Students give their departmental honors presentations in person for the first time in two years

The Christine P. Tischer Scholars Departmental Honors presentations were held on Friday, April 15, in Rosenstock Hall.

During the opening session, Shannon Kundey and Lisa Marcus, co-directors of the honors program, talked about what the departmental honors program is and why it’s important to the college. Kundey said that this was the first time in two years that the honors presentations were done in person and not on Zoom.

Students in the program complete research on a topic of their choice over two semesters, earning six credits, and then present their project at the end of the spring semester.

Andrea Chapdelaine, president of Hood College, said, “The students learned so many important things, such as time management, working well with others, and learning to overcome setbacks they come across during their research.”

After the introduction was over, the audience filed out of the auditorium to watch the students do their presentations in the classrooms of Rosenstock on the first and second floors.

The 13 presenting students’ research topics covered a wide variety. Kelsey Bird’s presentation was titled “Expanding Outdoor and Environmental Education Programs in Public Schools,” while Armoni Jackson’s was “Studies on the Cellulase Inhibition by Phenols from Hydrothermally Pretreated Soybean Wastes.”

Director of Global Studies Paige Eager introduced Maryam Iftikhar and talked about her various accomplishments. 

“What makes a great research paper is exploring topics that they want to do their own research on outside of their classes,” Eager said before Iftikhar’s presentation.

Iftikhar’s presentation was titled “Exploring the Legal Parameters of the Crime of Genocide and Analyzing the Efficacy of the Application of the Genocide Convention.” She explored topics and definitions of genocide, ethnic cleansing and intent.

Iftikhar used the example of the Holocaust to show her audience how the USA, USSR, Germany, and France responded. She did her case studies on the Cambodian, Bosnian and Tutsi genocides.

The presentations were followed by a reception hosted in Whitaker Campus Commons. There, the audience could ask the students involved questions about their presentations and celebrate their hard work and research.