In 1986, Paul Friedman and Reva Jenkins-Friedman introduced "Fostering Academic Excellence through Honors Programs" by warning readers that "One might assume that the brightest college undergraduates feel well served during their years on campus and that procedures for educating them are common knowledge." The research on the importance of honors programs has escalated dramatically, both at the four-year level and more recently at the two-year level. Such a conversation emerged at the author's own two-year campus, where a small group of faculty argued during discussions of implementing an honors program that they challenge their students sufficiently without assigning additional projects. The aim of this article, then, is to present the various perspectives about honors work among the author's seven first- and second-year students as they proposed and reflected on completing their independent, open-ended projects in British Literature I or British Literature II between fall 2010 and spring 2012. Many teaching scholars encourage teachers to participate in discussions about self-directed learning, particularly to help them better understand the processes by which students take primary responsibility for the acquisition and utilization of knowledge. (Contains 2 figures.)