The Honors Connections Living Learning Community in Ridgecrest South is a smaller, intentional community within Honors Housing, created to aid first-year students’ transitions into a collegiate environment. The LLC is a discovery-based partnership where first-year Honors College students live and learn in community with each other and Honors College sophomores, juniors and seniors who serve as peer mentors. Incoming freshmen living in the LLC will enroll in UH 100: Honors Connections, a class that introduces first-year students to the UA Honors College experience. The aim of this course is to aid each student in finding and examining their place within the Honors College, The University of Alabama and the greater community. Students will learn and practice the key concepts of engaged scholarship, including critical and creative thinking, ethical and reasoned dialogue, and collaborative and inclusive leadership. Students will gain a practical understanding of the Honors College and their role within it, while also building relationships that foster continued participation in the kinship of scholars.
UA faculty alongside Honors College professional staff facilitate the LLC and the corresponding UH 100 course. Goals for each student in the LLC include: fostering a sense of community among students living in the LLC; forging lasting relationships between first year and upper-class students; and connecting first year students to the vast resources that can help them succeed in both the Honors College and Housing and Residential Communities.