Distinguished Honors Scholars: high achievers, highly motivated

UB has been able to attract some of the best and brightest high-school students the United States has to offer, thanks to the generosity of a benefactor committed to rewarding academic excellence.

UB's Distinguished Honors Scholars, as they are called, receive scholarships to cover tuition and all expenses for each of their four undergraduate years at UB, thanks to an anonymous donor who believes that students of exceptional merit should be able to pursue an education at a premier university without having to worry about the cost.

In January 1995, he gave the university a cash gift of $1.6 million, the largest cash gift ever received by UB or any other college or university in the SUNY system in which the funds were immediately available for use. The same donor contributed an additional $800,000 in cash in January 1996 to allow the university to expand the program.

Eleven students comprised the first class of Distinguished Honors Scholars and entered UB in the Fall 1995; 26 more joined their ranks in this fall, and a third group is being recruited to begin next fall. They come from states that include Connecticut, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, as well as New York.

They're high achievers and highly motivated. Their interests are as diverse as their minds are bright. To be considered for the program, they must have a high-school average of at least 95 percent, and score a 1470 or higher on their SATs. Many are pursuing special majors or dual degrees, often in widely diverse fields.

Diversity ­ of UB's academic programs as well as of its student population ­ is important to these students, says Clyde Herreid, academic director of the UB Honors Program and SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Distinguished Honors Scholars are part of the UB Honors Program, a unique and highly regarded program that provides a select group of bright and highly motivated students with special course offerings, advising, early registration and close faculty-student interaction.

"Most honors scholars have disparate interests. Some will narrow them down, others will widen the range," he says. UB's breadth of curriculum allows these students to pursue several different options, such as double degrees, disparate majors or dual degrees.

Range of academic programs was important to a freshman from the upper midwest who chose UB over schools such as Purdue, the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin. "I was looking at big schools because I wasn't sure I wanted to go into computer engineering and knew I might change my major," he says. "I wanted to go to a big school that had all kinds of choices, all kinds of options for what you could go into."

His instincts served him well. "I started out in computer engineering, but I didn't like the projects," he says. He's now majoring in math and economics, and says he may pick up a minor in accounting or computer science.

This student says he also was attracted by the honors program, which he described as "kind of like a college within a college....At the other colleges, I would have just been a number."

The scholarship he receives also was an important part of his decision to attend UB. "I probably would have gone to college without the scholarship, but I would have needed (financial) help from my parents and my sister, and I would have had a debt when I finished. I'm quite thankful for (the scholarship) and so are my parents."

Selection of Distinguished Honors Scholars takes into consideration both merit and financial need. "Some students are impressed because the scholarships Éare merit based," says Josephine Capuana, administrative director of the UB Honors Program.

But for some, she adds, the scholarships are the only way they'd be able to pursue a college education.

"Five or six in the freshman class wouldn't have been in college at all without the Distinguished Honors Scholarships because finances were a problem. Their financial situations were pretty desperate," Capuana says.

While the financial help is important, the quality of education is vital to attracting these exceptional students to UB.

"Nobody is going to come to a school that isn't going to provide a good education," says Herreid. "Our job is to show these students the facilities, the people and the opportunities. Once we've done that, they're convinced. The students may be initially attracted to Buffalo because of the honors program, but we have to live up to that obligation, and we do....We are as good or better than any place in the country."

A freshman from New England says she chose UB over two other colleges that also offered her full scholarships because of the caliber of the university's programs.

"It's a higher-level school. I thought UB could offer me more," she says.

The scholarship, however, was an im portant part of her decision to attend. "It took such a load off our minds. My family worried about sending me to school," she says. "Having the scholarship allows me to spend more time on my studies."

Being a member of the Distinguished Honors Scholars enriches more than just these students' academic lives. A sophomore from downstate New York explained that her scholarship has allowed her to continue with one of the great loves of her life, competitive figure skating.

"Skating is a big part of my life. I've skated all my life and competing is very important to me," she says. "I couldn't have continued skating in college without this scholarship." She skates six days a week with the Amherst Skating Club.

With a major in biology and a minor in Spanish, she hopes to enter the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences through its Early Assurance Program. She also would like to coach skaters, too, but "on the side, not as my career."

Although UB was among the schools she was considering in high school, she wouldn't have come here without the Honors Program and all its advantages. "The advising, the early registration, all the perks of the Honors Program," she says. "It made it a lot more attractive to come here."

While the Distinguished Honors Scholars have a lot in common, Capuana stresses that each is an individual.

"When I look at the students in the program, I describe them as bright and normal. They work very hard and they play very hard. They're adventuresome and willing to take some risks. You can't put much by them. They question and they challenge in different ways," she says. "They're also very accepting of each other, but they don't see themselves as a closed group.

"For some of them it's the first time they've been accepted for their abilities. It helps them to grow up and grow out."