By Em Acuña
Em Acuña, editor of the Honors Wednesday Memo (HWM), and Seleen Al Horani, a departmental honors student in the Department of Chemistry and Fermentation Sciences, traveled to attend the 2025 National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) conference held November 6-9, 2025, in San Diego, California. They represented the Honors College at App State along with Dr. Angela Mead. This was the second year Acuña attended the conference, and the first year for Al Horani. Both Al Horani and Acuna were invited to attend with waived registration fees thanks to their involvement as associate editors for NCHC’s Undergraduate Journal of Research and Creative Activity (UReCA!).
The mission and vision of NCHC, according to their website, “is to support and enhance the community of educational institutions, professionals, and students who participate in collegiate honors education around the world. NCHC is the driving force for quality honors education, providing value-driven, evidence-based strategies and support to our membership.”
Photo of Seleen Al Horani (far left) and Em Acuña (far right) with two fellow UReCA editors promoting the journal in the conference hallway. Photo submitted by Em Acuña.
NCHC hosts its annual conference to showcase and celebrate the accomplishments of the collegiate honors community. The conference includes poster presentations of students from across the country, as well as panel sessions, and roundtable sessions on various topics where attendees share their unique perspectives on honors education. It is an opportunity to gain knowledge, connections, and resources, to enhance not only the honors experience but also individual growth.
Both Al Horani and Acuña participated in a panel discussion about UReCA where they reflected on their role with the journal, discussed the impact it had on them, and promoted the new 10th edition of the journal, which had just been published before the conference. Acuña reflected,
Getting to promote the new edition with the other editors who were in attendance was such a joy. We got to meet some of the published authors and excite others about getting involved and submitting their works for the next edition. I think for undergraduates, the idea of being published feels so impossible, but NCHC offers a great opportunity through UReCA! This year, we also got to do a panel discussion to garner interest for getting involved as either a submitter or editor for the journal, and associate editors shared their experience and helped answer questions!
Al Horani additionally volunteered to act as a student moderator for select panel sessions. One of the sessions was the NCHC Portz Scholars Award panel, which she credits as the most memorable part of the conference. The Portz Scholars Award was created in 1990 to honor the work and legacy of John and Edythe Portz. Based on a research paper competition, the award recognizes up to four undergraduate honors students. About the experience Al Horani reflected,
It made me realize that being a student at an honors college affords students the chance to make an honors thesis out of something they are passionate about, no matter how major-irrelevant or unconventional it may seem at first.
One of the requirements of the University Honors College at App State is the successful completion and defense of an honors thesis. It is meant to be focused on a topic that is deeply engaging and interesting to the student, whether that be inside their discipline or outside their major. The departmental honors track narrows the scope of the project to a topic that is within a student's major discipline.
Photo depicts Em Acuña (far left) and fellow Honors students from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Coronado Beach in San Diego. Submitted by Em Acuña
Additionally at NCHC, Acuña participated in a roundtable discussion with fellow students and faculty members from various institutions discussing the importance of honors college student work study positions. As an Honors College student who has been working in the college for a couple of years now, Acuña found it enlightening to hear about the experience of other students in similar positions at other universities. They reflected, “It really showed me how valuable student workers are in various roles across institutions and gave me some unique ideas based on how other institutions worked with their students.”
Al Horani and Acuña both benefitted from attending NCHC 2025. They strongly encourage fellow honors students to get involved where they can and ask about these unique opportunities. “I urge every App State honors student to ask questions about opportunities, read the Honors Wednesday Memo for opportunities that interest them. If I didn’t read the Memo I wouldn’t have discovered UReCA or applied to become an associate editor. As intimidating as it may be, you’d be surprised at what happens when you take a chance and reach out,” said Al Horani.
Top photo depicts a view of San Diego, California at night. Submitted by Em Acuña.
