For the first time ever, Coastal Carolina University’s honors students will have the chance to attend their own formal.
On Friday, CCU’s HTC Honors College will be hosting an Honors Formal, from 6-9 p.m. at Brooks Stadium in the West Zone Suite.
The formal is planned and organized by the Honors Student Council (HSC), which consists of honors students who plan community, fundraising and service events for the 800 HTC Honors College members.
HSC Vice President Calliope Warren, a sophomore psychology major, proposed the idea last year and began planning it last summer. Her idea was to bring honors students together where they can celebrate their work.
“I think it’s important, even if you’re excelling academically and career wise, to also be having fun and enjoying your time in college,” Warren said. “I noticed freshman year that a lot of us didn’t have the time for sororities or that kind of thing, and it was just a common thing that would come up in conversations of like, ‘oh, we wish we had an event where we could all get together and hang out.’”
Alongside dancing, food and drinks, there will be awards announced and handed out to students. Both professors and honors students have the opportunity to cast votes for award recipients.
There will be an awards section where students nominated professors and vice versa. Awards would go to those who went above and beyond in their research, class projects or other engaging activities.
HSC President Briley Hitt, a senior marine science major, said she feels the formal is a chance to show what the Honors College is made of.
“I think it’ll just bring more attention and more awareness to the things that the Honors College and our specific council can do and shows the growth mindset that we’ve had over the past year,” Hitt said.
Michele S. Varga, the director of academic development and honors programming for the HTC Honors College, said the largest obstacle HSC faced preparing for the formal was budgeting.
“There has been discussion previously with Honors Student Council of wanting to host a semi formal and budgeting has always been an issue,” Varga said. “And so, they’ve worked really hard to build up that budget so that they could host a special event for honor students.”
Over the years, the HSC began collecting $5 dues from students to help fund the council. They have also sold plants, held fundraisers and sold Valentine’s flowers and candy.
“I think it’s extremely valuable for honor students to actually have this where they can do it and plan it themselves, and then they don’t have to go outside for a wonderful event like this,” Louis Keiner, associate dean of the HTC Honors College said.
Varga and Keiner helped assist during the planning process, and they will chaperone the event. In addition, Keiner and his wife, who previously owned a photography business, are volunteering to take photos of attending students.
