On the evening of August 24, 2012, Ashland University students in the Honors program got to venture on an exciting overnight trip to Perrysville, Ohio for their annual Honors retreat.

Honors Program director Dr. Christopher Swanson, Honors Program coordinator Nancy Andres and 77 excited Honors students piled into numerous vehicles and headed to Camp Nuhop.

“The purpose of this retreat is to continue to develop an intellectual community of Honors students devoted to discussion and dialogue, and in particular, for upperclassmen Honors students to meet and welcome the incoming freshmen Honors students,” said Dr. Swanson.

Andres also explained the importance of these retreats.

“The annual Honors Program retreat builds camaraderie among the Honors Program students and provides a way for freshmen to meet upper class students in a fun, relaxed setting,” she said.

Friday evening, after arriving to Camp Nuhop about 30 miles away from Ashland, the Honors students participated in ice-breaker activities facilitated by the generous Camp Nuhop Staff.

The bulk of Friday night for Honors students, however, was spent discussing the Honors summer reading book “The Unlikely Disciple,” written by Kevin Roose.

Roose’s story explains his experience when he spent a semester of his college career studying at Liberty University, perhaps one of the most conservative and religiously proclaimed institutions in the country.

Roose proceeded to explain throughout his story that he was an outsider at Liberty; he didn’t consider himself nearly as religiously faithful as his peers.

Honors students discussed what it would have been like to conduct the same experiment as Roose did.

The students also compared the conservatism of Liberty with that of Ashland, utilizing lateral thinking skills to have a heated discussion about how life would be at Liberty.

Roose will come to the AU campus in early October to deliver the Fall Honors Program lecture.

The entire Ashland community is welcome to attend Roose’s lecture, which will be co-sponsored by the department of religion and Religious Life.

Saturday morning, Honors students had additional activities planned for them after a complimentary breakfast.

Camp Nuhop counselors led Honors students throughout numerous activities which helped the students critically think and work as a team.

“The retreat was great this year,” explained Honors sophomore Mollie Jeck. “The events really helped me get to know the new Honors students and the book discussion was very interesting.”

For some Honors students, the trip to Camp Nuhop was their last Honors retreat.

Paul Lattimer, for instance, is a senior in the program with plans to graduate this December.  

“The Honors Program retreats have always been an interesting experience,” he said.  “It can be a little awkward to do the sometimes silly ice breakers, but, at the end of the day, experiences such as these are the ingredients for forming new friendships. As a senior looking back at my years in the Honors Program, the retreat has also served as an encouragement to the new Honors students who are venturing into the vigorous program.”

Honors students enjoyed kicking off their first official weekend back on campus by attending the retreat with one another. They will reunite once again for Roose’s lecture to be expected later this fall.