KENNESAW, Ga. | Jan 7, 2026

Along with having been born minutes apart, triplet sisters Angela, Benita, and Jessica Okafor share another commonality – all three are excelling as Honors students at Kennesaw State University.

However, the Okafor trio are taking vastly different academic paths as students in the Keeping Sights Upward (KSU) Journey Honors College. Jessica is pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management, Angela a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Animation, and Benita a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, with each eyeing a May 2026 graduation.

“We saw that KSU had everything we had an interest in, and when we did the tours, the open house, the orientation, I was blown away by how beautiful the school was,” Jessica said. “I saw my future in just a few seconds.”

Now seniors, the Okafors are thriving in their degree programs in three different KSU academic colleges, enhanced by their experiences as Honors students. The Honors College has challenged them with rigorous curriculum, while also providing a sense of community.

“I think the Honors College emphasizes the growth of a student,” Benita said. “It wants their students to succeed and be mindful of their success.”

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, KSU’s Honors College is reflecting on its success while looking ahead to an even more impactful future. Advancing the Honors program is one of the stated goals of the University’s strategic plan to achieve national prominence for academic excellence, innovative research, community partnerships, and economic opportunity.

“The Keeping Sights Upward Journey Honors College isn’t just preparing students for the future – we’re empowering them to shape it,” Dean Karen Kornweibel said. “And as they rise, so does Kennesaw State.”

Continued Growth

The Honors College was formed in 2015 when Kennesaw State and Southern Polytechnic State University consolidated, bringing together the two institutions’ programs. Ralph Rascati was named the college’s founding dean. Rita Bailey became the dean in 2016, bringing with her a successful Honors model that she had established at Illinois State University. Unlike Honors programs that require students to take a prescribed set of courses, KSU enables students to customize their Honors experience to their interests, major, and career goals.

For example, students can study abroad at KSU’s education site in Montepulciano, Italy, or delve into classic literature in the Ancient and Modern Classics cohort. Another Honors cohort is President’s Emerging Global Scholars (PEGS), which challenges students to grow as scholars and leaders through coursework and community involvement.

Students also can venture outside of their regular curriculum and take Honors Discovery courses, which are short-term learning experiences focused on unique topics and often integrating current events or popular culture.

“I’m grateful to Dr. Bailey for having built that uniqueness into the Honors College’s foundation,” Kornweibel said. “I want to be known for the quality of the experiences that our students have.”

Along the way, the Honors College has been supported by generous donors, most notably Atlanta philanthropists who pledged the then-largest gift from a single donor in KSU’s history. That gift was leveraged into individual matching gifts and coupled with the KSU Foundation’s support to produce $25 million in Honors Scholarship Endowments.

One of those matches supported the Wellstar-Tom and Betty Phillips Elite Honors Nursing Scholars, which had its first graduates last spring. The program provides scholarships and conditional freshman year acceptance into KSU’s Wellstar School of Nursing to highly qualified students who then are involved in nursing-focused research projects in addition to their coursework.

The nursing cohort was part of the Honors College’s 331 graduates in 2025, setting a new high. Honors student enrollment has increased from 1,691 to more than 2,600 in Kornweibel’s three years as dean, with a target of 3,800 by 2027.

Creating More Opportunities

Enrollment growth is just part of the story, though. Building on KSU’s existing Honors model, Kornweibel and her leadership team set out to develop three core identities within each Honors student: lifelong learners, collaborative leaders, and civic-minded scholars. Students are encouraged to take on leadership roles and serve others on or off campus so they can see themselves as part of a larger community, with a responsibility to contribute meaningfully.

Also, an increasing number of Kennesaw State students are applying for prestigious awards such as Goldwater and Fulbright scholarships, because that process has now been built into the Honors curriculum. Within Honors core courses, the Office of Prestigious Undergraduate Awards (OPUA) guides students in setting goals, crafting personal statements and resumes, and going through the entire process of applying for esteemed scholarships.

Most importantly, while the OPUA is housed in the Honors College, the assistance it offers in applying for prestigious awards is available to all KSU undergraduate students as well as alumni.

“Sometimes students might not pursue awards – not because they lack ability, but because they don’t believe ‘prestigious awards’ are meant for them,” said Jamie Elliott, associate dean in the KSU Journey Honors College. “We are creating a cultural shift where more students recognize their potential to pursue prestigious awards and understand that KSU offers a strong ecosystem designed to support their success.”

The results have been eye-popping. Applications for external awards by KSU undergraduates grew eleven-fold in one year, from 46 in the 2023-24 academic year to 529 in 2024-25.

The OPUA’s efforts will build on the success of Kennesaw State students having earned 13 Fulbright awards, six Goldwater Scholarships, and 65 Gilman International Scholarships over the past decade. That includes three recent awards – junior Siam Sarower earned a Goldwater Scholarship to continue his study of condensed matter physics, while alumni Bon Varlet ‘25 and AKeera Ford ‘24 received Fulbright awards to pursue master’s degrees at European universities.

“These achievements reflect the excellence of KSU students, the dedication of KSU faculty and staff, the vision of our leadership, and the momentum the University is building on the national stage,” Kornweibel said.

Honors and Research

Sarower and the Phillips Elite Honors Nursing Scholars are among the numerous Honors students taking advantage of an opportunity that sets Kennesaw State apart from many other universities – undergraduate students being able to participate in hands-on research.

“Our Honors students and other high-achieving undergraduates are helping to fuel the research enterprise at Kennesaw State University,” Kornweibel said. “One of KSU’s greatest strengths—and a key point I share when recruiting Honors students—is the opportunity for undergraduates to engage in meaningful faculty-led research as early as their first year.”

Honors graduate Maya Patel ’25 was part of a student team that conducted research to help develop an app to encourage younger people to donate blood. It was just one of the experiences Patel packed into her KSU career, earning her biology degree in three years while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average.

Patel served as an Honors College ambassador and a member of Kornweibel’s advisory committee. She also founded two student clubs and joined the inaugural cohort of the Kennesaw Excellence Society, a community of student leaders, while at times working two jobs.

Through her academic success, leadership roles, and research endeavors, Patel epitomizes the type of well-rounded student the KSU Journey Honors College strives to help develop.

“College is what you make it, and KSU has so many opportunities to create your own unique experience,” Patel said. “I really am thankful for the University and for it giving me everything I wanted and more.”

This article also appears in the current issue of Summit Magazine.

– Story by Paul Floeckher

Photo by Matt Yung

A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees to its more than 51,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The university's vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties, and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 8 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.