In the spring semester of their senior year, students take a course where they design a digital portfolio containing reflections and artifacts that demonstrate how their experiences at Fontbonne fulfill the five pillars of TELOS:
- Transformation
- Exploration
- Leadership
- Occupation
- Service and Social Justice
To prepare students for completing this task, they learn about and practice reflective writing strategies, principles, and techniques. Students compose weekly written reflection drafts and they are constructively critiqued by peers and the instructor. Students revise their reflections and incorporate them into their portfolio. Students also select relevant artifacts associated with the major themes of the written reflections and incorporate these as well. Students then decide on a design approach and arrange their reflections and artifacts in a manner that is both creative and easy to navigate. The portfolios archived here demonstrate the culmination of our students engaging in a meaningful process of self-discovery.
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2023 Honors Portfolio
Khaliah Booker
You know how adults say, “you can never be truly ready.” Things like marriage, children, and leaving home. In a way, I can understand those things because they are life-altering. But if that’s the case, then what's the point of premarital marriage counseling, parenting classes, and home ec in high school?
I knew at the age of 9 that college was where I was meant to be, and it would change my life. I was infatuated with the idea of university – it was always a part of the plan. I dedicated my entire life to getting to college and despite this experience being meant to be life-altering.
I was ready.
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2023 Honors Portfolio
Caitlin Keohane
As I am writing this, my graduation is a little over 24 hours away, and I'd say that's pretty last minute to be writing this. To be honest, I didn't think that writing these papers about my experiences in college would offer me much more than completing a project for something I could put on my resume. But my delay and procrastination in writing this last introduction, is because once this is written, I am done. Completely done with my undergraduate college experience, and like you will come to find in one of my papers, I don't enjoy when things are coming to a close.
This experience gave me so much more than just a couple lines on my resume. The way I structured my portfolio is to mimic a timeline in a sense, as I take you through the pivotal moments of my time here at Fontbonne from beginning to end through the 5 pillars this program is based on, Transformation, Exploration, Leadership, Occupation, and Service and Social Justice. And through writing each of these 10 papers, I reflected for the first time about those experiences that I highlighted in each. I had to sit with those memories and the feelings that came with, sometimes uncomfortable ones, and was able to craft into words what I wanted to say about it, and how it impacted me, which I simply never would've done if it hadn't been for this project.
College truly is a time for growth, and if you take the time to read my papers, I think you will see the exponential growth from where I started to now. Where I am now never could've been achieved alone, and I attribute all my best leadership, and academic skills to those who have been steadfast in supporting me, guiding me, and pushing me to be my best self these last four years. I will be forever grateful to the many professors that I have had the honor of learning from. GriffinTHON, and the many other organizations that I have been lucky enough to be a part of and support over my four years will always hold some of my fondest memories, and be my greatest areas of growth, in confidence, commitment and passion. My family never wavered in cheering me on from all distances, and gave me the courage to keep going, even during the most challenging times. And through it all, I met some of my greatest friends, that challenged me, supported me, and truly made my life at Fontbonne even brighter, filled with more laughs, more memories, and greater fun.
As I close this introduction, and finally finish this project, I hope you will be able to see how impactful Fontbonne was to me and has shaped me into who I will be in my future through these papers. Fontbonne will always have a special place in my heart.
