Honors Program [ N E W S L E T T E R ] WELCOME BACK! [ Spring 2019 Issue 1 ] INSIDE THIS ISSUE: All-Honors Meeting Service Initiatives Contracts & Independent Studies Student Spotlights Announcements Morgan Whitlow is a sophomore Honors student in the illustration department. She enjoys playing with silly animals, characters, and images that are a little offbeat. Recently she has been getting a kick out of Western themed artwork, so she has been drawing a lot of cowboys and chickens. Being in the illustration department at Edinboro, Morgan finds it “really cool to have a small community because we are all able to bounce ideas off of each other and have a really great time while doing it!” ON THE COVER: [ check out more of Morgan’s art on Instagram at @morganwhitlowart ] CONTACT US: HONORS OFFICE 103 Earp Hall, Edinboro, PA 16444 Phone: (814) 732-2981 Fax: (814) 732-2982 DIRECTOR Dr. Roger Solberg rsolberg@edinboro.edu OFFICE MANAGER Sue Althof salthof@edinboro.edu STUDENT STAFF Katie Holt kh163169@scots.edinboro.edu Julia Love jl160034@scots.edinboro.edu Brooklynn Goodworth bg163654@scots.edinboro.edu All-Honors Meeting Photo retrieved from Lyons Den Production’s Facebook Page Edinboro Honors students braved the cold on Thursday, January 31 to welcome John Lyons, a local filmmaker and Edinboro staff member. Lyons spoke with the students about his work, beginning with the showing of a short film entitled Our Erie, a portrait of the city in response to its negative portrayal on popular news channels recently. Lyons recommended some of his favorite films and opened up about his passion for filmmaking. He summarized each of his films and took Honors students behind-the-scenes, discussing the mechanics of shooting and editing footage, and offering advice for how to handle unexpected challenges. Lyons spoke about the process of funding independent films and the art of crowd funding before discussing his newest project, still in the making, called Unearth. The film is a horror story about fracking filmed in the Edinboro and Erie areas starring local and professional Hollywood actors. Details of the evolution of the film were included in Lyons’ presentation, and he gave the Honors students a first look at his footage, making Edinboro Honors students the first non-crew eyes to see edited shots from the forthcoming project. st Service Initiatives HONORS STUDENTS SHAYMA MUSA AND LEAH PILEWSKI HEAD A CAMPUS COMPOSTING PROJECT Edinboro Honors students are not slacking this year when it comes to amazing projects. Shayma and Leah noticed the Van Hauten garden and other efforts for composting waste, and are in the process of beginning a functional system for waste management on campus. Below, Shayma details the experience so far. “The idea of starting up a composting program on campus started out as a kind of absentminded comment. Me and Leah, my partner in this project, where walking out of a late class and she was talking about how she hated throwing away her fruit peels when on campus, because she composts at home. That one idea kind of acted like a catalyst to this whole project. A few weeks later we talked to a professor who asked us to consult another professor who was passionate about composting. This helped us develop an idea of what would be viable to start-up on campus. So, by the time we had talked to everyone it was winter break. Over the break we researched college composting programs, and through one of Leah’s friends learned that Penn State Behrend has a program, so we contacted them and spoke to them about how they implemented their program, and the logistics of the entire operation. After much research and thinking about what would best fit the Edinboro campus, we decided that the best place to start was a pilot program. One of the first people we contacted was Justin Stull, the executive chef at Van Hauten Dinning Hall. He stood out to us because of his efforts to start the Van Hauten Garden, we thought that he would be a good person to talk to because he knew the process of starting up something like this. We’re currently in the process of solidifying our plans for how we want to conduct this pilot study.” - Shayma Musa, co-partner of project Contracts & Independent Studies Every semester, Honors students are given the opportunity to get more out of their non-honors classes through a contracted course. Students work with their professors to develop an extra project, paper, or something else to gain Honors credit. Contracts are challenging, rewarding, and usually really enjoyable! Listed below are some of the inprogress contracts for this semester. E l i z a b e t h B e n n e t t In order to achieve honors credit for PSYC225 (Psych Statistics), I will be required to complete an additional final project. This will require readings from a supplementary textbook, which will then be discussed during out-ofclass meetings with the professor. I will then be given a set of data from a mock study and will be responsible for analyzing it using SPSS, and will be responsible for running the appropriate differential and analytical statistics. After the analysis, I will be required to provide a written summary of the results, including graphs and charts, what will be formatted in APA style. L e a h P i l e w s k i I am doing research with Dr. Foradori and Shayma Musa. We are doing research which involves isolating specific proteins and enzymes that are known to inhibit angiogenesis in bee venom. Angiogenesis is a process by which new blood vessels form from pre-existing vessels. This becomes an important process when it comes to cancer because cancer tumors need blood vessels to grow in order for them to gain the nutrients they need to metastasize. Beause tumors and cancer cells need these blood vessels, we are looking to find cellular components located in bee venom that will inhibit the blood vessels’ growth. Contracts & Independent Studies K y l e H u r y z I'm conducting research with Dr. Michael Morrison of the Business and Economics Department regarding the effect of the British Petroleum oil spill on overseas shipping costs. There appears to be a significant upward spike in overseas freight costs and a downward spike in airfreight costs around 2010. The oil spill, which occurred in that year, could have caused the sudden price changes. However, the regression model that illustrates the changes does not break down shipping costs by port of entry. This research will attempt to explain the extreme price fluctuations by developing models that show how freight costs have changed since 1975 by port of entry. If we parse the data and the spike disappears in ports that were unaffected by the disaster, then the spill is a probable explanation. If not, then more research will be needed to explain the phenomenon. M o r g a n K i n g e n I am very excited to contract my Tech for Teach and Learning class with Dr. Dempsey. I will be working with Erie County 4-H members to create a portfolio that includes the multiple projects the program has to offer. I will be using QR codes to link information to a website. A QR code is the small, square, black and white object that you see on posters and informational objects.I hope that I can teach the members more about incorporating technology into their lives. I am excited to contract this class and take the next step to advancing my education. Consider a contract next semester – they are worth 2 HOPs points and allow you to get so much more experience out of your non-honors classes. Student Spotlights R A C H E L M A L Y Honors student Rachel Maly is a sculpture major. Last semester, her contract was especially intriguing, involving the combination of writing and sculpture. The interaction of the two came naturally to Rachel as her sculptures are frequently driven by narrative. Her recent body of work, and her contracted course, involve a specific set of stories to be compiled into an anthology, all telling tales of animals in our environment. The work that was developed during this contract was also accepted into Chimera, a curated collection of student work that is displayed at the Erie Art Museum and compiled into a graphic book. It follows a group of rabbits, or “dirtbunnies” as Rachel has nicknamed them, trying to outrun a bulldozer that seeks to destroy their habitat. The rabbits are made from a combination of lightweight spackling paste and dirt over a wire armature. This was an experimental material for Rachel, and she was “amazed that it worked, shocked even.” She recalled at the Chimera show opening how fascinated viewers were with the material. Rachel’s work aims to give voices to creatures without them, as she considers herself a political artist with a motive to bring awareness to the sometimes gruesome reality of animal experience. She is largely inspired by literary works of Henry David Thoreau and George Orwell, Walden and 1984. She looks to the art of the 19th century French group of artists who called themselves “Les Animaliers” – giving voices to animals in the 1800s. Student Spotlights The following is an excerpt from Rachel’s short story, The Legend of the Eyes and Ears of the Earth: “The rabbits watched and listened and sat so still, that every once in a while, an animal would join them in watching. ‘Like mange on the earth.’ A fox thought of the houses and padded sadly away. When it began to snow, the humans left. True to form, they returned at first thaw. After walking in and out of houses carrying an array of strange objects, they stuck small trees and shrubs in the ground. The rabbits felt the earth welcome these new plants but knew that the earth still remembered and mourned the ones that used to grow there. “Now they want the plants back after they destroyed them. What was wrong with the other trees? There had been a maple there about the same size.” The oldest remarked pointing his nose at a russet house at the end of a row. Soon, new groups of humans arrived with young and moved into the houses. The rabbits knew from the soil the young human tracked into the house that the humans lived in these houses. Feeling that the Place of Houses may be safe, animals began to return to the former field. Rabbits and ground hogs found shelter beneath shrubs, and song birds roosted in delicate young trees.” Rachel has also completed a work entitled Albatross that follows the story of a bird who has mistakenly been fed plastic, inspired by the documentary Plastic Ocean. It follows this albatross through an epic story, similar to the rabbits, of hardship, death, and resurrection. For more, or to read the endings of these stories, contact Rachel at rm153204@scots.edinboro.edu, or look for her at upcoming gallery events. Student Spotlights S A R A H W A T S O N Sarah Watson is an Early Childhood Education major who, through a previous contract, sought out information and implementation on strategies for integrating STEM into elementary classrooms. Sarah was curious and inspired to dedicate a semester to this project because of her passion for math and discussions about STEM integration in other courses. To achieve this, Sarah interviewed members of local school districts that had an established program for STEM incorporation. Sarah recalls feeling surprised when she learned about the lack of materials the schools had. She says that this drove her to collect donated supplies from these programs to give to her hometown school in Cambridge Springs. The supplies included tool and building materials, and board games. Through this experience, Sarah gained a new perspective on STEM integration in early childhood. She considers the main idea behind successful integration is authentic learning experiences and instructing realistically, “rather than just a worksheet,” or the like. Sarah actually wishes to continue this project by checking in with the schools who received supplies from her last semester. She hopes to record the changes they saw in their students and if STEM is becoming more accessible to them. She hopes to bring this research to the National Collegiate Honors Council conference to share her newfound expertise in STEM integration. Important Announcements N Y C The Honors Program is hosting a trip to the Big Apple this April. The cost is only $25 – stop by the office for more information and to sign up! Harrisburg Honors Student Leadership Conference Eight students will be headed to Harrisburg on Monday, March 25th to attend a conference centered around Honors education. Stay tuned for the next Newsletter to hear about knowledge gained from this experience. Honors Housing Moved for Next Semester Beginning in Fall 2019, Honors housing will be in Highlands 1. The office will move with it. Stay tuned for more information! Honors Office Position Open Next Fall We’re hiring! We’re looking for someone who’s dedicated to their education and the education of their peers, is hard working, and wants the coolest job ever! Stop into the office to inquire. Applications Open for Fall 2019 Mentor Program This opportunity for service hours is a great way to help incoming freshmen orient themselves to college life. Contact Brooklynn for more information on how to apply!