More than 90 Newman University students lined the halls and classrooms of the Bishop Gerber Science Center and Eck Hall Monday, Dec. 10, to present projects to assessors, staff, faculty
The biannual Scholars Day is held once each fall and spring semester, during which, between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon, Newman juniors and seniors present research via posters and oral presentations.
With 70 poster presentations and several oral presentations, the fall 2018 event had a large turnout; past fall Scholars Day events average about 30 poster presentations.
Denise Cooley, administrative assistant for Division of Arts & Letters and Humanities, said the planning began at the beginning of the semester for both the Scholars Day committee and the students.
“This is their capstone project usually and the goal is for them to do independent research in conjunction with one of their courses,” Cooley explained. “Every single bachelor’s degree candidate at Newman must complete Scholars Day to graduate. However, if the student presents at the Newman University Literary Festival or another scholarly event, then they do not have to present again on Scholars Day.”
Cooley said for such a large turnout, she was impressed with the smoothness of the day. “I think it went well. Our IT department was standing by just in case, but this year, they didn’t have to do anything. Everything went really smoothly.”
Keila Amaya is a senior biology major with a pre-med concentration. She said Scholars Day has helped her prepare for real-world presentation skills.
“I’ve always been nervous with presentations, but overall … it’s been going really well,” said Amaya. “(The process) is more hands-on than I thought it would be.”
Connie Winegart, elementary education major, said finishing her Scholars Day presentation brought feelings of relief, excitement and preparedness.
Winegart said, “The No. 1 thing I took away from this day was the ability to stand in front of my peers and relay some of the major work I’ve been doing throughout the semester and throughout the years.”
She said she will graduate in December and is excited to start her teaching career. Newman, she said, helped prepare her for what comes next.
“At Newman, you have such caring professors and small class sizes. (The education) will definitely help me in my own classroom. I made a lot of connections and friends here at Newman, and it will certainly help to have that for future reference.”
The assessors are made up of faculty and some staff. For the spring, we already have 94 students enrolled in the spring, so there could be just as many. Spring is usually the largest one, but this year it looks a little
