The Montgomery Scholars Program is a highly rigorous two-year program at Rockville Campus within the Honors Program system of Montgomery College in Maryland, United States. The program is intended to offer selected incoming Montgomery County, Maryland high school graduates a holistic learning experience, spanning from an interdisciplinary humanities core in freshman (first) year to a Capstone research project during sophomore (second) year. The program also provides an almost fully funded summer study trip for all of its students, an unusual feature among community colleges. Many scholars have successfully transferred to prominent colleges and universities on graduation.
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History
Founded in 1999 by a small group of professors of Montgomery College, Rockville Campus, the Montgomery Scholars Program was intended not only to provide an honors education for students but also to be nurturing and intellectually stimulating, a program that would bring together disciplines normally kept separate, particularly within the humanities. With a freshman core curriculum and a sophomore Capstone research project, the objective of the experience is to encourage students to think critically and to be able to examine cultures and worldly concepts intellectually while still allowing them to work on their own majors of study.
The program continues to grow and change with the aim of improving the academic experience for the students; further, some adjustments have been necessary owing to lack of support. While the program kept its Capstone topic on "Globalization and Migration" for the classes of 2003 and 2004, it later changed to "Technology and the Face of the Future", subsequently reverting to the original theme. Since 2005, the addition of International Relations within the sophomore year of the program has expanded and further assisted the Scholars in their understanding of globalization. In the same year, Art History was substituted with World Music in the freshman core curriculum. Starting in 2016, philosophy was removed from the freshman core curriculum.
Beginning with the Class of 2008, an honor code was instituted that scholars pledged to with their signature. It reads:
"I, (Scholar's Name), hereby acknowledge that I am a Montgomery Scholar, Class of (Year) and as such am part of the Montgomery Scholars learning community and the Montgomery College student body. I fully realize the expectations of attendance, academic integrity and honesty inherent in my position as a Montgomery Scholar and as a Montgomery College student. I agree to adhere to those expectations, always to complete my college assignments with honesty and integrity, to be considerate of my fellow scholars and students, and to abide by the College regulations, as stated in the Student Code of Conduct."
Seeing the appeal of the full-scholarship Montgomery Scholars Program, other campuses have followed in seeking such an opportunity for their own students. Shortly after the establishment of the Montgomery Scholars, for instance, Germantown campus founded the Millennium Scholars Program.
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Curriculum
The Montgomery Scholars Program has been extremely successful in creating its desired educational effect, even though it is restricted to 25 students per class. This small size is intended to make the program more intimate and to allow the professors to pay greater attention towards the students, building bonds more deeply than in the typical classroom. The program is intended to prepare its students to view the world with a broad perspective and to train them, within a nurturing, stimulating environment, to implement this skill academically and professionally. While being exposed as freshmen to an holistic learning process by means of an intensive set of core classes, students are then provided the opportunity to undertake a summer study trip to the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina. On returning to Montgomery College for their sophomore year, they are then taught how to use their developed capabilities, experience and research on a cross-disciplinary topic; finally, they write a thesis, and present their work formally to a general audience.
Core classes (first year)
The core curriculum for the first year of the program currently includes World History, World Literature, and World Music. The three classes are co-taught within the same classroom, with all professors present. Complementing the core classes are honors module classes in English and Cultural Anthropology. Beginning in 2016, the Montgomery Scholars have begun a project to raise awareness about James Reese Europe, an African American musician and World War One veteran who was highly influential in the early years of jazz.
Swannanoa Gathering
The trip to Asheville lasts for approximately two weeks. The first week, the Scholars participate in the Traditional Song Week at the Swannanoa Gathering, a summer folk arts workshop on the campus of Warren Wilson College. The second week, they travel around the Asheville area to visit the Biltmore Estate, perform community service, explore downtown, etc. while continuing to residing at Warren Wilson. Students are required by the Scholars Program to complete reflection papers and to keep a scholarly journal of the experience. Up to three college credits can be earned by completing this summer program.
Capstone (second year)
The second year of the program is intended to allow the scholars to put what they have gained from their first year and their overseas trip into practical use. They base their research on the main Capstone topic "Globalization and Migration" and the International Relations class. The scholars write a paper of about twenty pages, assisted throughout their research by a mentor. A Speech course in fall semester helps the students to learn to communicate effectively, which in turn assists with their presentation of their papers in the "Capstone Colloquium" towards the beginning of March. The scholars are also encouraged to submit their papers to the annual "Beacon Conference", a competition amongst two-year colleges of the east coast of the United States from Virginia up to New England. A large number of scholars have become finalists within the Beacon Conference competition.
Social Settings
Outside of the educational environment, the Montgomery Scholars program has numerous social functions to introduce new students to the program and also to alumni with Scholars outside of their graduating class. The initial acceptees to the Scholars program are invited to a Welcome Brunch in late April or early May, to (re)introduce themselves to meet the professors and rising sophomores, and hear staff and student testimonials about the program. Before the new class of Scholars begins their first semester, an overnight retreat in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, is held, typically the last weekend in August before the semester begins. Here, the young Scholars are (optionally) taken on a grueling hike to the summit of the mountain. Although terribly hot and exhausting, Scholars find that this experience brings them closer together. The week before classes begin, freshman Scholars attend Cornerstone, a more formal orientation the Core curricula and each other. During the first year, freshmen are encouraged to come to the weekly "Philo Cafes" held in Philosophy Professor White's basement, where students, professors, and guests discuss a variety of philosophical issues and work to earn the affection of Professor White's cat, Henry. Students often create close bonds within the Scholars Program which spills over from the classroom to social life.
Events are also held seasonally to bring current Scholars and alumni together. Open invitations are extended to all past and present Scholars to attend the Winter Solstice Philo Cafe in December, usually held at a professor's house. In May, the Montgomery Scholars Picnic is held at Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg, MD, to welcome the new class of Scholars and introduce them to alumni.
Efforts are currently underway to organize an alumni association.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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