By Michaiah Varnes and Charles Baynum//
Hood College hosted its annual SPIRE Symposium and Departmental Honors Program on April 21, celebrating student and faculty accomplishments in research, art and innovation.
About 100 students and faculty presented their work in poster sessions and lectures. In the afternoon, 20 students showed off departmental honors research.
Casey Chamberlin, a Hood College senior, presented her research on school-related anxiety levels of first-generation college students. Chamberlin noted that first-generation students typically have lower GPAs and dropout rates. She found that problems can arise due to a lack of parental guidance, difficulty in finding resources and not feeling like they belong. These problems, in turn, affect graduation rates.
The participants in her study were 18 years of age or older and first-year students at Hood College who participated in first-year seminars and attended orientation.
Diamond Moffitt Colbert, a freshman at Hood said, “I think the presentation was cool. Most definitely can relate to having test anxiety.”
Hood College student Sara Munson presented a data analysis project titled “Modeling the Game of Softball Using Excel” in which she applied quantitative methods to evaluate and predict scoring outcomes in collegiate softball.
Her work used Microsoft Excel to organize and interpret statistical data from the Women’s College World Series, with the objective of modeling opponent scoring with measurable accuracy.
Munson detailed the sequential methodology of her project, beginning with data collection and progressing through the interpretation of trends and outcomes. By compiling in-game statistics and running analyses within Excel, she was able to produce scoring predictions with a margin of error averaging approximately 1.5 runs. Her findings demonstrated the potential of spreadsheet software as a tool for performance forecasting in competitive athletics.
Despite the success of her model, Munson acknowledged limitations inherent to the method. Specifically, she noted Excel’s inability to account for non-quantifiable factors such as player errors and situational mishaps, which can significantly influence game results.
The project illustrates the increasing relevance of data modeling in sports analysis and reinforces the utility of accessible software platforms in producing reliable statistical evaluations, she said.
Be the first to comment