HONOR S N EW S L E T T E R | V O LUME 6 , I S S U E 1 | S P R I N G 2 0 2 0

The Honors Program, like everything else these last few months, hasbeen greatly affected by the Covid-19 crisis. We were unable tohold our annual Honors Colloquium and Reception this year, stu-

dents were unable to present at spring conferences, Honors Distinctiongraduates did not get the opportunity to wear their hard-earned medal-lions at commencement, and the Biology Honors students were unable tocomplete their hands-on research. However, the Honors Program is aliveand well, and we are all grateful to be safe. During the 2019-2020 aca-demic year, students have completed Honors projects across several disci-plines, including American Sign Language, Anthropology, Biology,Comparative Literature, English, History, Humanities, Math, Music, Phi-losophy, and Psychology. The centerpiece of our program remains the academic relationships be-

tween Honors faculty and students engaged in creative scholarship withinGeneral Education Courses and/or through independent study. We wel-come and are ready to meet the challenges of the multiple delivery modal-ities necessary to continue moving forward in a post-Covid setting. TheCochise College Honors Program is made possible by the generous sup-port of the Cochise College Governing Board, The Foundation, TheFriends of the Honors Program, and the Administration, especially ourPresident, Dr. J.D. Rottweiler and our Executive Vice President/Provost,Dr. Verlyn Fick. With their support, and the commitment and expertise ofthe Honors Faculty and the Honors Advisory Board, the Honors Programcontinues to change lives.

MESSAGE FROMTHE CHAIR

HONORS ADVISORY BOARDMary B. Coyle, ChairKari Durham, MemberMatt Melito, MemberKevin O’Brien, MemberAlex O’Meara, Member

COCHISE COLLEGE GOVERNING BOARD Don Hudgins, Chair

Dennis L. Nelson, SecretaryDavid DiPeso, MemberJane Strain, MemberTim Quinn, Member

ADMINISTRATIONJ.D. Rottweiler, PresidentVerlyn Fick, Executive Vice

President/ProvostWendy Davis, Vice President

for Administration

COCHISE COLLEGE FOUNDATION

Dan Rehurek, PresidentJoanna Michelich, Vice

President ('68)Jean Giuffrida, SecretaryKaren Justice, TreasurerMark Battaglia, MemberLarry Borger, Member

Joel Borowiec, Member ('78)Doug Dunn, MemberJan Guy, Member

David Mosow, Member ('66)John Pintek, Member ('72)Matt Riesgo, Member

Gail Zamar, Member ('71)Denise Hoyos, Executive

Director

THE ORACLEJulian Olsen, WriterKevin O’Brien, Editor

Rick Whipple, Graphic Designer

Mary B. Coyle

Boldness, heart, and persever-ance have always been a partof Honors Faculty member

Jesse Smith’s life. Now she teachesthose same qualities to studentsfour classes a semester. While Jessehadn’t ever intended to be ateacher, it is one of the most re-warding experiences imaginable forher. “I fell in love with meeting andteaching new students and quicklyrealized this is what I wanted todo.” Jesse said. Jesse’s journey to becoming a

popular teacher among students atCochise College began when shewas young. Although she was borninto a hearing family, by the age ofseven, her hearing began to worsen.Her parents took her to an audiolo-gist, who diagnosed a hearing lossin Jesse. However, beingyoung, she refused to usehearing aids. Her hearingdeclined all through highschool. Fortunately, she wasable to pick up socialcues to get throughsituations. Jesseexplained, “I

often missed homework and testassignments announced verbally inclass. In high school, I was askedout on a date, but did not hear theinvitation and just walked away. Todisguise my ‘loss,’ I would read thesocial cues of others just to knowwhen to laugh or when to look seri-ous, not really understanding whatthe situation was in the first place.”Halfway through her senior year

of high school, her family movedfrom Orlando to Bisbee. Jessedropped out of school. With thefew skills she had, she found workas a busser in Bisbee. She was goodat her job – so good that her bossoffered to buy her a hearing aid andpromote her to a lunch server. Afew years later, she qualified for a

program through the state thatprovided two hearing aids. Ayear later, Jesse gave birthto her child.

As time passed, herhearing continually dete-riorated. One day,

though, her child gaveher the spark sheneeded to take the

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Jesse Smith

Uncovering the past can be the key to understanding the present.Through archeology we can look at the physical remains of a so-ciety and learn about who the people were and how they lived.

Last summer, Honors student and Honors Program Distinction graduateEsteban Jasso uncovered artifacts from an archeological site at the GilaRiver Farm site in Cliff, New Mexico, about a half hour northwest of SilverCity. Later in the year, he presented these previously unseen artifacts andhis original research at a conference hosted by the Society for HistoricalArcheology in Boston, Massachusetts. The Society for Historical Archeol-ogy is the largest academic group in the world specializing in historicalarcheology, the archeological study of the modern world, focusing on thelast 500-600 years.Archeology professor Becky Orozco encouraged Esteban to apply for a

summer field school sponsored by Archeology Southwest, a private non-profit preservation archeology organization partnered with the Universityof Arizona. There he would spend time in the field uncovering artifacts

Jesse Smith continued

next steps in life, by asking her whyshe hadn’t gone to college. Jesseasked herself, “Did I want to waittables for the rest of my life? Or didI want to do something else?”In 2000 she enrolled in Cochise

College to pursue an Associate ofArts in Elementary Education. Oneof her degree requirements wasclasses in a foreign language. Shechose ASL, since as a visual lan-guage it offered new means of ex-pression. It was a life-changingexperience. “After taking up ASLclasses, I no longer felt the awk-wardness and shame of not fullyfitting into the hearing world; I wasDeaf and proud!” Jesse states.In 2009 Jesse’s former ASL in-

structor gave her the opportunityof a lifetime. She asked Jesse if shewanted to teach an ASL class withher. She fell in love with it. She pur-sued her Bachelor of Arts in DeafStudies, graduating Magna CumLaude. In 2016 she obtained herMaster of Arts in Teaching ASL.Teaching has become her life’swork, her passion. Jesse caresdeeply for her students: “Seeingthem acquire skills and flourish re-ally warms the heart. I always sobwhen I watch them walk for gradu-ation.”Through her personal life and ca-

reer, Jesse has explored the manyvaried facets of Deaf culture. Sheshares every new venture with stu-dents. Being hard of hearing is nota hindrance; she has turned it into astrength. She connects with peopleon a personal level. Although thereare thousands of languages in theworld, Jesse believes it is the lan-guage of shared experiences thattruly unites cultures and bringspeople closer together.

2020 HONORS DISTINCTIONGRADUATE

Esteban Jasso

“I was proud torepresent CochiseCollege, the Honorsprogram, andArchaeologySouthwest at thelargest historicalarchaeologyconference in theworld.”

left by previous European Ameri-can settlements from the late 19thand early 20th centuries. For thefinal research project at the fieldschool, participants chose to pres-ent on a variety of topics concern-ing archeology. In choosing hisproject, Esteban explained, “Iwanted to home in on a site-spe-cific project that would be bothchallenging and original to get themost out of my experience.” He wasaccepted to the field school, and hespent his summer uncovering metaland leather fragments and glass ce-ramic shards dating between 1880-1920 – a date range consideredincredibly precise by professionalstandards.Esteban paired the information

he gathered in the field with longhours of poring over books andpast research to reach conclusionsabout his artifacts. The work paidoff when he went to Boston, but hispresentation at the conference wasnot without its challenges. Estebansaid, “I was nervous, and I felt outof my element.” However, Estebanreminded himself of advice he re-ceived from Dr. Karen Schollmeyer,his field school project advisor,“You will know more about [theGila River Farm] site than anyoneelse there.”In Boston, he stayed with PhD

candidates and with professionalarcheologists – quite the group ofcompanionsfor a soph-omorefrom acommu-nity college. If presenting originalresearch was not intimidatingenough, he would be spending hisfree time around experts who hadspent years specializing in variousaspects of archeology. Through

his hard work and intellectualcuriosity, though, Esteban estab-lished himself as an authority onthis archeological dig at the confer-ence.One of the most important skills

taught by the Cochise College Hon-

ors Program is sharing researchwith other scholars. Classes takenfor Honors credit often involve anacademic presentation, and so Este-ban was no stranger to talkingabout his work. He describespreparing for his presentation:“Months of intense research finallyled to this moment in which I would present the Gila River Farm to the world. I was proud to repre-sent Cochise College, the HonorsProgram, and Archaeology South-west at the largest historical archae-ology conference in the world.”Using his presentation skills, he

was able to tailor what he said tohis audience. Only a short whileinto the presentation, Esteban cap-tured the attention of renownedprofessors and graduate studentsfrom around the country. Estebansaid that it was an incredible expe-rience to tell people about his proj-ect as they stopped by to learnmore. More importantly, his timeas an Honors student taught himthe value of creative scholarshipand collaboration. He used his timein Boston to discuss his projectwith everyone who showed an in-terest in his presentation: “I wasable to receive constructive feed-back and insights that would helpme expand upon future research.”As students, it can be easy to

think that we aren’t qualified toconduct original research, that weonly repeat what

others havedone be-fore. Es-teban andthe Hon-

ors Program prove that’s not thecase. Curiosity and perseverancecan lead students and anyone, re-ally, to personal success and profes-sional advancement.

For Josh Novinger, the firststeps in resuming his aca-demic career were more diffi-

cult than usual. It had been tenyears since he was in school. Thevery idea of going back filled himwith fear – fear of not belonging,fear of falling behind, of not beingable to keep up, fear of new de-mands. However, being back in aclassroom alleviated those fears. Inan instant, he knew he was in theright place.In his time away from school,

Josh discovered what was impor-tant to him. He ministered to hiscommunity through his church. Hefilled some time with sports andrecreation. Ultimate Frisbee was afavorite of his. Just before he wentback to school, he was working longhours in retail. Through all of it,though, Josh was missing some-thing. No matter where he turned,his mind wandered back to school.He knew where he had to go.The academic year came, and

classes began. Josh hit the groundrunning, majoring in English. Hehad taken the easy route before: “Iwas a kid, fresh out of high school,completely uncertain about what Iwanted to do. I was wasting timeand money on classes I was onlyloosely interested in.” Now he wasdetermined to do better, to be abetter student. In his own words, “Ididn’t procrastinate on projects thatneeded doing. I did the reading formy classes. I tried to be the kind ofstudent I someday hope to have.”His aspirations of teaching litera-

ture at the college level drove himforward. Every nerve-wracking testwas an opportunity to prove that hewas in the right place and doing theright thing. The papers were espe-cially challenging, and, for an Eng-lish major splitting his timebetween literature, creative writing,and philosophy classes, the paperswere inescapable. Josh remaineddedicated to his goals, though.In the following spring semester,

Gary Lawrence, a creative writingteacher, off-handedly mentionedtaking his class for Honors, aproposition that intrigued Josh. Hethen met with the Honors Chair,Mary Coyle, who assisted in en-rolling Josh in the Cochise CollegeHonors Program.His world was about to change.

Doors he didn’t know existed weregoing to open. He was introducedto the Writing Lab on the SierraVista campus, where he went towork as a tutor. He joined the PhiTheta Kappa Honors Society. Hisdedication to his schoolworkearned him the Cochise CollegeHonors Program Distinction andthe All Arizona Academic Scholar-ship, a full ride to any state schoolin Arizona. The rest of his sopho-more year was a blur of challengeand fulfillment. Josh knew that if heput in the work, he would see therewards through the Honors Pro-gram.His tremendous effort paid off

when he was admitted to Barrett,The Honors College at ArizonaState University. The college is aschool located within ASU, com-plete with student services, likedorms and classrooms, specificallyfor its students. It even boasts thehighest number of National MeritScholars in the country.The real challenge has just begun.

Josh is still studying literature. His

professors are helping him everystep of the way. “Feedback I’ve re-ceived from my professors has defi-nitely been helpful to tighten up mywriting, helping me to see thingsfrom a different perspective andsharpen my analysis of a givenwork,” Josh said. He recently sub-mitted his prospectus, an outlinefor his Honors thesis, which he willpresent next year. The project is astudy of American war veteran au-thors and how they write abouttheir experiences in various con-flicts. He plans to spend all his freetime, “reading so, so, so manybooks, looking up poems, scaveng-ing for interviews, and diggingaround for articles.”

HONORS ALUMNUS

PROFILEJosh Novinger

In addition to its academic rigor,the Cochise College HonorsProgram encourages interest in

different cultures. In the summer of2019, Honors student and HonorsProgram Distinction graduateQuinton Willis experienced a dif-ferent culture when he traveled toJapan. There he gained firsthandexperience of a new culture and anincredibly unique language, Shuwa,Japanese sign language.Quinton has been an ASL student

for a few semesters now. Althoughhe was uninterested in the classes atfirst, they quickly grew on him. Hebecame genuinely interested inDeaf culture. Under the guidance ofASL instructor Jesse Smith, Quin-ton developed an appreciation ofthe language and the people whospeak it. An opportunity to utilizehis appreciation of language arosewhen a friend invited Quinton toJapan.Quinton intends to be a youth

pastor in Japan, and so he jumpedat the opportunity to visit thecountry. Although an Associate de-gree in English and a planned de-gree in education will be helpfulin his ministry, nothing is better

than experience with the people hewants to serve. A week before hisdeparture, Quinton learned that thechurch he’d be staying near had agrowing Deaf ministry. He also dis-cussed doing an Honors projectwith Jesse Smith, who providedhim with an opportunity to do re-search and share it with his class.Although he spoke a little Japan-

ese before the trip, it was nowherenear enough to be conversationalwith the members of the church.He knew a little bit of their lan-guage, and they only knew a littlebit of his. It was actually his love ofASL that opened the door to com-municate with his new friends.Using his understanding of ASLand Japanese, Quinton began learn-ing Shuwa, the Japanese sign lan-guage.Quinton said, “Going in, I already

knew the signs weren’t going to bethe same. Almost every languagehas its own signs. Even British signlanguage is different than ours.

What I didn’t know, how-ever, is what other differ-

ences there

are between ASL and Shuwa. Morespecifically, how the Deaf culturesees itself.” He discovered that deaf-ness in Japan is often an essentialaspect of individual identity. Forexample, someone born deaf wouldidentify themselves as Deaf beforeidentifying themselves as Japanese.Although the whole trip was

memorable for Quinton, his fa-vorite part came towards the end ofhis stay. After a late night at thechurch’s youth group, he helpedwith the cleanup. As he sat with theothers disinfecting the children’stoys, he exchanged signs with someof the members of the church. Inrecounting his adventure to hisfriends back home, he said, “I amnot an expert on Shuwa, nor was Iexposed to every aspect of their cul-ture. It was eye-opening, though.”The Cochise College Honors Pro-

gram gave Quinton a platform toshare his experience and use it tofurther his academic career. Moreimportantly, it instilled the intellec-tual curiosity that led Quinton tobegin learning two foreign lan-

guages, Shuwaand Japanese,and use themto communi-cate across cul-

tures.

HONORS GOES OVERSEASQuinton Willis

Jose AgueroCasmir AnyanwaCandice Bennet

Maricarmen BreazealeBrooke Broomfield

Alize DaviesDana DeWeberMatthew DickyEdward Doench*Christian EasonRachel Flor

Caitlyn Fuller*Kira Gee

Heather GijantoIsis GijzenbergNoa GijzenbergLisa Goodman

Christianna Hursh

Because we were unable to hold our annual Honors Colloquium this year, and students were unable topresent in a university setting as they customarily do during the spring semester, the community missed out

on some great presentations. Below is one of the projects that would have been presented at HonorsColloquium and was accepted for presentation at Northern Arizona University’s 2020 Undergraduate

Research Symposium.

The Flawed Hero Across CulturesHonors Presentation Proposal

By Julian Olsen for ENG 260, Irish Literature, Spring 2020

This presentation is a survey of comparative mythology and folklore through the lens of archetypal heroes. It willexplore the concept of the flawed hero, a figure who embodies the conflict between personal desires and the

duties and obligations pertaining to the larger culture. These archetypes developed separately at different pointsin history, yet they reflect similar themes. This will be referred to as the Cú Chulainn Archetype as reflected inOld Irish Literature/Celtic Mythology. Beginning with an evaluation of the Irish/Celtic hero Cú Chulainn, whodesired to prove himself on the battlefield for glory despite his renowned superhuman strength, the presentationwill establish the pattern for the Cú Chulainn Archetype as seen in many heroes, including those from Greek,Hindu, and Chinese mythology/folklore. In Greek mythology, the Cú Chulainn Archetype is seen in the heroAchilles. His choice in the Iliad is between living to old age in obscurity or dying gloriously as a young man.

Next, Karna in Hindu mythology fulfills the Cú Chulainn Archetype. In the Mahabharata, Karna remains loyal tothose who adopted him instead of following the path of Krishna's righteousness. Lastly, Yue Fei represents theelements of the Cú Chulainn Archetype in Chinese legend/folklore. The Chinese general remained loyal to acorrupt and dying dynasty, despite his friendships with members of the invading forces. The presentation will

conclude with an exploration of the Cú Chulainn Archetype in contemporary society.

Esteban Jasso*Barbara JordanMelissa KaplanChristi KitcheyanJesalen Luna

Anthony MartinezJonathan McCallKayla McNallyJay Melzer*

Vernon MooreCrystal NewhopeRuth O’DonogueJulian Olsen*Allan Ortiz

Miranda PenaKatherine PolakowskiAlexandria RoarkVivian Savarese

Daniel SharmaVirginia StiemertKatherine Taylor*Lydia TiebergRebekah TilleyKaitlyn Tyler*

Melissa VillanuevaSarah WhippleLarry White

Tabitha WhitledgeTomecka WilliamsonQuinton Willis*Dakota Wood

Flame Yarbrough

*Completed 16-credit Honors Distinction

HONORS STUDENTS2019 - 2020 Academic Year