On Saturday, April 11, Keene State College held their 15th annual Academic Excellence Conference, where almost 170 students shared their research to family, friends and faculty.
The Mabel Brown Room and rooms throughout the Putnam Science Center were filled in support of students and their research. Presentations ranged in topics related to almost every academic study offered at the college. Research was shared through the form of oral presentations, performances, workshops, poster presentations and panel discussions.
“I think it’s really important to support student research,” Director of Campus Safety, Amanda Guthorn said. “I’m always really proud of the work that our students do.”
Guthorn commented on behalf of one student’s presentation that she had attended, related to History and Philosophy. Gregory Howard looked at the riots through cops’ perspective, of which Guthorn found very interesting.
On another note, one group presented their research related to Sociology and Environmental Studies.
One of the seniors involved, Shannon Eugent, will be graduating in May with a major in Sociology. She said,
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“We did a lot of research on ways to redesign Keene city’s Central Square traffic pattern. This is really just a good way for us to get the work that we’ve done over the past year on this project out to the public and kind of show everybody that there is change that can happen to the roundabout, and that it would be a lot more efficient.”
Eugent commented in regards of the negative environmental and social impacts the Central Square roundabout holds now.
Melissa Plumley, an Anthropology major, is another senior who took part in this research project. She noted the good opportunity the Academic Excellence Conference holds for her and her peers as a way to present their research. “It’s a good opportunity to put momentum behind it and to inform the community for social change, since education is really the only way to change, and hopefully we can inspire people to jump on the band wagon,” Plumley said.
As for senior Andrew Markoski, who presented his research project related to his area of study, Political Science, he saw this as a chance to showcase all of the hard work he’s done.
“It allows me to present the culmination of my year-and-a-half work on this paper. It allows me to present to my peers and professors and reflect on everything I’ve learned over the past four years and how it’s developed my education in a very productive way,” Markoski said.
Jordan Crowley can be contacted at jcrowley@kscequinox.com
