I've always avoided Honors Societies. They always seemed like an excuse for people to gather and pompously toot their own horns, creating a sense of self-importance. I know that a lot of Honors Societies do great work in the community, but I never saw the need for an Honors Society to facilitate my service to the community.
However, I decided to give Mortar Board a chance, and I'm glad I did. The students running the club emphasized that Mortar Board was really about bringing together a diverse group of motivated individuals to foster a spirit of community, and then allow that tight knit community to work together to make the larger community a better place. I was really intrigued by the social aspect. I feel like I'm so isolated in my own little world of English and Premed, shuttling from class to class in quarter to quarter, that I never have a chance to stop and take into account all the wonderful people around me. Being aware of the work that students are accomplishing in all disciplines will hopefully make me even more of a mindful individual, and recognize just how much there is going on in this world. It's been really cool getting to have conversations where people will say "Oh this is what I've been doing in my bio-medical engineering lab" and then someone will respond with "That's interesting, it reminds me of what just happened in an Econ class I'm in".
So far, Mortar Board hasn't been exactly the glorious community bonding experience that it was touted to be, but to be fair it hasn't really begun yet. We've only done one project as a team (volunteering at commencement), and since we've only met as a group a couple of times (just to get our bearings and learn the procedure of the organization from the previous class) we're still getting to know each other. But I'm hopeful. We've got a great group of individuals, and I think as we meet more and participate in more service activities together throughout the course of the year, I'll find that the chance I took in applying for it will have been worth it.
However, I decided to give Mortar Board a chance, and I'm glad I did. The students running the club emphasized that Mortar Board was really about bringing together a diverse group of motivated individuals to foster a spirit of community, and then allow that tight knit community to work together to make the larger community a better place. I was really intrigued by the social aspect. I feel like I'm so isolated in my own little world of English and Premed, shuttling from class to class in quarter to quarter, that I never have a chance to stop and take into account all the wonderful people around me. Being aware of the work that students are accomplishing in all disciplines will hopefully make me even more of a mindful individual, and recognize just how much there is going on in this world. It's been really cool getting to have conversations where people will say "Oh this is what I've been doing in my bio-medical engineering lab" and then someone will respond with "That's interesting, it reminds me of what just happened in an Econ class I'm in".
So far, Mortar Board hasn't been exactly the glorious community bonding experience that it was touted to be, but to be fair it hasn't really begun yet. We've only done one project as a team (volunteering at commencement), and since we've only met as a group a couple of times (just to get our bearings and learn the procedure of the organization from the previous class) we're still getting to know each other. But I'm hopeful. We've got a great group of individuals, and I think as we meet more and participate in more service activities together throughout the course of the year, I'll find that the chance I took in applying for it will have been worth it.