bring leadership and enthusiasm to the classroom. Honors study provides opportunities to build community, develop leadership skills and global perspectives, and learn about different cultures and societies both past and present.
The Program admits roughly 15-20 students each year. The Honors Committee, composed of faculty and staff, reviews applications on a regular basis, so students are strongly encouraged to apply earlier rather than later.
Students must meet these requirements for admission:
- 3.5 High School GPA (new students);
- 3.5 Cumulative College GPA (transfer students);
- Completed SCC Application
- Completed Honors Program application (below);
Note that a 3.5 GPA is necessary but not sufficient for admission. Because applications typically exceed the number of slots available, the Honors Committee must consider intangibles when evaluating applications.
Course difficulty is one consideration. Students who have enrolled in AP/Honors/IB courses in high school or college are especially welcomed. So, too, is evidence of involvement in your school or community.
Most importantly, we seek students who bring leadership and enthusiasm to the classroom. They come to class prepared. They take risks, like asking questions that others are too shy to ask. They speak up in class and propose ideas for discussion. They support each other inside and outside the classroom, and take it upon themselves to improve the educational experience of their classmates.
Applicants should expect a request from Dr. Houghtby, Honors Program Coordinator, for a brief phone interview.
The SCC Honors Program requires all students to complete SDV-218, First-Year Honors Seminar (see below).
Students pursuing a one-year Intermediate Honors certificate must complete one (1) Honors course in addition to SDV-218. Students pursuing the two-year Full Honors certificate must complete three (3) Honors courses in addition to SDV-218. All honors courses fulfill graduation requirements.
Honors sections are reserved exclusively for Honors students when class enrollments exceed five (5) students. In cases when an Honors section enrolls fewer than five students, the Honors Coordinator, Dr. Houghtby, will make every effort to find qualified non-Honors students to fill the class. There are many such students on campus who for a variety reasons do not have time or opportunity to participate fully in the Program.
The Honors Seminar builds core skills in reading, writing and critical thinking, and shows students how scholars in various fields define research questions, conduct research, and produce and share knowledge.
This approach to learning is very likely new to you. Honors courses in high school typically focus on a single discipline (history for example). The First-Year Honors Seminar is different. There, students read across multiple disciplines. Course content and grading criteria will vary from professor to professor, but students will not focus just on history or just on literature or just on sociology.
Students entering the Honors Program in Fall 2025 will read, discuss and write about a riot in Paris in 1750 against the police for kidnapping children (history and sociology); how a T-Shirt travels the world from its origin in a West Texas cotton field to its final destination in Africa (political science and economics); the fate of a miller from northern Italy who was denounced to the Roman Inquisition in the 1570s for espousing heresy (history and anthropology); and how close study of a chimpanzee colony at Arnhem Zoo in Belgium reveals that chimps are much “smarter” than we have long thought, prompting us to rethink the boundaries we have traditionally drawn between the human and animal worlds (psychology, biology, and philosophy).
Course grades will be based solely on the quality of written work and classroom participation. Students will not take traditional quizzes or essay exams.
Did you graduate at the top of your high school class? Learn about our Trustee Scholarships. The SCC Foundation also offers hundreds of scholarships every year. Chances are, there's one for you.
Become an honors student
Contact
Jeffrey Houghtby, Ph.D.
Honors Program Coordinator
History/Social Science
Office 205-K
(319) 208-5136
jhoughtby@scciowa.edu