Leading Role: Early Arrival at South's Honors College

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Posted on August 16, 2024

Michelle Matthews

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The 126 new Honors College students are part of the largest incoming class ever, Dr. Doug Marshall explained to them as they gathered Wednesday morning. The students — among the best and brightest at the University of South Alabama — moved in the day before, saying goodbye to their families and friends before attending an information session about the retreat that would begin that day and last until Friday.

Wearing a royal blue Honors College T-shirt, Emilie Dedeaux, a biology major from Gulfport, Mississippi, introduced herself to two freshmen from the mountaintop town of Sand Rock in northeast Alabama, who were seated near her in a classroom at the Mitchell Center. She had a “small world” moment when she realized she had been their Jag Guide, her job in Admissions.

“I have my foot in lots of doors on campus,” said Dedeaux, who has fully immersed herself in student life at South.

As the students sipped Starbucks coffee and noshed on blueberry muffins, they listened to Marshall, a professor of sociology and anthropology and dean of the Honors College. He explained that the retreat is “about community — getting situated and comfortable and introduced to the very special people Honors has in it.”

He encouraged all of the new students to introduce themselves to him in the lobby after the meeting. He recorded each one and promised to watch the videos over and over until he learns everyone’s name — just another aspect of the Honors College that makes it special, giving students a sense of belonging to a group where everyone knows one another.

Camp Games and Connections

After the morning meeting, the students boarded a bus for a bowling excursion and lunch before heading to Camp Grace, a scenic, peaceful 220-acre retreat in west Mobile. Each year, some 40 Honors College upperclassmen organize and run the retreat, serving in roles such as group leaders and kitchen staff.

The students were divided into 12 groups for a friendly competition throughout the retreat, earning points for winning various games and finding hidden golden eggs. Each group had its own color, symbolized by a bandanna that must be worn at all times.

The central gathering spot at Camp Grace is a large pavilion, where each group made a flag to express its unique name: the lavender Purple Rain, the orange Monarchs, the red Red Hot Chili Peppers. As the paint on their flags dried atop trash bags, the students played games: water balloons, charades, red light/green light.

Two Honors College administrators, Pamm Chastang-Howard, administrative assistant, and Lauren Williams, Honors academic advisor, escaped the August heat in the air-conditioned industrial kitchen with windows overlooking the pavilion area and the lake.

“It’s been fun,” said Williams. “To get to know each other is big.”

“Some even meet their future spouses here,” said Chastang-Howard.

“And lots of best friends,” Williams added.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the wind picked up. Soon, all the students once again gathered in the shelter of the pavilion to escape the rain.

Kelsi Clotfelter, a student volunteer sporting an Honors College T-shirt, will graduate in 2026 with a degree in radiologic sciences. Although her home is in Auburn, she chose South, in part, because of her field of study.

Honors College students go through a selective process, Williams said. After they apply, they come for in-person interviews each spring. The biggest benefit of being part of the Honors College, she said, is “obviously the community,” as well as “academic opportunities other students may not have as readily available, such as research and travel.”

“You have a support system from the staff and fellow students,” Clotfelter said.

The students also go on trips together occasionally, like this past April when they traveled to Arkansas to see the solar eclipse. “It was awesome,” said Chastang-Howard. “They get to do fun activities like that.” Every year, the University of South Alabama Foundation funds an outing to the Mobile Symphony Orchestra at the Saenger Theater in downtown Mobile.

The historic Seaman’s Bethel Building, which was moved to South’s campus from downtown Mobile, brick by brick, in 1968, is home to the Honors College. The Bethel offers a place to “study, chat and play games,” said Clotfelter, as well as free printing and free coffee. A spring formal is held there annually.

Alex Davis, a junior from Chelsea, Alabama, majoring in biomedical sciences, is in his second year as a retreat volunteer. He only spent the first night, though, before driving to Dauphin Island for another retreat — this one for South’s ambassador group, the Southerners.

“I was telling my group, the most important part of the retreat is the connections you’re going to make,” he said. “The value to me is to meet as many people as possible.”

That evening, after freshening up in their cabins, the students ate dinner from a local Indian restaurant and met some 20 faculty members at a mixer.

Grill Master

On the second full day of the retreat, the students spent the morning swimming, canoeing, kayaking and fishing on the lake at Camp Grace. Marshall, the dean of the Honors College, grilled 160 hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. This is his 20th year at South, and he was officially named dean a year and a half ago.

He’s serious about learning all the students’ names; he’s not so serious about the retreat itself. “It’s a lot of fun,” he said – so much fun that he stayed in the cabins both nights. He woke up a few times to walk the grounds. When he did that last year at 2 a.m., he found 77 students singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” with a karaoke machine on the pavilion.

Marshall is “consistently impressed” by the students in the Honors College. He plans to hit the road this school year, visiting several cities to spread the word about the Honors College.

While South’s honors program started in 1999, the Honors College has existed since 2017. One of the things Marshall enjoys most is partnering with other organizations and departments to host events, such as a movie series at the Bethel – this year’s will focus on African American directors – “so others can see what we do,” he said. “We like to be a facilitator of stuff for the whole campus.”

True Fish Stories

The 12 groups were supposed to play Capture the Flag in the afternoon, but it was postponed because of the heat. Now, instead of having organized activities, the students had some time to themselves. Olivia Winston of Helena, Alabama, took a break for a few minutes at one of the round tables under the pavilion.

The retreat had given her a chance to have “a lot of social interaction, which I enjoy,” she said. “I’ve had a chance to meet so many people and also those with the same interests.” Earlier in the day, she and some new friends made bracelets out of beads.

She became interested in marine science when she watched the movie “The Meg.” “I thought the concept was really interesting,” she said. “I fell in love with whale sharks and wanted to do something in the marine-related area to help the environment.”

South was an obvious choice for studying marine science. “It made sense to go to the coast,” she said. As for the Honors College, “I wanted the opportunity to be around others who are as passionate about topics as me, and to have the opportunity to do research.”

Nearby, Marco Martinez used hot dogs as bait to catch fish in the lake. A native of West Virginia, he spent much of his childhood in Miami before his family moved to Dothan, Alabama. When he visited South to attend an engineering camp in high school, he said, “it was hard not to fall in love with the campus.” The size of the university was “the perfect middle ground,” he said.

When his ACT scores came back, “it became a given,” he said. “Once I had the right score, this is where it was.”

He plans to study civil engineering — “I’ve always liked infrastructure,” he said — and enjoys being near the water.

“It’s nice to meet other people,” he said of the retreat. “I’m finding a lot I have a lot in common with.”

Tale of Two Students

As the students waited for dinner to arrive, some played volleyball, some shot each other with water guns, some looked for the hidden golden eggs and others sat around talking. Connor Holm and Genevieve Batman, the co-directors of the retreat, took a rare breather. They’d been going pretty much nonstop for days.

Batman, who is from Cumberland, Maryland, learned about the University through the Distinguished Young Women program. “When I first applied, it was a shot in the dark,” she said. She was looking for an exercise science program and an Honors College, and she found both at South.

“When I showed up, I didn’t know anyone in the state of Alabama,” she said. “My family was 1,000 miles away.”

While she was a late applicant to the Honors College and missed the retreat her freshman year, Batman has made up for lost time. She and Holm, who are good friends and who served as president and vice president of another organization on campus, have “redesigned everything” related to the retreat. “I love the organizational aspect of things,” she said. “I’m good at crisis management, which has been helpful.”

The pair want to make a template for the retreat, “a rinse and repeat” for future directors “to keep the momentum going,” she said.

It was the fourth and final retreat for Holm, a senior biomedical sciences major with a minor in music. He grew up in Satsuma, and his father, Dr. Robert Holm, is a music professor at South. “All my family went there,” he said, and he was familiar with the Honors College through his connections to the University. At first, he was interested in being part of it for the “contacts and research for pre-med,” he said.

But it ended up being much more than that. “All my friends are in Honors College,” he said. “It has shaped my undergraduate life. I wouldn’t have taken the classes I’ve taken or met the people I’ve met without it.”

While both students spent a lot of time planning activities at the retreat, Batman and Holm agreed that some of the best memories are made when plans are disrupted. “Halfway through the group games yesterday, lightning interrupted us,” Holm said. “Sometimes you become closer to people when things don’t go right.”

Leaders Already

As the students stand in line for a fajita bar, Dr. Andi Kent, executive vice president and provost at South, quietly entered the pavilion, introduced herself to all the new students and passed out spirit buttons.

“I want you to know we are so glad to have you at the University of South Alabama,” she told them, adding that the Honors College is “second to none” and that Marshall is “the best dean of any Honors College.”

“It is our job to be there for you each year you’re here,” Kent said. “You are leaders at the University already, and we’re excited to have you here.”

Before heading back to campus to hand out Frios ice pops to members of the USA Jaguar Marching Band, Kent took a selfie with the group of students as they threw J’s with their left hands.

On a hill overlooking the lake, a game of Capture the Flag finally began.

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