The Honors Program Blog

Recently, students in an honors communication class had the opportunity to visit an Indian restaurant in Providence for class. Below you’ll find their thoughts and reactions.

Zachary Suter

This past Thursday, November 18^th, my honors communication class was cancelled because the professor of the class, Professor Susan Baran, brought the entire class out to dinner for an intercultural experience at Kabob and Curry in Providence, RI. I was very intrigued by the initial thought of cancelling class AND getting a free meal, however once I took part in this dinner I realized that I was witnessing first-hand the theories and practices that we have learned in class.

Once we got to the restaurant, I instantly found that it was not like the general “American-ized” restaurant. The décor alone of the place was very different, and the smells were overwhelming and unusual. We ordered many different appetizers so that everyone at the table was able to experience as much as possible, and it was delicious. The food was so unlike anything that I have ever had before, and while it was so different from what I am used to it was still delicious!

When it came to ordering a meal, I found that I had come across a barrier. I was unable to pronounce many of the menu items, let alone know what was contained in them. I realized just how difficult it would be to join another culture and attempt to fit in. Just from seeing how difficult it was to order, I realized that many of the concepts we had learned in class were staring me in the face as I struggled to pronounce my meal. Overall, this experience really opened my eyes to how different cultures are exactly that – different.

Bobby Fluckiger

I had a wonderful time at the intercultural dinner last night at Kabob and Curry in Providence. It was the first time I had ever eaten Indian food and it broadened my understanding of the Indian culture. Through Intercultural Communication, we learn that the best way to responded to different cultures is to participate in them and incorporate their different cultural values and customs in our everyday lives. My experience last night gave me the opportunity to actively participate and interact with the Indian culture and I have thus developed a new understanding and appreciation. I cannot wait to get back to Thayer Street and to eat some more Naan!

Donna Chan Wah Hak

The best way to learn about other cultures is to participate and experience the other cultures’ complex web of meaning. Going to Kabob and Curry was a great opportunity to learn about the Indian culture. A couple of things that caught my attention were the statue of Shiva near the main entrance, the bright colors (yellow, orange, and green) for the plating and walls, the Indian music, and the closeness between the tables. This gave an insight on some of the customs, traditions, and religion of the Indian culture. One of the expectations I had was that the meals would come in big portions and that everyone would share the entrees. But when I looked at the menu, everything was in single portions. The food was great (definitely different from American food). The spices they used are not what you usually expect in American dishes. The waiters at this Indian restaurant also assimilated the American culture and made sure the clients had everything they need. Overall, this trip was a great learning experience.

Meagan Voulo

On Thursday, November 18^th, my Honors Introduction to Communication class went to Kabob and Curry in Providence, RI under the guidance of Professor Baran in order to aide in our understanding of intercultural communication.  While at first I was simply tempted to attend this dinner because I wanted to get off of the Bryant University campus and take a break from the Salmanson Dining Hall, by the end of the night I actually learned a lot about Indian culture and I gained a newfound appreciation for Indian cuisine, despite my picky eating habits.

Upon first entering the restaurant, I have to admit, I was intimidated by the completely different cultural style.  First of all, I had never tried Indian food before this night; I usually rotate between a turkey sandwich and pizza every night for lunch and dinner.  Furthermore, I couldn’t understand what most of the items on the menu included.  When it was time for me to order I could barely pronounce the name of the dish that I had chosen, much less realize what exactly I had ordered.  I basically just looked under the section labeled “chicken” and picked whichever dish was the easiest to pronounce.

I felt overwhelmed by simply ordering an Indian dish for dinner, so I can only imagine how hard it must be to communicate between cultures about more pressing issues.  This made me wonder if I’ve been underestimating the effects of the barriers to intercultural communication.  Ethnocentrism, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination seemed like simple ideas while reading my textbook, but after experiencing some of the struggles of intercultural communication first-hand, I realize that the subject is more complex than I assumed.

While it might seem like this is a lot to credit to my trip to Kabob and Curry, this experience opened my eyes to some of the real-world applications of intercultural communication theories.  Now I feel that I have a better understanding, yet I know that there is still so much more out there for me to learn about different cultures.

Renee Vaillancourt

The opportunity to extend learning beyond the walls of a classroom and experience concepts first-hand is another one of the reasons why I enjoy the Honors Program.  Having dinner at Kabob and Curry allowed the entire class to engage in a shared cultural experience. We were able to continue our classroom discussion about intercultural communication by incorporating our own observations and interpretations. There’s no better way to reinforce and expand on textbook material than to experience it for ourselves. I have a better understanding and appreciation for cultural differences as a result of this experience.

Meredith Failla

Dinner at Kabob and Curry with Professor Baran’s honors communication class provided a wonderful first hand immersion into the process of intercultural communication. As soon as we walked into the restaurant the strong aroma of Indian food was great and a bit overpowering. While walking upstairs to our table I admired the walls that were decorated with vibrant colors, tapestries, and paintings representative of the Indian culture. Professor Baran was particularly knowledgeable about what to order off of the menu and I thought all the food that we sampled was both unique and delicious. From Professor Baran’s prior exposure to this cuisine, we were able to demonstrate cultural inclusion as she helped us acknowledge and respect the different foods and traditions that came along with the Indian culture. This was my first time trying Indian food and though it was nothing like I have ever tasted before, I absolutely loved tasting everything and would definitely eat at an Indian restaurant again. The waiters and waitresses seemed native to India which revealed cultural pluralism as they maintain their own co-cultural identities within the larger American culture. At times, since some of us did not remember the exact names of the dishes that we ordered, communication became somewhat difficult. The staff however, was very attentive and gracious to us and the overall experience was memorable. From what I observed, the students all had great conversations at dinner. We spoke about the food we were enjoying and various intercultural experiences that some students had while studying abroad in different countries. This event definitely provided honors members a great opportunity to interact and experience another culture in an environment outside of the classroom.

Mike Banville

When I first walked into the restaurant I had no idea what to expect. I had never experienced Indian cuisine before, and a part of me was a bit hesitant to trying something that I had such little experience with. I put aside these uncertainties that hold back so many people from trying new or different things, and I had a great experience. Prior to eating at Kabob & Curry the only exposure I had to Indian food, was from movies particularly “Along came Polly” and these stereotypes of Indian food had previously led to my uncertainty. I can safely say that the Indian food that I had did nothing to mess with my body like it was portrayed in the film. Looking at the menu and seeing words I had no idea how to pronounce I relied on the experience on some more experienced members of our class, and made decisions of what to eat. This was truly a great cultural experience and it was so great to have physical interaction with the topics that sometimes seem so intangible in class, and see how they can relate directly to my own life.

Recently, the Student Honors Council hosted a game night for all members of the Bryant Honors Program in our new Honors Lounge.  Twenty-five students took a break from studying and stopped by the lounge for some refreshments and to compete against their classroom peers.  Some of the games that were played include Apples to Apples, the Monopoly Card Game, Scattergories, Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64, and FIFA 2011 on the Xbox 360.

This event provided many of the freshman honors members their first opportunity to see the new honors lounge that they will be available to use in the short future.  Besides just being a place to study, it will also be a place where members can relax and watch television on a provided flat screen.

One of the highlights of this is year that the Program now has an official lounge in one of the residence halls. Some more work is needed to finish the setup, but we’re nearly there! Breanna Weaver, who is in charge of the lounge, has this post on a small open house we held for faculty.
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We recently we had our Honors Lounge Open House in which we invited our honors faculty members to come and check out all our new lounge has to offer. Once the lounge is complete, it will be used exclusively by our members and will provide them with a variety of opportunities. Another great benefit and the reason we had the Open House, is that faculty are currently able to book the lounge for study sessions and group meetings. Inside the lounge are a variety of informational materials about the array of services and activities on campus, as well as educational information from the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Steph Lemire provided some information about the Program’s new Peer Mentoring program earlier this semester. Zach Suter writes with some updates.

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Fall semester has been moving quickly, and I do not think that I am the only person who has found this to be true. And as the semester progresses, so are the relationships between mentors and mentees. The Honors Program Peer Mentoring Program, barely two months old, has been positively affecting the adapting-to-college process of around 35 first-year Honors Program members. Mentors have been meeting up with mentees on different occasions to ensure that the process of adjusting to the new situation that is Bryant University is going as seamlessly as possible.

Mentors for this program have been a constant support system for the mentees that chose them. Some of the mentors have been emailing mentees on occasion with different sets of tips, such as how to study effectively or how to avoid procrastination. Other mentors are simply letting their mentees know that they will be there for them no matter what the question and will help them through tough situations. The mentors in this program are not forgetting that the mentees wanted to have someone to look up to and help them through their first year, and have been doing a fantastic job of simply being there.

The Peer Mentoring Program has one event for the fall semester and there will be even more events for the spring! Mentee/mentor groups can look forward to “How Well Do You Know Your Mentor” night, where mentees will get a chance to showcase just how strong of a relationship they have formed with their mentor. Coming up at the end of spring semester is a final scavenger hunt, where mentees and mentors will have to work together to solve clues and win a great prize!

Our hopes of the Peer Mentoring Program working as a support system for those first-years who were looking for someone to help them out have come true thus far. With a little hard work and a lot of fun the program can become even better!

This past Friday, the Bryant Honors Program enjoyed a fall-inspired outing to Jaswell’s Farm for apple and pumpkin picking. A dozen students made the short ten minute journey to the local Smithfield farm, operated by Chris (’94) and Allison (’96), brother-and-sister Bryant alumni.

The students enjoyed apple picking in Jaswell’s quaint apple orchard, scenically located amidst a pumpkin patch and other fields. After each student filled their quarter peck bag to bursting-point with apples of various sizes and colors, the group continued to take two bushels of small pumpkins back to campus to be decorated.

The Bryant University Honors Program’s new Honors Lounge, located on the second floor of the North side of Hall 14, provided an ideal pumpkin-decorating atmosphere for the students. Enjoying Jaswell’s own apple cider, music, and mingling, the students painted the two bushels of pumpkins to their liking.

On the following day, the decorated pumpkins were delivered to Heritage Hills Nursing Centre to serve as décor for the elderly.

This year was my second time attending the New York Experience, and it was quite different than the NYC Experience last year. This year we visited Viacom, more specifically Nickelodeon. This company opened my eyes to the opportunities that are available in television networks rather than just the obvious opportunities available in companies such as PwC, Liberty Mutual, etc… I really enjoyed this visit because it was not just an ordinary presentation by an executive from Nickelodeon. Instead, we all sat around an oval table and had a back-and-forth with the executive. We also had the opportunity to see a Broadway play, “Promises, Promises” which was an amazing musical that combined comedy and drama to explain relationships. Along with all of the visits and tours we did while there, I also had a chance to strengthen friendships and make new ones. Some of my close friends attended the experience with me, and I also had the opportunity to explore the city with friends that I wasn’t as close with. After the three rigorous days of the experience, I came home with some great new friends and new memories with old friends. Overall, the 2010 New York Experience was a great networking and social experience for me.

The 2010-2011 Academic School year marks the beginning of the newly developed Peer Mentoring Program for the Bryant University Honors Program. This idea was developed in order to aid first-year students at Bryant University in making the sometimes difficult transition into college life.

The process of getting the Program up and running is a tedious one, but we truly believe our hard work will pay off. Each first-year student was able to go to a Peer Mentoring Webpage that listed all of the Mentors with short biographies. From this list, each Mentee was able to pick their top choices for mentors – and were ultimately matched up.

This year we kicked off the program at the Honors Welcome BBQ, bringing the Mentor and Mentee groups together during a Trivia Challenge that Katie talked about in the previous post. The trivia game was an awesome way to further break the ice between the mentors and mentees.

There will be two more events coming up for the Peer Mentoring Program in Spring Semester… a ‘How Well Do You Know Your Mentor’ challenge as well as a fun campus-wide scavenger hunt for a fun end to the school year. In addition, each Mentor-Mentee group is required to attend one of the Honors Program’s Community Service Events put on by our service chairs. These events have always been successful and rewarding, and we are looking forward to see what impact our program will have on the community this year.

As the school year progresses, it is our hope that the relationships between each Mentor and Mentee grow stronger, and that the Peer Mentoring Program here at Bryant leaves an impact on all those involved, allowing each and every member to walk away with a gratifying sense of accomplishment from the things learned and the bonds formed.

Last Sunday, Bryant Honors Program members took part in restoring the Blackstone, a local river that has strong ties to our nation’s industrial identity.

The river famously served as the power source for Samuel Slater’s textile mill, the first of its kind in America. For its role in the development of water powered industry, the Blackstone River was dubbed the “Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution.” However, the cost of becoming an icon of our nation’s industrial heritage was heavy pollution, and the river’s water quality declined greatly over the course of a century. The river came to represent the ecologically damaging effects of industry, and in 1990, the EPA declared the river the most polluted in the nation.

Today, the river is only steps away from being declared acceptable as drinking water. What is more remarkable, however, is most of the progress has been made through local cleanup initiatives. This weekend, the Honors Program joined hands with Friends of the Blackstone, an organization that is dedicated to making the Blackstone fishable and swimmable by 2015. Honors Members aided in the restoration of a section of the river in Manville, RI. The site is near off of the Blackstone Bikeway, a well-traveled traveled route that hugs the Blackstone from Worcester to Providence, and is destined to become a river access point for canoes and kayaks.

Twenty-five honor students met up with five experienced members of Friends of the Blackstone, including director Keith Hainley, who shared with students his intimate knowledge of the river. Volunteers were divided into several teams, each of which was responsible for complete a certain task. [Read more →]

The 110 new Honors Students kicked off their year with orientation and a BBQ this past Friday!  The event was very informative and helpful to learn the expectations and opportunities of the program.

The day kicked off with Ice Breakers done by the wonderful Rich Hurley.  We started with easy ones, like what is your name and major, why did you come to Bryant, and ended with Birdie on a Perch, which has an end result of people jumping into each others’ arms in order to stay in the game.

After that, Professor Sousa and myself did a few presentations on expectations, requirements, and opportunities, to make sure all of the first years understood how to maintain good standing in the program, as well as how to use the resources provided by the program to their benefit.

Perhaps the best part of the day, however, was the portions during with junior Todd Stewart spoke.  Todd was vibrant, energetic, and full of inspiration and motivation.  He had a great presence on stage and did an amazing job engaging the audience.  Whether it was to start a rainstorm or to get to know your neighbors, Todd was fun and interesting, but with an underlying message that really encouraged everyone in the room, including myself.

Once Todd gave his closing speech, the faculty and some of the deans were introduced, all of which gave their words of wisdom and advice for being successful in school.  We then moved from South Dining Hall to the Koffler Center lawn, where students got to mingle and meet upperclassmen and faculty while enjoying a barbecue dinner.  The students stayed for a while, despite the chilly autumn weather, and I got to meet some of the new members on an informal basis.

Following dinner, the members of the peer mentor program stayed back and participated in a Trivia game.  Although the game board kept blowing over in the wind and some of the questions were a bit challenging, we had a lot of fun.  Congratulations to Kyle’s team of mentees for bringing home the victory and scoring a team dinner to the Cheesecake Factory!

Overall, the day went pretty well.  A few speed bumps here and there, but we have learned from our mistakes and are moving forward with the year.  We are very excited to have officially welcomed the first years into the program, and look forward to the events and gatherings taking place throughout the year!

As usual, the summer flew by – and the first week of classes is almost over!

The 2010-2011 academic year should be an exciting one for the Honors Program. During the summer, lots of planning took place to repeat some of most exciting events and programs and launch some new ones, such as our Peer Mentoring Program, and some others that we’ll be talking about soon.

This year, our blog will be updated a bit more frequently so those both on and off-campus can follow the latest happenings with the program. We hope to provide summaries of all of our events, profiles of some of our members, and answers to some of the most frequently asked questions we get from prospective members. Watch this space!

Meanwhile…

To all of our first-year students – welcome! To the sophomores and juniors – welcome back! And seniors – good luck on your capstones!