Sapere aude
The Florida Aquarium offered a refreshing, escape from busy campus life, inviting students of the Honors Program to explore the wonders of marine life! Students met in the beautiful Plant Park of the University, and took a group trolley ride downtown. Once at the aquarium, students could wander among colorful exhibits, from schools of fish to large sharks. This off campus excursion left everyone feeling inspired, recharged, and a little more connected to the ocean world.
The Honors Silent Book Club offered a perfect, low-key escape from demanding studies, inviting students to bring any book they wanted or needed to read—from required texts to personal favorites—to the Grand Starbucks. The event was structured to provide both community and focus: participants started by chatting and networking with fellow Honors readers (and grabbing an optional beverage), then a bell signaled a crucial 30 minutes of uninterrupted, silent reading time. Finally, a second bell rang to signal the end, allowing readers to either stay and discuss their book or simply head off to resume their day feeling refreshed. This format proved to be a great way to take a real break, meet new people, and ensure everyone made time for reading in peace!
On September 19, 2025, the University of Tampa hosted Georgetown professor Nathan K. Hensley as part of its Utampa Honors Symposium. Hensley’s lecture, “Thought and Art in a Burning World: So What?”, drew upon his freshly published book, Action Without Hope: Victorian Literature after Climate Collapse, to consider what Victorian literature has to teach us in an era when the climate crisis feels not only global, but existential. Hensley drew upon a variety of Victorian texts and artwork, like Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, to show how this “action without expectation” works in practice.