How Do You Know What You Know? The Honors Retreat Experience

The morning sun cast long shadows across the Hardin-Simmons University campus as Karli Bauer, a senior art major from Mason, Texas, readied herself for the 2025 Honors Retreat. As Honors Council president, she and her fellow council members had been preparing for this weekend since the summer, working closely together to ensure everything would go smoothly.

At 9:00 a.m. sharp, 38 students climbed into vehicles bound for Solid Rock Camps in Eastland, Texas, carrying overnight bags and the question emblazoned on their matching shirts: “How do you know what you know?”

“This is always the first essay topic in the freshmen’s first honors course,” Bauer explained. “The essay has sort of become a key part of the program, and the older students definitely remember it. I think this is fitting because it summarizes the topic of challenging our thinking and going beyond surface level on certain topics.”

With 37 new freshmen honor students this year, 24 made the trip to Eastland. Spanning majors from nursing to computer science, these first-year students joined 14 council members representing programs across campus. Together, the group embodied the breadth and energy of the Honors Program.

As the group arrived, the camp quickly came alive with activity. Get-to-know-you games broke down barriers, painting sessions revealed hidden creativity, and the swimming pool echoed with laughter. Evening campfires brought the sweet aroma of s’mores and the even sweeter sound of new friendships forming.

“The most valuable thing to take away from the experience of retreat is community,” Bauer said. “Freshmen get to spend time with council members who become mentors, while also building friendships with classmates who will walk alongside them for the next four years.”

Beyond the friendships formed, the Honors Program challenges students to think critically and engage deeply across disciplines. Small, discussion-driven classes and faculty mentorship push students to wrestle with complex questions and prepare for graduate study and professional success.

That spirit of community shone brightest during the retreat’s awards ceremony. After competing in games and creative challenges, freshmen presented skits, chants, and even a caricature of the program director that had everyone laughing.

“It’s really great to see the freshmen get competitive and work with each other,” Bauer said. “It also gets to show off their personalities, and they get to use some humor to do things like draw a group portrait of our director. The council members are always very proud of them for giving it their all and being so creative.”

Planning for the weekend retreat began in the summer with council leadership meetings, when Bauer worked with her vice president and secretary to lay the groundwork. Once the semester began, council members each took on responsibilities — from picking up breakfast to leading a team station.

“We really try to use everyone’s strengths,” Bauer said. “For example, our designer Emma Owens made our T-shirt designs and came up with the prize idea.”

On Sunday morning, students gathered by the water for a worship service that closed the retreat in a spirit of gratitude. Together, they sang, prayed, and listened to words of encouragement from their director.

“I think this was the perfect way to end the retreat,” Bauer said. “We were close to the water, all together, and you could really feel God’s presence moving through the program.”

For Bauer, the retreat was both a capstone and a beginning. Now in her final semester, she reflected on what the program has meant to her.

“The Honors Program exposes you to multiple viewpoints and really creates a community environment,” she said. “We have several foreign exchange students in our program, and almost everyone comes from a different background or hometown. I’ve grown so much by hearing perspectives from classmates of different cultures and hometowns.”

Her hope as president is to leave the council in a strong position for the future.

“I want to be a reliable figure in the program and set the leadership team up well for next year,” Bauer said. “I also think it’s great to try some new things out and see what works and what doesn’t. I think it is a great year to be a little spontaneous, since we have a completely new leadership team and director.”

As the group headed back to campus, freshmen who had started the weekend as strangers now shared inside jokes, phone numbers, and the beginnings of lasting friendships. What they carried back was more than memories of s’mores and competitions. They carried a deeper understanding of community, of challenge, and of what it means to belong to the HSU Honors family.

In the end, the retreat’s guiding question — “How do you know what you know?” — was answered not through lectures or essays, but through experience. They knew because they lived it: through connection, discovery, and the courage to keep asking questions.