Colin Hanke

My Experience in Honors​

When I think back to my decision to apply to Minnesota State Mankato, I remember deliberately skipping over any information pertaining to the Honors Program because I did not believe I was smart enough to be in it. I simply lacked the academic confidence to apply; however, as I made my way through the first two academic years of college, I felt confident enough to be in the program. I decided to join because I realized that the activities I was participating in on this campus were aligned with the three competency areas of the program: leadership, intercultural engagement, and research/scholarly work. I also realized that I would eventually like to complete a terminal degree so I could eventually work in K-12 administration, higher education, or even practice educational law.

 

I have been pleased with my decision to enroll in the program. As my undergraduate years come to an end, it is obvious that my experiences in the program have been crucial to my development as a future teacher. I think the most important aspect of this program was the reflective writing, because a lot of the work that I will do as a classroom teacher in the initial years of my career requires this same type of reflection. I will have to reflect on the way my lesson plans play out in the classroom, whether or not I am building healthy relationships with students, and most importantly, whether or not my teaching is culturally responsive. In my opinion, the reflective writing pushed me to a higher level of thinking because it was more than just describing how I met each of the competency areas. I had to consider the ways in which my experiences on this campus are applicable to my life after graduation, which I believe had a significant impact on my development as a professional educator and as a person.

 

In addition, I was encouraged to participate in campus activities that I would not have considered before enrolling in the program. For example, I probably would not have agreed to serve as President of the Chi Iota Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta while Dr. Elizabeth Williamsen went on sabbatical. I probably would not have participated in Dr. Yalda Hamidi’s book club on Islamic feminism or enrolled in AIS 330: Indigenous Education over the summer to learn more about settler-colonialism in schools. I also think that it is worth noting that my participation in the program allowed me to be a student worker in the Honors Longue on campus. I was able to make new friends and build strong connections with  faculty and staff. 

 

The truth is that as I navigated my way through my undergraduate years, I frequently wondered whether or not I made a mistake enrolling at Minnesota State Mankato. Would I have had an even better experience at a research institution located in a larger city? Would I have grown more as a person both personally and professionally? When I think about my decision, I have very little regret. I was able to develop strong relationships with faculty and staff from a variety of different academic departments, and I made life-long friends that constantly push me to be a better human. I built academic confidence and grew in the three competency areas required for the program. I am happy to be able to say that I am leaving this campus optimistic about my future because I know that I have built the skills needed to be both a successful classroom teacher and graduate student. 

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As I continue to reflect, I have realized that a lot of my experiences have built upon one another. My travel to Mexico and my friendship with Mali made me feel more comfortable with the students at Stovall Middle School. My thoughts about abolishing school police have been challenged while student teaching at a school that has a serious drug problem and in a district that has its own police department. I don’t necessarily support law enforcement, but Aldine ISD police are less intense with students who are caught with drugs (e.g., fentanyl) or students who pose a threat to student safety as a whole. They seem aware of issues in education and are trained in de-escalation. The Houston Police Department would just arrest students and place them in a juvenile detention center, so I guess I cannot pinpoint my exact thoughts on this issue now that I am at the end of my undergraduate program. My research projects, coursework, and student teaching experience in Texas have allowed me to see the ways in which schools perpetuate inequality. But it’s also allowed me to see the ways in which schools build strong communities bring joy. Despite the bad, I have laughed every day during my student teaching experience. 

 

I have come to the realization that the competency areas ultimately bleed together. This was evident during my student teaching experience in Texas. I argued my student teaching experience as a leadership experience because of the planning and instruction; however, I could have easily argued that as intercultural engagement. 90% of the students at my school were Hispanic or Latino, 9% were Black or African American, and 1% were white. I was tasked with making lessons culturally relevant and I encountered a lot of emergent bilingual students. It may have been a stretch, but I could have also argued my student teaching experience as a research or scholarly activity. I had to constantly think about the systemic issues that I studied throughout my undergraduate program. The systemic issues were in full swing, and I had to make decisions that sometimes upheld the systemic issues (e.g., see student teaching reflection). As my undergraduate program concludes, I am reminded that my work in the competency areas is far from over. Despite all of the growth and challenges I decided to take on these past four and a half years, it seems as if I have only hit the tip of the iceberg in the competency areas. I will more than likely continue to develop in each of these areas as I begin my career in public education.