There comes a time in all Honors students’ lives when they must buckle down and embark on a special coming-of-age journey: the Senior Honors Thesis. As a junior, I’m currently taking the Pre-Honors Thesis class—a course designed specifically to help you understand what a thesis is, and start planning, organizing, and working on your thesis.
The Thesis
The Senior Honors Thesis fulfills the capstone requirements for Honors students—it is a massive project that includes some form of research, a “creative” activity, an oral presentation, and a final paper (or product). Sound vague? Yeah, that’s because you can pretty much do anything; many students choose to do a research paper on lab work they’ve completed, others choose more artistic and creative projects—such as creating and implementing an after-school science program for kids. Whatever you choose to do for your thesis, it is a huge time commitment and in the end a huge accomplishment. Basically, it’s a lot of work but rewarding in the end because you have the chance to work on something you’re passionate about. 
My Thesis
I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do for my Honors Thesis. I had a couple of loose ideas—dance therapy for people with Parkinson’s, animal therapy—but no definitive topic. So I set out looking for an adviser with similar interests; I came across Dr. Lori Kogan (Clinical Sciences Department) and the first time we met I knew I wanted to work with her. She had several ideas for thesis topics, and we finally found one that both of us were passionate about.
Drum Roll, Please…
For my senior Honors thesis I am going to visit animal shelters, veterinary clinics, and senior care facilities to distribute information about 2nd Chance—an organization that informs and assists humans in planning for their pets in case of disability, death, or other emergency situations. In other words, there are many life events that can take away the ability of a person to care for their pets—often times these pets go to animal shelters and are eventually euthanized. My thesis will implement a support system in the Fort Collins community so people have the ability to plan for their pets in case of emergency, and fewer pets will end up in shelters simply because they have no one to care for them.
Here are my beloved pets (I know you guys secretly can’t get enough of the pictures of them):
Ben:
Elouise: 
I anticipate a boatload of work to come next semester—with 17 credits, volunteering 5 hours a week, working for MyCSU, starting my thesis, and taking the GRE, I’m in for a crazy semester—but I’m really excited about most of it (not so much the 17 credits part, but that’s just a part of life). Oh, and I’m working on choosing grad schools to apply to—more about this soon!
Question of the Day:
Do you like being busy?
I think I actually kind of thrive on being over-the-top busy. In high school, I was part of a dance company that took up anywhere from 12-20 hours a week of my time. So I’m used to being crazy busy—I would rather have a lot of things to do than nothing. I also have a lot of energy, so being busy is just a way for me to burn off my energy. But I love those cozy afternoons when I can cuddle up in my new desk chair (awesome!) and read for a couple of hours.