By: Jensen Gavulic | Published: April 9, 2024

Honors Student Association 2024 Executive Board Awarded the 2024 Vires Award.

FSU Honors Student Association (HSA) was awarded the Vires Leadership Award at the 2024 Leadership Award Night. HSA was awarded the Vires Award for their “perseverance as an organization, […] sense of community, and the long-lasting legacy we are creating at FSU” said HSA President, Samantha Weiss.

“Student leaders and student organizations help to make FSU such a vibrant campus and Leadership Awards Night is one way we celebrate them,” Stormy M. McGivern, Program Director, Student Organizations & Student Involvement, explained.

The HSA board has shown a commitment to serving the Honors student population, and the Vires Award is an acknowledgement of that continued service.

“It has truly been rewarding to serve the Honors community through community service, mentorship, professional development, and social events” Weiss continued.

Connecting Honors students to opportunities and resources within the FSU community has seen an enthusiastic response from members this semester. With a top 20 Relay for Life Team, the successful rebranding of new teams, and an increase in social events offered, including the ever-popular free HSA breakfast hosted once a month, the new board has committed countless hours into serving their members.

“We aim to provide students with great opportunities to get involved within their community and develop their leadership skills” said HSA Vice-President Maria Perez-Torres, “The synergy of these efforts creates an unmatched experience that truly defines what it means to be an Honors student at Florida State.”

As part of that experience, the Peer Mentorship Initiative (PMI) was rebranded for this semester, with a focus on connecting incoming students into the Honors community and making the PMI more integrated within HSA.

Jordan Brown, HSA Peer Mentorship Initiative Chair said, “We want to help connect freshmen in the Honors Program to students who have been in the program for at least one school year, so that they can have someone to talk to about academics, extracurriculars, or social life,” said Brown, “[We are] thrilled with how it has gone so far.”

Jenna Haupert, a mentee in the PMI and freshmen in the Honors Program, said that the “best part of PMI would definitely have to be meeting my mentor, Michelle Hanson. We are both Neuroscience majors, so it has been great being able to talk about my major with someone who is further along in it.”

“HSA has prioritized outreach this year […] I am extremely proud of the executive board” said Julia Pennington, HSA advisor, “As a result, HSA has had a solid increase in the number of events they are hosting and the amount of students attending […] I look forward to seeing how they build on this semester’s success.”

The new HSA Board has had a clear vision on enhancing the community for Honors students with impactful events, meaningful connections, and support for students, has been rewarded.