Benefits for Honors Students
Early Registration
One day is set aside each semester for continuing Honors students to register for the following semester before registration officially begins. To take advantage of this option, continuing Honors students must pick up registration-appointment cards at the Enrollment Center seek advisement, and then register at or after the appointed time.
Honors Courses
Please visit this page for a listing of Honors course offerings.
Co-Curricular Activities
GCC's Honors Program offers free tickets to the Phoenix Symphony on a monthly basis during the academic year. The Honors Program also hosts the Phoenix Symphony on our campuses in the spring.
GCC's Honors Program has partnered Paradise Valley's Honors and Service Learning Programs to offer an Americorps/Project Ayuda Service-Learning Alternative Spring Break. Through this program, honors students complete service inside Arizona as well as in San Diego during Spring Break in order to learn about themselves and the world around them by volunteering for those less fortunate.
The Honors Forum Lecture Series brings distinguished speakers to our campuses to address the Honors Study Topic each academic year. All six lectures (three in fall, and three in spring) are free and open to the public; two of these lectures are held on GCC's campus. They foster a climate of academic excellence and raise awareness of the high quality and variety of educational services offered by the Maricopa Community Colleges to the students, faculty, and public.
Academic seminars are another opportunity available through the GCC Honors Program. Honors students have attended the Presidential Inauguration and a national security seminar in Washington, D.C. through The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, an independent, nonprofit organization serving hundreds of colleges and universities in the United States and other countries by providing selected students challenging opportunities to work and learn in Washington, D.C. for academic credit.
Transfer Assistance
The GCC Honors Program works with students to promote successful transfer to the student's institution of choice. In addition to several university transfer partnerships, the GCC Honors Program offers transfer workshops, university visits, and advisement for honors students.
We were a pioneering program in the ASU/Maricopa Alliance Program. This alliance was established to assist students with seamless transfer from a community college honors program to the local, four-year institution and to reinforce a "culture of transfer" on the community college campuses. The GCC Honors Program worked with the Honors College at ASU to establish transfer scholarships, workshops and informational sessions, and mentoring relationships for transferring students. These partnership strategies have been designed to significantly increase the number of students who complete a community college degree, and transfer to and persist at the university until graduation.
We have had other honors students transfer out of state with significant scholarships to such places as Smith College, Dickinson College, and Georgetown University.
Travel and Cultural Opportunities
- Honors students represent GCC at national and regional honors conferences, which are often held in such major cities as San Francisco, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Chicago.
- Honors students also have opportunities to travel to Arizona universities to attend Transfer Information Day events and get-togethers with university honors students.
- Honors students and faculty have participated in the Arizona Historical Society's annual conference, attended a Maya Angelou performance, secured tickets to special theater and symphony events, and visited museums–and the beach!–in Los Angeles.
- Honors students from GCC have partnered with honors students from PVCC in SLICE (Service, Learn, Inspire, Change, Educate), a week-long alternative spring break program in San Diego. SLICE seeks to raise awareness of global issues through education and intensive service experiences benefiting the host community while fostering kinship among college students.
Financial Benefits
Recent graduates from NCA-accredited high schools in Maricopa County are eligible to apply for the Presidents' Scholarship, provided they rank in the top 15% of their graduating classes in the 6th, 7th or 8th semester and enroll in the academic year following high school graduation without having enrolled in any institution other than a Maricopa Community College.
Continuing and transfer students may apply for the Honors Achievement Award after having accumulated a minimum of 12 credits with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.250.
GCC Honors Awards Dinner
Honors Program Graduates are recognized at GCC's annual Honors Awards Dinner. Friends, family and faculty offer well-deserved (and often very generous!) applause as students receive the impressive Honors Program medallions they will wear during commencement exercises. Honors students from GCC's Music Department often provide the superb entertainment that makes this event especially memorable.
The transcript of an Honors Program Graduate indicates his/her high level of achievement, and their diplomas bear the distinctive gold seal of the Honors Program.
