Honors Program Application for New Students

IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN THE SPIRIT OF CATAWBA SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION YOU MAY UPLOAD YOUR SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION ESSAY IN PLACE OF THE OPTIONS BELOW.

Prompt 1:
In a paragraph, briefly discuss two activities outside of your academic life that you regularly participate in that are important to you and describe why they are important to you. Activities can be defined in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, a job, volunteer work, family care, athletics, hobbies, etc.

Prompt 2 (major application essay)
In a 750-word essay, use ONE of the following…

1. This image
2. This piece of audio
3. Another creative artifact (visual images/art, music, written work, etc.) of your choice

…to explain how the selected creative artifact (a, b, or c above) helps you understand or “make sense of” one of the following prominent contemporary challenges facing humanity:

1. The hardening of tangible and intangible borders—separating countries, dividing the population into groups within countries, and starkly drawing lines between “the people” and their governments—that result in economic or physical insecurity, mass displacement, and migration of millions of fellow humans.
2. The latest period of social unrest in the United States and many other countries around the world, spurred by recent events highlighting perceived racial inequalities and injustices in American policing.

Your essay should clearly describe to the reader what message you receive from the creative artifact you selected, clearly outline how this message is relevant to your understanding of the contemporary challenge selected, and how your understanding of the challenge was advanced, improved, or deepened by using the lens of this creative artifact to gain new insights. The listed challenges are broad, and the space provided is limited, so feel free to narrow your scope to understanding one recent “snapshot event” (for example, Syrian refugees for challenge “a”).