CVCU Honors Institute

CVCU HONORS INSTITUTE

Welcome to the Honors Institute at Chula Vista Christian University!

CVCU's Honors Institute was established as a university outreach to 9th to 12th grade Christian homeschoolers. As a lifelong homeschooling parent, CVCU President Dr. Lisa Dunne understands the need for quality homeschooling programming in the high school years. The Honors Institute offers both on-ground and pod-based distance learning opportunities that range from Career Training electives to general education to college preparatory skills. Students in remote groups meet in small group formats at their location of choice, joining the in-person pod in a dynamic, live, synchronous classroom environment.

Educational Methodology

From high school to college instruction, CVCU utilizes inquiry-based (aka Socratic) methodology, which puts the bulk of the ownership for study, reflection, discussion, and learning on the student. The professor is a “guide on the side,” rather than a “sage on the stage,” a coach who helps students develop a drive for self-directed learning. In a knowledge-based economy, successful students must learn how to think, where to find information, and how to process current events through a biblical worldview. If we teach students only what to think, and not how to think, then they will not develop the critical thinking skills needed to address the significant challenges in their future career fields. Today’s complex issues require multifaceted solutions. CVCU desires to train up out-of-the-box thinkers who can interpret global challenges through a well-trained mind and a biblical worldview.

Course Objectives and Pricing Structure

SPRING 2022 Honors Course

Intro to Speech and Debate
Thursdays from 1:00 to 2:15 pm

Instructor: National Debate Champion Tristan Teng and CVCU Professor David Baldwin

Cost: $120/month

Course Description: Whether you are an inspiring competitor in the speech and debate arena, or whether you simply want to break out of your speaking shell, this course is designed to provide the foundations you need to succeed in a speech-driven world. Learn the basics of organization, delivery, projection, stage presence, and speech writing in this unique, lab-driven 15-week course.

High School Credit: 3 units

Register for classes now! Complete our web form and let us know your classes of interest, and a friendly enrollment assistant will reach out to you for registration details. Classes run January 20 to May 4.

About Chula Vista Christian University

Chula Vista Christian University is a forward-thinking, Bible-based, four-year university that trains students for influence and excellence in the marketplace. CVCU offers accelerated, hybridized BA and BS degree programs in nursing, computer science, history/political science, communication, entrepreneurship, mechanical engineering, business, pre-medicine, and educational methodology. CVCU’s mission is to utilize intentional mentorship, rigorous reading, and career-driven internships to equip scholars and visionaries who will advance the Kingdom, strengthen the community, and lead with excellence in the home, the church, and the marketplace.

CVCU educational format is built on the capstones of coaching and mentoring ideologies that are embedded in the “flipped classroom model,” self-directed learning, andragogical (adult learning) applications, and the parent-directed (homeschool) education movement. Through their experience at CVCU, students gain a career-focused, mentor-modeled, well-rounded education that prepares them to be Christian workers, visionaries, and engaged citizens of the modern world.

CVCU’s Classroom Format and Learning Outcomes

Program Format: CVCU is mentor-driven, faith-based, and debt-free. CVCU’s methodology is built upon a foundation of historic writings that have shaped human understanding across multiple disciplines and cultures. The program structure begins with a cohort of learners and is shaped by an interdisciplinary focus that challenges students to connect classroom learning with real world issues. A problem-based learning approach is utilized to encourage each cohort to establish community-based projects of service and ministry. By nurturing a collaborative learning community together with faculty mentors, the church, and family as “supportive scaffolding,” to use Lev Vygotsky’s term, the program design is intended to foster transformative learning and encourage excellence in students as developing scholars.

CVCU's Program Outcomes

CVCU takes a holistic approach to education that includes establishing an ongoing learning community outside of the classroom that will work together to blend theory and practice while mastering the principal elements of the disciplines that are foundational to a liberal arts education that is grounded in a biblical Christian worldview. Learning methodologies in the program focus on collaboration while allowing for individuation in student expression. In a curriculum structured around the dynamic voices of global cultures, students engage in research pursuits, explore a variety of leadership opportunities, and impact the wider community through service and ministry in their local church, their local communities, and across the world.

Student Learning Outcomes

Through rigorous coursework, CVCU students will develop the critical thinking skills that will help them solve multifaceted community and world issues.

Through career-driven internships, CVCU students will gain practical, hands-on experience and on-the-job training for their chosen career field.
Through authentic conversations in a dialogue-based learning model, CVCU students will develop greater levels of emotional intelligence that will guide them in thinking, speaking, and acting from a place of not only intellectual authority but also emotional maturity.
Through faculty mentorships and whole-person development, CVCU students will enlarge their understanding of academia in a way that gives greater meaning and purpose to career, family, church, and marketplace.
Through Socratic discussions in multidisciplinary environments, CVCU students will develop professional written and oral communication skills as well as a greater awareness of the ethical concerns facing the modern world from a broad view rather than a myopic, subject-limited viewpoint.
Through commitment to and regular service within the local church, CVCU students will develop habits of service and compassion that will impact their communities with innovative ideas for service, evangelism, personal discipleship, and local and global missions.
Through multidisciplinary studies, readings, and discussions, CVCU students will develop a well-rounded sense of liberal arts, their academic discipline, and their own unique calling in the world.

CVCU's Institutional Learning Outcomes

CVCU will equip scholars and visionaries who will advance the Kingdom, strengthen the community, and lead with excellence in the home, the church, and the marketplace.
CVCU will utilize primary texts, rich discourse, and faculty mentorship to develop students in the achievement of academic and personal disciplines that create strong foundations of personal and national leadership.
CVCU will help students develop the spiritual disciplines necessary to serve God and hold to the truth of his word in an increasingly pluralistic culture.
CVCU will equip students with a firm foundation that awakens them to the choices and sacrificial impact of historical leaders, motivating them to follow in the footsteps of those who established the US as the land of the free because of the brave.
CVCU will model in reading, discussion, and action the academic excellence inherent in those who study to show themselves approved, rightly dividing the word of truth.
CVCU will model effective and persuasive communication strategies that will strengthen students’ skills in apologetics and biblical science so that they may provide godly council for those who have been miseducated in the way of truth.
CVCU will train undergraduate college students for service to God, country, and one another, building a legacy of culture shapers who will impact the world for the kingdom in their respective careers, families, and ministries.