Honors students of all cohorts gathered in Otto Miller Hall on Saturday, May 18, to hear or present final research projects. Every Honors major graduating in 2024 completed the research, writing and presentation of their chosen area of study at the culmination of their four years in Honors: the 4th Annual Honors Research Symposium.

Graduating seniors presented their research in panels that grouped projects by theme. Projects included Jessica Day’s examination of the fictional self in Mary Wollstonecraft’s and Charles Dickens’ life writings, Philip Min’s modeling of Asian Americans’ perpetual foreignness and Mary Bruggeman’s linguistic-based look into how language, race, and culture intersect in children’s learning.

“It wasn’t until the very end of [the summer before senior year] that I realized I wanted to study language summer campus, and not until the end of fall quarter that I decided language, culture and race would be the areas of learning for children in these summer camps that I would concentrate on,” Bruggeman said.

Bruggeman was a summer language camp instructor, and this experience revealed to her that language education “needs some work.” One focus of her research was dialect. In summer language camps, the dialect of whatever language being taught is European and white; for example, French is taught in the Parisian accent, although the language is spoken worldwide in 29 countries.

“I thought [presenting] would be easy because I was just reading,” Bruggeman said. “I was pretty nervous, especially for the first page or so I was reading, but then I got more relaxed. It’s hard to know how a 15-minute presentation would be received when I had been studying this for so long.”

Bruggeman’s panel included Anna Kreisman, who reviewed factors and barriers to resilience in refugee youth. The Falcon’s own Aubrey Rhoadarmer presented her interview-based research about the impacts of Christian youth groups on women’s sexuality in adulthood.

“Most college graduates do not do something like this to graduate. You can just take the classes you need and check all the boxes and that’s it. But to reach this stage of the scholarship process where you are creating new knowledge, and presenting it to others is relatively rare,” said Josh Tom, director of the Honors program.

Nathan Parks, a third-year accounting, economics, business administration and honors major, is a program assistant for the University Scholars program. Parks helped run the check-in table.

“It’s kind of crazy looking at it and realizing, oh, this is literally me next year,” Parks said.

Before Parks even picked a college, the Honors program stood out at SPU for its academic rigor and community foundation

“That’s kind of what drew me here, and it’s been a big part of my social life at college, so I enjoy it a lot,” Parks said.

Events like Honors Hours, Pizza and Play, Honors Touchstone and the Symposium itself often bring students in the program together.

“I think the social aspect of the program is something that’s unique. It’s not a massive program, so the students really do get to know each other and they spend a lot of time together over four years,” Tom said. “I think you can feel it here today.”

Indeed, students and professors laughed and hugged prolifically. Underclassmen and juniors congratulated their senior friends. Dr. Tom interacted with students and even made them his specialty drink: Dr. Pepper, cold brew, cream and a dash of hot sauce.

After the morning and afternoon sessions ended, an awards ceremony took place — not for projects, but for the students behind them. 

“The Erin Kimminau Servanthood Scholarship Award is chosen by the Honors junior class every year in memory of Erin Kimminau, an Honors student who tragically died in a car accident in 2016 coming home from the Standing Rock protests in South Dakota,” Tom said.

The students recognized for commitment, engagement, community, walking humbly with God and scholarly gifts in 2024 were Carrie Cox and Esther Mutesi. The Honors Commendation, which recognizes extraordinary service to the Honors program, went to Anna Kreisman.

“The Wesley E. Lingren Award recognizes the outstanding University Scholar among the graduating seniors. This holistic award recognizes not only high academic achievement but all the virtues and qualities of a graduate of the Honors liberal arts program. Students are nominated by their classmates and the winner is selected by the Honors faculty,” Tom said.

For the first time since 2010, two students, Parker Landon and Rayna Martin, were selected to receive the Lingren award.