Crucial to the J. N. Andrews Honors program curriculum, the Honors Thesis Poster Symposium allows Honors students across various departments to share with the larger Andrews community their capstone thesis projects. The symposium is one of the final steps in finishing a thesis project and is graded as part of an Honors class, Research Pro-Seminar. This year twenty-eight research participants, their research advisors, the Honors staff, and many other guests met on Friday, Mar. 5th in Buller Hall to share, learn, and celebrate this milestone achievement with each other. To meet COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, 7 rooms were allotted for the event. In each room, 4 Honors students shared their posters.
The event allowed for each Honors researcher to display a carefully crafted poster on their respective topics and present a short synopsis to their peers and the Honors staff members that would grade them. Each poster contained the researcher’s thesis questions, methods, and conclusions, among other things. Commenting on the preparation that went into getting ready for the symposium, Sydney Saint-Jean (senior, psychology) said, “It was not as stressful as I thought it was going to be. My advisors were extremely helpful in keeping me motivated… and my friends helped me to practice my speech beforehand.” Behind the scenes, a lot of people were at work as well. Honors President Lauren Butler (junior, biology) said that “Dr. Pittman and Ms. Maxine worked hard to ensure that the students had their posters printed and ready. This could not have been easy, as complications are bound to happen. Additionally, the research mentors worked hard to prepare their students for this event.”
Going much further than merely fulfilling a grade, the symposium provides Honors students in their last year as an undergrad at Andrews the opportunity to build their resume and learn skills necessary for further learning and future jobs. Speaking to this very topic, Andras Muranyi (junior, biology) said, “Often [the student presenters] deal with presenting under stress, thinking on their feet, and doing their best to clearly explain their work to their audience. Many of these aspects help prepare for the pressures of professional work where one must be self-assured and ready for reflexive decision making and clear critical thinking.” Many of the student researchers mentioned their thankfulness for the experience. Ms. Saint-Jean shared, “Honors has helped me to gain more knowledge in many different disciplines, which can make me a more well-rounded person in any future career I pursue.”
Friday’s student presenters also emboldened and inspired their Honors peers and faculty. Ms. Butler commented, “My favorite part of the event was being able to watch as the nerves wore off. It was awesome to see them gradually become more comfortable with communicating their findings.” Similarly, Mr. Muranyi said, “I am inspired when I listen to students who are passionate about their work. It’s great to see students with such a depth of knowledge in a subject.” Collectively, in Mr. Muranyi’s words, the Honors and Andrews community “wishes each of them well in their future endeavors.”
For more opportunities to learn about the research of undergraduate students at Andrews, consider attending the virtual Undergraduate Research Award Poster Symposium on March 26.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of 老司机传媒. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, 老司机传媒 or the Seventh-day Adventist church.