The Elon University Honors Program hosted a senior banquet for graduating honors fellows May 7 in upstairs Lakeside, where students joined their mentors to reflect on their time at Elon.
Honors senior Jimmy LaMore encouraged any incoming Elon freshman to be optimistic about what they’ll do during their college careers.
“There’s a lot of my best memories here that weren’t things that I anticipated when I first got here. And despite knowing about the honors program, the research experience was probably one of them,” LaMore said in an interview with Elon News Network.
LaMore is preparing to graduate with a degree in biology, after which he said he will take a gap year and then pursue veterinary school.
The banquet attendees received a medal and a certificate. In addition to celebrating graduating honors fellows, banquet attendees also marked the end of current program director Steve Bednar’s 4-year term.
Bednar said he’s come far since he began his term.
“I have a program assistant that works with me to help manage and run the program, and that was their first year as well. And so every day, we’re like, ‘This will go better next year,’” Bednar said.
Four years later, Bednar said he was proud of how far the graduating honors cohort has come.
“To see them go from people who are really unsure about being in college, to people who are going off to the real world, going off to grad school, or having real jobs. It’s been incredible,” Bednar said. “It’s not like having kids, but it’s like seeing your, like, nephews.”
Honors fellows also read letters they’d written to themselves in freshman year.
Elena Kennedy, a professor of entrepreneurship, mentored an honors senior for her research project and said she loved mentoring her.
“I’m gonna miss her. Meeting twice a week with a research student, talking through their project but also just watching their growth is really exciting,” Kennedy said. “I’m super proud of her.”
Elon University’s undergraduate commencement will take place May 22.