University Honors Program

How are students chosen for the University Honors Program and what are the requirements for eligibility?

A: Incoming freshmen are considered for admission to the University Honors Program upon review of their application to the University. Upon acceptance to St. John’s University, eligible first-year students will be invited to complete a short application to be considered for the University Honors Program. Among the criteria used for selection are high school GPA, strength of high school courses, and the results of standardized tests, if submitted. 

What options exist for students who do not meet the eligibility requirements?

A: On a limited basis, based on course availability and academic qualifications, some entering students may be granted an exception to join the University Honors Program. Students interested in being considered for an exception must contact the Honors Office prior to enrollment to obtain an exception request form.

Q:  Can I become part of the Honors Program after my freshman year?

A:  In order to have the best opportunity and flexibility to complete the University Honors Program, as well as to experience its other academic and social benefits, it is most advantageous to join at the beginning of the freshman year. Joining the program after the freshman year limits the ability to complete it. Therefore, these exceptions are rarely approved.

Q: Will I be required to take additional or different courses if I am part of the University Honors Program?

A:  The University Honors Program requires the completion of 30 credits of honors-designated courses. The majority of this requirement is usually satisfied through completion of the University’s Core Curriculum; however, additional elective courses and other options to earn honors credit exist. Some options require pre-approval by the Honors Program administrators.

Q: What grade point average must I maintain to successfully complete the University Honors Program?

A:  Students who are enrolled in the University Honors Program are expected to maintain an overall GPA of 3.3.

Q:  Are there specific scholarships available to students in the University Honors Program?

A:   As a result of their academic achievements in high school, students in the program are eligible to receive University- based merit scholarships. At the present time there are no additional scholarships awarded exclusively to honors students. 

Q: How many students are enrolled in the University Honors Program and how many freshmen are admitted each fall?

A:  There are approximately 1000 students in the University Honors Program and we enroll about 300 freshmen each fall.

Q:  What is the size of honors courses?

A:   Honors courses generally have no more than 25 students.

Q: What is the difference between honors courses and regular courses?

A: Honors courses are not necessarily more difficult. The professors may approach the class differently due to their smaller size and can often focus on topics in more depth. Discussion is an important aspect of honors courses.

Q: Can students in all majors complete the University Honors Program?

A: The program is open to incoming students who meet the eligibility requirements and are accepted into St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Collins College of Professional Studies, the School of Education and Human Services, and The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

Students in business majors who meet the eligibility requirements may participate in the Thomas J. Cox College Honors Program within the Tobin College of Business. Please contact Prof. Niall Hegarty, director of the program, at [email protected] or (718) 990-7402 for additional information. 

Q: What are the benefits of being in the University Honors Program?

A: The program offers a number of academic and social benefits. Among them is the opportunity to be in small courses with students who share your academic profile. The program also offers a variety of events and activities and access to the Honors Commons, a lounge reserved for University Honors Program students. Students who complete 30 credits in honors courses will receive an honors certificate as well as special honors designation on their final transcript and diploma and recognition in the Commencement Booklet.

Q: Is there honors housing?

Yes.  Students in  the University Honors Program who choose to live on campus have an option to reside in an honors-designated section of Donovan Hall, the primary freshman residence hall.

To complete the University Honors Program, students take a minimum of 30 credit hours in honors courses (designated HON) or their equivalent. Students are expected to maintain an overall index of at least 3.3. University Honors Program courses are located primarily in the core curriculum, the courses all students at St. John's take.

Honors credit may be obtained in the following ways:

1. A core curriculum “honors” (HON) designated course
2. An “honors” designated elective
3. A maximum of six credits may be applied as honors from either advanced placement credits in core corses, International Baccalaurate credits, or credits earned through the University's College Advantage Program.* 
4. Completion of a non-honors course within the major using an “Honors Contract” through which a student enrolls in a regular course, but makes a prior arrangement with the instructor and Honors Director to complete an additional project reflecting honors work.*
5. A three-credit research experience, which can be a seminar or independent study course for independent study in the student’s field of concentration*
6. Honors credits may be earned for study abroad in an online honors class.*

*These options are limited and require prior approval by the University Honors Program administrators and are limited in number as applicable to the Honors Certificate.

For more information about the University Honors Program, please contact the director at the appropriate campus. 

Fall 2023 Honors Courses

*ALL TEACHING ASSIGNMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE*

University Honors Program Newsletter
The program's associate director sends emails weekly on program events.  These include...

Manhattan Walking Tours visiting historic locations such as the Dutch and British city, the Lower East Side, the Upper West Side, and Central Park 

Museum Gallery Tours including regular trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cloisters, the Met's medieval collection in Washington Heights                                                                                                                

Lecture Series
As schedules permit, the Honors Program invites a variety of speakers to address its students and the larger University community.  Our previous speakers have included Oliver Sachs on psychology and music, Jill Lepore on race in pre-Revolutionary War New York, Barry Lewis on New York City neighborhoods, Joshua Foer on memory, Russell Shorto on Manhattan as the "Island at the Center of the World," and F.E. Peters on Islam and Christ.

Learning Community  The University Honors Program is its own learning community.  Residential students have the option of living in the Honors Wing of Donovan Hall, the freshman residence hall.  Since Honors Program students take many of their classes together, study groups naturally follow, and these are available to commuting students as well.  Lunches, holiday snack days, a student-faculty softball game, film series, and even a quidditch tournament now and then are parts of the program.

Music/Dance Series
NewYork City Ballet performances and its Balanchine production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker have become anticipated regular events of the University Honors Program.  Performances of the Metropolitan Opera and concerts of the New York Philharmonic as well, all of these offered free every semester to the extent our budget allows, are exceptionally popular parts of the program.

Dohra Ahmad loves teaching at St. John’s University, which she has been doing since 2004. She received her Ph. D. from Columbia University that year and previously attended Yale University (B.A.) and Hunter College High School. At St. John’s she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in twentieth-century postcolonial and world Anglophone literature, postcolonial theory, American and ethnic American literature, and utopian fiction.  Dr. Ahmad also serves as an advisor for faculty members who teach English 1100C (Literature in a Global Context) as well as frequently teaching the course herself. 

Her research aims to draw thematic, stylistic, and historical connections among various twentieth-century literary movements.  She is the author of Landscapes of Hope: Anti-Colonial Utopianism in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2009) and editor of Rotten English: A Literary Anthology (W. W. Norton, 2007). Her essays have appeared in ELH, the Yale Journal of Criticism, Social Text, and the Journal of Commonwealth Literature. She has given invited lectures on postcolonial literature, vernacular literature, and pedagogy at New York University, the University of Pittsburgh, and CUNY. In her spare time she likes to lounge around, do arts and crafts projects with her two daughters, and volunteer at P.S. 261 in Brooklyn.

Few  professors have made a more indelible mark on the Honors Program than Dr. Arthur Gianelli. As the second director in the program's history, Dr. Gianelli pioneered initiatives that made it possible for the program to blossom.  In fourteen years at its helm, Dr. Gianelli expanded the program’s scope from ten students exclusively from St. John’s College to the university-wide community it is today.  Dr. Gianelli’s determined efforts enabled the Honors Program to expand its curriculum to include the whole ofthe University core in all of St. John's schools and colleges.  Now, honors students benefit from a cozy special key-access lounge, Uncommon Hours, guest speakers, and cultural events such as walking tours and New York Philharmonic, ballet and opera concerts. Dr. Gianelli was  also chairperson of the Philosophy Department for 14 years, well past the typical two 4-year terms a chairperson serves. From 1991-2000, he simultaneously served as both Honors Program Director and Philosophy Chair.

Dr. Gianelli graduated in 1971 with a Ph.D. in philosophy from St John’s University and has been a beloved professor at the university ever since;  however, he did not always realize his passion lay in philosophy.  He first studied physics and graduated with a B.S. from Georgetown University in 1961, after which he taught physics at Penn State University for four years.  He began to realize, however, that his scientific inquiries were increasingly evolving into philosophical reflections and investigations.  He followed his passion, thus pursuing his philosophy Ph.D. at St John’s. Physics still plays a large influence on Dr. Gianelli’s philosophical focus though; his research centers in the philosophy of physical science, reflecting his physics roots. 

Generations of St. John's undergraduates have been captivated by Dr. Gianelli  lectures on the philosophical origins of science. Indeed, he has succeeded in convicing even the most uncompromising undergraduate empiricists that Heliocentric Model and the Big Bang were actually born out of philosophical inquisitions, not scientific ones. His lectures often present metaphysics as an extension of science.  Whole decades of  honors students continually sing his praises.  Dr. Gianelli particulary enjoys teaching honors students and copiously lauds them.  His template assessment is that honors students are inquisitive. Their willingness to ask questions and yearning to understand material is refreshing, and he thoroughly enjoys fielding their questions.  In addition to metaphysics, Dr. Gianelli also teaches courses in logic and the philosophy of physical science, all in the Honors Program.

When not in the classroom,  Dr. Gianelli  follows politics.  Indeed, he served as delegate to the 1976 Democratic convention.  He also enjoys sports and has been a lifelong fan of St John’s basketball. He fondly recalls watching televised games on WPIX since the 1950’s. Dr. Gianelli is married to Barbara Ginalllli.   They have two sons; one, Arthur, Jr., is the Chief Executive Officer of Nassau County's University Medical Center and the other, Scott, holds a Ph.D. in Physics.

Dr. Michael Henry, Professor of Philosophy, has been teaching full time at St. John’s since 1978.  His interest in philosophy evolved from childhood ambitions of pursuing a career in science—first paleontology, then astronomy, and then nuclear physics—that in high school developed into the desire to become a doctor.  However, while majoring in biology at The Catholic University of America, he discovered that although science would always be an interest, the fundamental questions and the sheer wonder of philosophy drew him much more powerfully.  After graduating in 1969, he went on to earn a master’s degree in Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Political Theory at the University of Notre Dame as well as a master’s degree in Russian Studies at Fordham University, Russian having been an interest ever since he began to study it as a freshman in high school.  He has also done graduate work in Classics at the City University of New York because he wanted to learn to read Plato in Greek. 

During the 1980s, he participated in three NDEA Summer Seminars, one on Socrates, one on Virtues, State, and Law in Medieval Philosophy, and the third on The Development of the Modern Scientific Worldview.  He has presented papers or provided commentary on papers at meetings of the Long Island Philosophical Society, the American Catholic Philosophical Association, and the Eric Voegelin Society, among others.  His essays and reviews have appeared in publications such as Modern Age, The Intercollegiate Review, The Political Science Reviewer, The University Bookman, The Thomist, Studies in Soviet Thought, and The Review of Politics, as well as on the website VoegelinView.  He has also contributed essays to four books, the most recent of which is The Timelessness of Proust (St. Augustine’s Press, 2019), and has written the introductions to seven books.  For eighteen years, he was the Series Editor of The Library of Conservative Thought of Transaction Publishers. 

Dr. Henry loves philosophy not only because it is the search for wisdom, a search inspired by the acute awareness of our ignorance and the love of questions, but  also because it requires engagement with many other disciplines, such as science, history, language and literature, culture, theology, and politics.  He has taught not only the core courses in The Philosophy of Human Nature, Metaphysics, and Ethics, but also elective courses in Logic, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Philosophy, Health Care Ethics, Modernity in Crisis, Philosophy and Literature (using the novels of Dostoevsky), and Senior Seminars on Political Philosophy and the Philosophy of the Person.

He has taught in the Honors Program almost every semester for many years, primarily Honors sections of the Philosophy of the Human Person and Health Care Ethics.  He enjoys teaching the Honors students because they are better prepared for and interested in exploring philosophical questions, they are good writers who submit intelligent, thoughtful, and often very insightful papers, and they are enthusiastic about learning and enjoy a challenging assignment that requires them to think critically about what they really believe, all of which make teaching a very rewarding vocation.

Just about anyone who has been fortunate enough to have been a student in one of her classes knows what a privilege it is to study with Dr. Alison Hyslop, Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and a regular faculty member of the Honors Program.  Indeed, the immediate response one has to first meeting Dr. Hyslop is an unusual mixture of enthusiasm for her discipline coupled with a quick, brilliant mind, and even more an inherent kindness that makes the intimidating discipline of chemistry clear and accessible.

Dr. Hyslop describes one of the teaching techniques she regularly employs in general chemistry.  She gives beginning students an unidentified compound and requires them to identify it by its chemical and physical properties, then to synthesize it.  She carefully organizes her students into groups and invariably, she notes, the fears and barriers begin to fall.  One student takes the initiative and at first others follow until another comes forward with another procedure to allow the team to reach an empirical conclusion.

It is typical of Dr. Hyslop that when asked about herself she describes her experience with students.  She so clearly identifies with them that they are inseparable from the way she views herself.  Dr. Hyslop does not mention until specifically asked that she obtained her doctorate in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, that she has taught all levels of chemistry during her decade and a half at St. John’s, or that her research interests have focused on the design, synthesis, and study of light-harvesting complexes based on porphyrins, essentially how they convert light into usable forms of energy.  Dr. Hyslop is, in every sense, a treasured asset of the program.

Professor Milford is an historian of colonial and early national North America. He studied at Duke and Harvard universities.  His research has concentrated on political change and cultural aspiration in the late 18th century. For an example of his work,  see The Gardiners of Massachusetts:  Provincial Ambition and the British-American Career (University Press of New England, 2005). He is currently studying how Latin American unrest and the geopolitics of the Napoleonic era affected Anglo-American relations and conceptions of empire.

Prof. Milford teaches an honors section of the history core every year – and sometimes twice a year.  He also offers courses on colonial and revolutionary America, the law and its practice in American history, and the confrontation of Europeans and Amerindians.   He advises the St. John’s chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society.

Paul D. Molnar, Ph.D. in Contemporary Systematic Theology from Fordham University (1980), is Professor of Systematic or Dogmatic Theology in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at St. John’s.  After teaching for two years as a Visiting Professor at St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, Dr. Molnar began his full-time teaching career at St. John’s in 1985.  His special areas of study include Trinitarian doctrine (the doctrine of God), the doctrine of revelation, Christology (the study of the person and work of Jesus), theological method and the theology of Karl Barth and Thomas F. Torrance.  He has published six books and well over 1,000 pages in the world’s leading journals and has lectured in Scotland at the Universities of Edinburgh, St. Andrews and Aberdeen on a number of occasions over the last twenty-five years.  In 2009, he was invited to teach a graduate course in the doctrine of the Trinity at Laidlaw Carey Graduate school in Auckland, New Zealand and gave a public lecture as well as a lecture to graduate students at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. 

Dr. Molnar has been teaching in the Honors Program for many years and very much enjoys working with our honors students.  He has taught both the introductory course and the course in Christology.  These courses engage students from all religious backgrounds in the important questions that ancient and contemporary theologians grapple with in connection with the practical implications of the Christian faith.  As one modern theologian once put it, everything looks different in light of the doctrine of the Trinity. 

In Dr. Molnar’s experience, honors students love to assess critically the views of various theologians who claim to be presenting the truth of the Christian faith, but often contradict their own stated intentions.  Such theologians allow personal agendas rather than the object of Christian faith to shape what they say about God and our relations with God. 

Dr. Molnar particularly enjoys working closely with his students to enhance their writing skills. He encourages them to think for themselves in a scientific way by allowing the object that they are reflecting on to shape the truth of what they think and say.  He endeavors to provide more than a set of doctrinaire assertions and asks his students to think about the problems that theologians have faced in connection with the Old and New Testament witness as reflected in Church teaching over the centuries and in connection with contemporary reflection on that witness.  

Lawrence Pitilli teaches because, as he states, it is a great opportunity to “work with my brains and my soul.” An alumnus of St. John’s University and tenured associate professor of speech, he has been teaching in the English and Speech Department of the College of Professional Studies since 1986. In addition to honors, core, and advanced public speaking courses, Professor Pitilli also teaches honors and core Discover New York and Liberal Studies. Prior to joining the CPS faculty, he taught language arts in special education.

His research is in popular culture with a focus on music. His book Doo-Wop Acappella: A Story of Street Corners, Echoes, and Three-Part Harmonies, published by Rowman &Littlefield, is the first serious treatment of this very specific musical genre. He has also published chapters and essays in other edited books and publications including Rock Music Studies. Additionally, he has consistently presented papers at both regional and national popular culture conferences.

Professor Pitilli also has a professional musical background as a composer, lyricist, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is a two-time recipient of the ASCAP Musical Theatre Popular Award and the Grand Prize Winner of the Nashville Songwriting Competition. He currently sings backup vocals and plays keyboards for the SJU-based GP Orchestras, a doo-wop and R&B group whose proceeds help fund our Military Veterans Center on campus. Professor Pitilli holds St. John’s deep in his heart and regards our community as his home away from home. If he has one more quote to offer on teaching it just might be the following: “you don’t teach because you want to, you teach because it’s a need – a need to make that connection with your class.”

Dr. Matteo Ruggiu earned his bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Pavia, Italy, and his Ph.D. at the Medical Research Council, Human Genetics Unit, in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. After postdoctoral work at Rockefeller University and Columbia University, Dr. Ruggiu joined St. John’s University as an assistant professor in 2013. He became associate professor with tenure in 2018. 

Dr. Ruggiu has been teaching the honors courses in biology since 2015, BIO 2000 and BIO 3000, one each semester. He also teaches graduate courses in biology.

In addition to his teaching, Dr. Ruggiu has a genuine passion for research. His laboratory at St. John’s studies the molecular biology of protein-RNA networks that control gene expression in the brain, and how they relate to the basic biology of neurons and to diseases of the nervous system, particularly neurodegeneration. Dr. Ruggiu works with both graduate and undergraduate students in his lab, and finds his Honors Program students some of his most promising researchers. Dr. Ruggiu also brings his direct research experience in the classroom, often integrating his lectures with recently published breakthrough scientific discoveries. Dr. Ruggiu has published more than twenty research articles, and his research is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.  In 2018, Dr. Ruggiu received both the Research Recognition Award and the Faculty Recognition Award from St. John’s.

Heidi Upton is an Associate Professor at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, where she has taught since the fall of 2003. A fulltime professor for Discover New York, a core-curriculum freshman transition course, she is also affiliated with the Department of Art and Design where she teaches other core curriculum courses including Introduction to Music, Music Theory, and The Creative Process. She is Faculty Advisor for St. John’s Chamber Music Society, a student group dedicated to the performance of collaborative music. Dr. Upton has published several works focusing on her research topic: aesthetic education and civic engagement. 

Dr. Upton has been a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education (LCE) since 1998. She is distinguished as being one of its first full-time teaching artists, a post she was awarded in 2001. She has also participated in writing several special projects for LCE, resulting in publications such as Windows on the Work (resource manuals that accompany the Institute’s Repertory) and the Lincoln Center Institute/Time Warner, Inc. Professional Development Discussions: Aesthetic Education and Youth Programs: A Guide to Best Practices. She has been heard on National Public Radio as a pianist and commentator and on Public Radio International as an announcer.  In addition, she can be heard as the narrator of several documentaries.

Dr. Upton, a pianist, was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music. She received the Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, as a scholarship student of Sascha Gorodnitzki. She has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the St. Louis Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony and the Juilliard Orchestra, under such music directors as Leonard Slatkin, John Nelson, William McGlaughlin, and Christopher Kendall. Ms. Upton has appeared in recital and chamber music with many artists in such venues as Caramoor Center for the Arts and on Martha’s Vineyard.  She has performed extensively the music of composer and conductor David Amram with whom she has appeared at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Jewish Museum and on national radio broadcasts. As a member of Cicada Chamber Players, she can be heard on Listening for Blossoms, the recently released recording of the music of composer Lei Liang. A native New Yorker, Dr. Upton is a graduate of the famed High School of Performing Arts.

Employing the broad resources of a national Catholic University with global presence, the Staten Island Campus of St. John’s University offers a distinctive Honors Program designed to provide an exceptional experience for its academically gifted students. Using small, seminar-style classes, the Staten Island Campus Honors Program provides its students with innovative opportunities for understanding contemporary global issues as well as religious, intellectual, cultural, social, scientific and technological trends.  Encouraged to apply their knowledge and insights to present-day concerns, students form a mature and ethical consciousness of themselves in relation to career goals and personal fulfillment.

The emphasis in Honors Colloquia is on supportive interaction between students and faculty. Creative academic pursuits, group and independent projects, interdisciplinary perspectives, proficiency in written and oral skills, research and critical analysis skills are stressed. Scholarly pursuits incorporate the various cultural, intellectual and artistic resources in the metropolitan area.

Seeking to give expression to St. Vincent de Paul’s spirit of compassionate concern for others, the program focuses on issues of poverty and social justice. It also encourages opportunities for growth of the whole person through involvement in a wide range of Campus and off-Campus activities.

The Honors Certificate

The Certificate in Honors is awarded upon completion of thirty credits in Honors, including the Senior Capstone Colloquium in Theology, with a cumulative index of at least 3.33. Honors electives, Study Abroad, Honors Independent Study and graduate courses that are part of Bachelor’s/Master’s programs may also be applicable.  All course work toward the Certificate in Honors must be approved in advance by the Director of the Honors Program.

In addition to being awarded the Certificate at a dinner in their honor, students who have received the Certificate in Honors are identified in their commencement programs, and a notation appears on their permanent St. John’s transcripts.

Honors Curriculum

Honors Colloquia are available in the following basic Liberal Arts core courses that are required by all undergraduate colleges at the Staten Island Campus:

First Year
Hon 1000C, Discover New York
Hon 1020C, Speech
Hon 1030C, English Composition
Hon 1010C, Philosophy of the Human Person
Hon 1050C, Perspectives on Christianity

Second Year
Hon 2700C, Scientific Inquiry
Hon 2010C, Metaphysics
Hon 2150C, Contemporary Global Literature
Hon 2200C, Emergence of Global Society

Third Year
Honors Colloquium electives
St. John’s Study Abroad courses
Honors Independent Study

Fourth Year
Hon 4001, Capstone Colloquium in Theology

Who Is Eligible?

Entering Freshman
To qualify for admission to the first year of the Program, a total high school average of 92% with a combined SAT score of at least 1250 is required.  However, since interest in the program is also an important factor and because some students may qualify on the basis of criteria other than standardized scores, other interested students may also apply.  All applicants must be interviewed by the Director prior to admission to the Program.

Contact Information
Dr. Rachel Hollander
Director of the Honors Program
Staten Island Campus
DaSilva Academic Center, Room 315
718-390-4071
[email protected]

Kayleisha Adrien had heard about the unique and life-changing experiences her father had had while he was a student at St. John’s University.  It is no wonder, then, that Kayleisha felt as though she knew St. John’s before she even saw the campus.  Once she had arrived, she was certain it would be the perfect place for her.

Born and raised in Georgia, Kayleisha subsequently moved with her family to South Florida and graduated from high school there with honors.  High school developed her love of medical science, and this led Kayleisha to volunteer at local hospitals and compete in science-related fairs.

Her hospital and science involvements provided firsthand exposure to the serious mental struggles others face.  Consequently, Kayleisha developed a research interest in the brain and its behavioral and cognitive abilities.

Kayleisha’s interests are catholic and go far beyond science.  She appreciates fine art and loves to paint; she plays the violin and loves to explore Manhattan with friends and on her own. She also enjoys languages and discovering unfamiliar cultures and looks forward to participating in one of the University’s study-abroad programs.

Kayleisha presently is working on her psychology degree while pursuing a pre-med track. Through the University Honors Program, she has access to small classes filled with students as eager to learn as herself as well as access to undergraduate research experience. The program has made Kayleisha feel part of a learning community that supports her as she continues her academic journey.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Lara Albrechcinski attended the Wardlaw-Hartridge School, a  small private school located in Edison, from Pre-K to 12^th grade. In choosing a college, Lara was looking for the same strong sense of community and diversity that her school had, and she found it at St. John’s. She has now experienced what a “perfect fit” feels like and is incredibly grateful for the opportunities that present themselves here. She loves the atmosphere of New York City and plans to expand her horizons even more by studying abroad and visiting Italy, France, and Spain through the Discover the World program.

Lara has wanted to be a pharmacist ever since she was little; she was always interested in science and medicine. She was vice-president of the STEM Society in her high school and would help run the annual Science Fair. Lara enjoys her time learning about pharmacy related topics and focuses on her studies in hope that she will be accepted into the Rho Chi Society, the international Honors Society for pharmaceutical sciences, when she is eligible.

In high school, Lara found a passion for volleyball and became the captain of her team two years in a row. Now when she is free from her studies, Lara can be seen participating in intramural volleyball and in the other workout classes that St. John’s has to offer, especially Blacklight Spin and Bootcamp class. Lara appreciates the Vincentian mission of St. John’s and enjoys volunteering to help out the community. She finds solace in participating in New York Cares Day, Midnight Runs, and Academic Service Learning around St. John’s University. 

Lara The Honors Program has allowed Lara to try activities that she otherwise would not have, as well as learn a great deal about things she had never been exposed to before. Thanks to the Honors Program Lara has a newfound love for the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. She recently saw her first opera, Carmen, and plans to attend many more. She also appreciates the smaller size of honors classes and the Honors Commons, where students can be found quietly studying, enjoying each other’s company, and enjoying special snack days, all of which remind her of her honors high school community at home. Thanks to the Honors Program, Lara knows she will excel and grow not only academically, but culturally and experientially.

Eryn Banton is a sophomore majoring in Global Sustainability and Development in St. John’s College. She was born and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, where she attended Cheltenham High School. Eryn was attracted to St. John’s because of the unique level of diversity among its staff and students, along with the many amazing study abroad opportunities that the school has to offer. 

In high school, Eryn was in Black Student Union, Environmental Club, Black Scholars, and was a diversity leader for the freshman class. She was the captain of the tennis team and played as the #1 player for all three years that she attended Cheltenham, while also competing at the regional  level in the USTA tennis league. The highlight of Eryn’s high school career was the Anti-Gun Violence/ Police Brutality rally she organized, known as See Our Faces, Hear Our Voices. She led over 200 students to protest in downtown Philadelphia, where they held a rally that focused on giving minority communities an opportunity to speak out against poor media representation as well as speaking out about the lack of action taken by the government when it comes to making change in those communities. 

At St. John’s, Eryn works as a Common Ground Facilitator that deals with leading conversations around race, socioeconomic issues, gender, and more. She is also involved in the Sustainability Club, NAACP, Haryah, and LASO.

Eryn loves the Honors Program because it challenges her. The students in her classes all share a drive to overachieve and succeed.  The program also gives her the opportunity to see many amazing places in New York. One of her favorite parts of being in the Honors Program was having Dr. Forman as a professor. She felt that it was incredibly reassuring to see how invested the director of the Honors Program is in the wellbeing of his students in and out of the classroom. 

Even with the abundance of universities in the Boston area, Nicholas Ciccolo, a native of Weymouth, Massachusetts, has always been drawn to New York City. After visiting St. John’s and having learned of its criminal justice program, it was clear which school he would attend.

Nicholas enjoys overcoming obstacles and sees every challenge as an opportunity to succeed. This is the reason he accepted the invitation to join the University Honors Program. Nicholas says it has become one of his most gratifying experiences at St John’s. The opportunity to share a classroom with St. John’s brightest undergraduates has exposed Nicholas to perspectives he otherwise might not have considered and has allowed him to become friends with students of differing backgrounds from across the University.

Nicholas has always wanted to work in federal law enforcement, and studying with professors who have had real-world experience at some of the world’s most important law enforcement agencies has been a formative experience for him.  Consequently, Nicholas has become a criminal justice major in the B.S./M.P.S. combined Criminal Justice / Homeland Security Program. His immediate academic goals are to take his bachelor’s degree in 2024 and his master's in 2025.

Nicholas sees his membership in the Catholic Scholars Program and the St. Vincent DePaul Society as another important component of his education. These organizations have provided him with unique experiences helping others in the community and a community of his own on campus while he is away from home. Through the University Honors Program, Nicholas has expanded his education and is excited for what his next years will bring.

Jack Jacobi enrolled at St. John’s University before ever having set foot in the state of New York.  As Jack was growing up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, his parents always went to lengths to ensure that he was cultured beyond the borders of his home state on the plains.  This included taking piano lessons, regular trips to local museums, and accompanying his mother and grandmother to plays and musicals.  

When choosing which college to enroll at, St. John’s became the clear choice because of its diversity, location, and all the added benefits that come with going to school in perhaps the most culturally diverse city in the world (as well as the most diverse borough within that city).  He chose to major in Global Development & Sustainability because it parlayed his lifelong interest in history and geopolitical relations into a dynamic area of study given the persistent globalization and increased interconnectivity of all communities around the world.  Spanish was a natural choice for a second major because of the required language courses within the GDS program and the opportunity to further his studies of the language and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world that had already begun in high school where he was the president of the Spanish Club. 

At St. John’s, Jack has been able to continue his long-established habit of visiting museums and attending musicals, operas, symphonies, and plays through the Honors Program.  This has come in the form of group outings to Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and walking tours around Manhattan led by Dr. Forman.  Outside of the Honors Program, he enjoys captaining an intramural soccer team, partakes in events put on by Sigma Delta Pi (the National Hispanic Honor Society), is a skull of the St. John’s College Skull and Circle Honor Society, and is an active member of St. John’s UNICEF Club. 

Upon graduation, he would like to serve in the Peace Corps for two years.  He arrived at this decision due to his need to serve others, his love of travel as well as different perspectives, and the desire to immerse himself in a Spanish-speaking country.  Upon completion of his service with the Peace Corps, he has aspirations of one day working for an organization that is dedicated to climate action because of the clear and present threat that it presents to everyone on the planet as well as the natural environments of which he has grown so fond.  This applies especially to Colorado, the home of his extended family and setting for countless ski trips, hikes, and river floats.