On Sunday, 459 new honors students gathered to meet and greet with their new mentors.

Every year, there is an event hosted so that new First-Year Honors students can meet with their mentors, who are either sophomores or juniors.

Emily Wilcox, the program coordinator, said it is a transitional program for incoming honors students.

“What Honors is, it kind of feels like a small liberal arts college, inside a larger university: You’re still at Iowa State with all the benefits of a large school, but you get that small school feel,” she said. “You can take smaller honors classes and you’re part of a community of scholars, so it really gives students a smaller experience at Iowa State.”

The goal of the program is to give the students a complete experience and a complete welcome to Iowa State, Wilcox said.

“We’re going to help them academically, socially and leadershipwise.”

Arianna Bohning, freshman honors student in music, thinks the program will be very helpful in more ways than one.

“It will really benefit me with the smaller class sizes. I think we will get more individual attention and it’s kind of like a smaller family on this huge campus,” she said.

“The mentors will kind of be like a big brother or sister. We can ask them questions; whether it’s homework, first-year honors or even social things. It’ll just be really nice to have someone here, especially when you’re new and don’t really know anything.”

Freshman Nolan Dickson added that learning with other people who are fixed toward the same thing as you will also be good.

“I think the Honors Program provides an interface and lets you meet people who are all academically geared in some way or another, so it’s really just a community opportunity for people who have high priority in academics,” Dickson said.

Nick Doss is returning to the program as a sophomore, but in a different position. Doss is a co-leader of a group of about 13 new freshmen. He feels lucky to have had this opportunity last year coming in as a new Honors student.

“Coming in as a freshman, it’s kind of hard to find your way around; it’s tough to fit in,” Doss said. “Being in Honors, I was lucky to have an opportunity like this, because any kid could use this opportunity.”

Each group has about 12-15 students, each led by two leaders, said Justin Miller, a junior undergrad assistant for the program.

The sophomore and junior leaders were trained by going to activities and lectures on how to facilitate the class. The leaders will mentor the First-Year Honors students this semester.