By recruiting students through orientation and registration, the university honors program has grown by 200 students since last year.

A reason for the high enrollment, program director Michael Martin said, is because the program directors recruit students through orientation and registration.

The program provides academic enrichment to intellectually advanced students, he said.

“By offering smaller classes with more professors as instructors instead of teaching assistants, honors students are able to get the individual attention they need,” said Erin Thompson, a sophomore vocal performance major.

Classes are more discussion based, requiring students to think more and interact with the professor instead of being lectured to for an hour or more, Thompson said.

The university honors program offers external as well as intrinsic rewards.

“By being in the program, I gained a … greater respect for working hard,” said Rebecca Edwards, a sophomore music education major.

The program offers honors housing in Douglas Hall’s C-wing. Aside from the opportunity to live with other honors students, each lounge offers computers and a color printer. The basement’s large lounge includes a part-time adviser and a game room complete with a pool table, dart boards and a large-screen television.

An incentive for freshmen to join the program is a weekend retreat at Lorado Taft, which is fun as well as educational, junior sociology major Denise Fry said.

“I met a lot of friends through the retreat by doing team-building exercises,” Fry said. “I learned about campus, developing leadership skills and about the importance of organization.”

Although the perks are plentiful, gaining admittance to the honors program is not an easy task.

Incoming freshmen are required to be in the upper 10 percent of their class and have a 27 on the ACT to be accepted in the honors program.

Freshmen who don’t meet both of the requirements will be let in on a provisional basis, Martin said.

Upperclassmen students are required to have a cumulative 3.2 grade point average.