Nineteen students from the College of Saint Elizabeth traveled to Baltimore this month to partake in the Northeast Regional Honors Council’s (NRHC) Annual Conference. Each student spent hours researching their topic, compiling data and connecting it to the conference’s theme: “Generating Power. Impact. Influence. Endurance.” They then submitted these proposals to the NRHC and earned an impressive 83% acceptance rate.
“It’s important for our students to develop their public voices,” explains Dr. Margaret Roman, head of the Honors Program at CSE. “Having a strong opinion is great, but it’s wonderful to be able to voice that opinion in a convincing manner. Our students were poised, confident and spoke with conviction about their particular truth.”
The conference encouraged students to contemplate how power is harnessed to inspire social, economic, governmental and interpersonal change. In keeping with the College’s mission, each student’s research explored a modern social justice issue. Their topics ranged from “Access to Education in Rural America” and “The Quiet Power of Woman Who Changed the World” to “#BlackMenMatter: The Impact of Media on Racism and Activism” and “The Psychology Behind Xenophobia.” Each student then participated in a poster demonstration, a roundtable discussion or a 15-minute paper presentation.
“I was excited to be able to exchange ideas with other honor students. It was a self-empowering moment for me,” says Carol Cruz. “Sharing different perspectives with other presenters expanded the way I view and respond to the social and cultural challenges we face each day.”
The CSE students who presented at the conference were: Damasja Anderson, Katie Blevins, Adonnis Brock, Ann-Marie Cantarero, Carol Cruz, Angela German, Da’Niyah Goodwin, Tim Habboub, Karina Kozlowski, Amy Kratch, Tori Lange, Lea Marjana, Simone Robinson, Sarah Storms and Alexandra Williams.
www.cse.edu
Mary Colleen Robinson has a communication degree with a concentration in journalism and is currently working as the PR/Social Media Specialist at the College of Saint Elizabeth
