X-Honours: Are you ready to explore?
What is X-Honours?
X-Honours is an extracurricular program from NHL Stenden for students who are open-minded, curious, and want to go the extra mile.
In our weekly meetings in the X-Lab on Wednesday afternoons, we offer inspirational sessions with professional guest speakers, and develop problem solving strategies in form of workshops.
More and more, the programme is being led by X-Honours students who want to share their passion and experience. The program itself is based on five pillars which are the following
The five pillars
“Acquire self-knowledge, set the direction, and create impact”
Students work talent-oriented and are inquisitive as well as interested. They are reflective professionals who are aware of their strengths and weaknesses as well as their position in their learning process. Feedback from others is regularly solicited and implemented according to self-set development goals and objectives. These objectives reflect inner values and drives which are adjusted when necessary.
“Recognize, seize, and create opportunities”
Students turn ideas into actions and products, can win people over and convince them of their ideas. They show initiative and are flexible and service-oriented without being afraid to step out of their comfort zone. Creating opportunities by nurturing one´s own network, not being afraid to take risks and just trying doing something new is a constant process which doesn´t stop after just one project.
“Work in different subject areas and learn with and from others”
Students work in a multidisciplinary manner which means that they collaborate with other students and professionals to reach a shared goal. They approach complex issues and perform research based on various specializations (e.g., IT, design, creative writing), while being open and inquisitive about other subject areas. Multidisciplinary students have gained new insights and skills in subject matters outside their initial study program.
“Create new solutions”
Students look beyond personal (& national) boundaries and create links that may not be obvious at first glance. They come up with new and surprising solutions for complex issues by using their creativity as well as by thinking outside the box. Still, they are able to argue how they came up with these solutions by critically analysing the steps they took.
“Act in accordance with your values and create impact”
Students identify the added values of the professional field and society in their surroundings or elsewhere in the world. They have a strong moral compass that sets the course for their actions (linking to personal leadership). Values and drives can be identified, explained and discussed respectfully with others regarding how and why they contribute to society.
Lastly, students have one free pillar to develop and formulate objectives for themselves.
Our student's projects
As an X-Honours student, you can work on many different projects. They can either be from the program itself, from your studies, or you can come up with your own.
The website you are looking at now is one of those student-initiated projects. Students and coaches with different expertises have worked together on creating content, and are constantly improving the website. This is a great example of the projects we do at X-Honours. There is no pressure to join a project, but if you are interested, you are very welcome to join all kinds of projects. The following projects are some more examples of great initiatives (see the Wall of Honours).
If you would like to see more, click the button below or check out the Bulletin (X-)Board in the X-Lab.
The X-Honours Website
Bike Buddy: Get on your bike!
At the beginning of the year, we decided to raise awareness about X-Honours, and decided to approach the idea of a website again.
The current team is really diverse, and everybody contributes with their knowledge and ideas. If you want to find out more about who is in ‘the team’ you can check out made by students, or just click the button down below.
As the title of this article suggests, the Bike Buddy project is an initiative to get more people on their bikes. For Stefan and many other people who helped, it was a great challenge to achieve. This project has been part of our X-Honours program for over a year now, and the path we’ve taken had many ups and downs, and offered great opportunities.
