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Shaw Honors Program Rewards Academic Excellence

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RALEIGH — Parents send their kids to college in hopes that hard work will pay off in the future. But at Shaw University in Raleigh, a new honors program gives students rapid rewards they can reap everyday.

Baker Council is one of 45 students in Shaw University's new honors program.

"Just knowing that there are larger rewards ahead and my future is set by what I do now in the present makes it meaningful," Baker said.

The Shaw junior's hard work already made his school year easier when he registered for classes.

"Students in this program won't have to wait in lines; they will just be able to register with ease because they are honor students," Dr. Kimberly Whitehead, director of Shaw's honors program said.

The honor students receive big incentives for good grades.

"I get to stay in this beautiful dorm, I don't have to pay for my books and stuff like that, that is always a perk," Robyn Ware said.

Honor students live in the Talbert O. Shaw Learning Center, which has nicer amenities than the average dorm room, and they also receive a full tuition scholarship. The school benefits from their hard work ethic through research, internships, and grant writing they do in honors seminars.

"Maybe we could start a pilot program, where we might be able to get lap top computers for us and then later on the school, and if we can do that, it will be a great opportunity for the school as well," said Baker.

"These types of activities are essential for a good honors program because then we are able to compete for monies that are offered through the national collegiate honors council," Whitehead said.

"I like the work. I need to have my time filled up with something, and you can't party all the time so you might as well have your nose in a book," Ware said.

The prestigious program is not easy to get into. Incoming freshmen must have a 3.5 GPA, graduate in the top ten percent of their class and score at least 1000 on the SAT, and must also interview with the honors committee at Shaw.

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