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| DEGREE PROGRAMS & COURSES |
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| HONORS |
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Jeanette Marie Kutach - Honors Graduate of 2006
 Coming from the “booming metropolis of Boling, Texas, population 1,200,” Jeanette is one of five kids in her family. Having grown up on a farm, Jeanette was no stranger to hard work, which prepared her well for her time at St. Thomas.
She originally came to UST to study International Studies with a focus on Middle Eastern studies. “St. Thomas has an excellent program for that,” Jeanette explained. She also admitted to being drawn to UST because she never had a chance to go to a private Catholic school, and since it was only an hour from her parents’ home, “St. Thomas seemed to fit.”
Jeanette found out about the Honors Program when she received an invitation to apply to the program. “I thought getting into the program couldn’t hurt, so I interviewed and made it in. I had NO IDEA what I was getting into!”
Knowing the confident and composed person Jeanette is today, it’s hard to believe that she was ever intimidated by anything, but, she revealed that her initial impression of Honors was a bit scary. “I felt so out of place at first, being from such a small town and not having read as much as my classmates had. At times I felt really ignorant. Now I know that this was just a process of learning how to think in a different way.... but at the time, I really wanted to quit because I felt like I didn’t belong…I didn’t feel I was smart enough to represent the program. But Dr. Hall convinced me to stick it out and I did!” And we’re certainly glad she did.
Her senior Honors thesis “was a culmination of research based on an idea I shared with Dr. Hall at my very first interview… At the Research Symposium, I was the only Education Major presenting.” Her thesis, titled Guarding Our Future: Suicide Prevention in American High Schools, won Second Place in Oral Presentation!
Jeanette graduated from UST in May with a BA in Secondary Education 8-12, English Language Arts and Reading and a minor in Philosophy. After getting some much-needed rest, she began working at the Texas Reading Institute as a Reading Clinician.
Looking to the future, Jeanette is excited about beginning to teach English at Needville High School in the fall. “I plan to take a few years off from school before working on my masters. Next summer I plan to go to Africa to teach English and do volunteer work,” something she hopes to do every summer if possible. Is a doctorate somewhere in the plans? “I hope so, but considering how much I’ve changed in the past five years, who really knows where the next five years will take me?”
As is typical of Honors graduates who are so used to the crazy and hectic schedule of undergraduate years, Jeanette admits that, “Now that I’m out of school, I have spare time and don’t know what to do with it!” Still, she’s learning to fill her free time “practicing my singing, sewing on various projects for family and friends, reading (anything I can get my hands on that doesn’t deal with school!), working on a genealogy project that I started seven years ago, and getting ready to teach in the upcoming school year.”
So what is the greatest part about being an Honors student, according to Jeanette? Perhaps it’s “the gigantic ‘Mr. T’ medal you wear as you walk across the stage?” No, it’s that “the program helps you develop a new way of thinking. Dr. Hall and the other professors encourage you to approach a problem spherically rather than linearly. And no questions are too stupid…that’s how you learn!”
She confessed that “the program helped me grow so much over the past five years and I can’t see myself being who I am without it. Another part I love? The memories…oh the memories! There are so many crazy things that only you and your classmates will understand and appreciate. If you get a bunch of Honors students in a room together, you’re sure to hear some pretty hilarious stories.”
A piece of advice Jeanette would like to leave with current Honors students? “A major thing I learned about school and life is that you may not be the most intelligent one out there, but if you’re willing to work, you can make it through. A lot of people left the program and I’m proud to say that I graduated from it.” |
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