By: Derek Hottenstein
I’ve been a member of the St. Norbert’s Honors program for around two months now and I can safely say that, even after I graduate in the not-so-far future, I’ll always consider myself in part to be a part of the crew. You can take a person out of Bergstrom, but you can’t take Bergstrom out of a person. I’ve done so much recently, but I know so much more is yet to come.
One thing that makes being in the Honors program such a… well… honor, is that part of the Honors class curriculum is to provide Honors students with opportunities to engage together in debate and general rapport. For example, I have recently been greatly enjoying my time in Dr. Ford’s Honors Theological Foundations class. It’s not just a brainstorm, it’s a full-fledged brain hurricane for the ages. Each day, I know I’ll be walking into a room where a group of esteemed students will be putting their heads together and spending the next hour grappling with some of the most thought-provoking questions the Bible has to offer is an experience like no other. Sometimes we agree, while sometimes we are left chasing each other’s tails.
However you look at it, we learn a lot about each other’s perspectives and worldviews. It’s a real forged-by-fire dynamic, wherein we tag team everything from the discussions to the frantic test studying sessions. It’s a fellowship among classmates that I’ve grown to treasure.
But outside the classroom is where the real meat and potatoes of the Honors experience lies. Bergstrom is the central hub of, for lack of a better term, recreational interactivity for us first-years. By that, I mean we host a multitude of different official events and spontaneous gatherings of all kinds. For example, some of the resident assistants brought out a selection of random snacks and drinks and we started combining them all. Pickle juice and Doctor Pepper, strawberries and Gushers, you name it. Not every mixture was a winner, but we all had a blast nonetheless.
The moments that have left their fondest mark on my time here tend to stem from the sheer freedom Bergstrom offers. We make our own memories, chart our own course, and live as a community as we see fit. It’s not just puzzles, movies, board games, and video games together. Sometimes, we get creative. Recently, a few of the guys got bored and decided to film a short horror movie on the Bergstrom first floor. I played the victim, and I don’t mean to brag, but I knocked em’ dead.
This October season in the Honors dorm has been increasingly memorable and I know the good times won’t stop when the spooky times do. On behalf of your Ol’ Pal Derek, Happy Halloween!
