By Jake Kauderer
Launched in 1997, the annual College Park Scholars Academic Showcase took place Friday evening at the Edward St. John Learning & Teaching Center. Students from 12 different Scholars programs presented slideshows, posters and more that reflected on their experiential learning outside of the classroom.
For their hands-on learning experience, called a practicum, students propose and complete a capstone that provides them real-world research and related skills, according to the College Park Scholars website.
The 2024 Academic Showcase brought in big crowds and facilitated many positive conversations between students, faculty and alumni.
“I love seeing the culmination of the students’ work and how they’re able to share that with each other,” said Korey Rothman, program director of the Civic Engagement for Social Good Scholars program.
Rothman was previously the director of the CIVICUS program, which rebranded as Civic Engagement for Social Good. It is an invitational living and learning program that empowers students to become active through a focus on community service learning, according to the program website.
Data Justice will also be a new Scholars program starting next year.
“We’re excited to collaborate with other students and programs,” Rothman added. “We’re excited to be a part of a program that has succeeded for a long time.”
Nellie Jayalatharachchi, a student in the Environment, Technology and Economy Scholars program (ETE), designed a poster that illustrated how contamination has adverse effects that can be remedied if communities work as one. Her practicum experience revolved around her using software to organize documents and data regarding environmental remediation.
ETE tries to inspire students to take action through courses and hands-on collaborative projects, according to Director Tim Knight.
“The thing that ETE has taught me is that everything is related to sustainability,” said Jayalatharachchi, a sophomore computer science major. “For my practicum, it wasn’t too hard to find a connection.”
Students, faculty and alumni were free to roam around and view whatever designs they wanted to. It was extremely crowded on three separate floors, with all of the programs getting an abundance of audience members. Mention something about how many people were there (i.e. was it crowded or not?) were any designs particularly popular?
Sofya Kozhukhova, a freshman economics major in ETE, found value in viewing the posters.
“It was especially cool to talk to someone in my major and see someone who did something related to what I’m interested in,” Kozhukhova said.
Kenisha Rhone, the assistant director of communications for College Park Scholars, oversees strategic communication efforts with Scholars programs and helped ensure the success of the showcase.
Rhone stressed the showcase’s purpose of strengthening the bond between various Scholars programs.
“The programs all have different messages but Scholars as a unit also needs to have a voice that can be put out,” Rhone said. “It has been a great success, especially with so many alumni coming back for it.”