Students will pretend to fill the role of Supreme Court justices, “campaign” for a political candidate or investigate who first discovered America during honors government or history courses this fall at College of the Mainland.

Students who complete the new courses Honors Federal Government and Honors U.S. History 1301 will challenge themselves to delve deeper into subjects and receive honors designations on their course transcripts.

U.S. History will discuss America’s beginnings, the first colonists, the American Revolution and the Civil War.

“To take the course, students just need a willingness to be challenged more. History not only is a look not only into the past but also the future,” said Dr. Cody Smith, who teaches honors U.S. history. “Students will read more books, and we will have more roundtable discussions comparing them and talking about students’ perspectives. I want to introduce them to issues that aren’t black and white."

Through media review and group projects, honors government students will dig into elections, the Supreme Court, politics and bias.

“The subject matter covered will be the same as in a regular government class, but students will be able to explore the subject more deeply through additional projects, papers, presentations or other group work,” said Dr. Samuel Layton, honors government professor.

If students complete honors courses and meet additional requirements (such as community service), they can be recognized as a COM scholar at graduation. Drager Landry graduated as the first COM scholar in spring 2016.

For more information, visit www.com.edu/register or email slayton@com.edu or csmith55@com.edu.