Extra Credit conference

As part of the Annual Student Research and Writing Conference students collaboration and contribution across the disciplines were the main focus of the presentations. I had the opportunity to see the presentation of this physical science course, where they focused their class in geology related topics. The panel consisted of five students were they presented informative essays regarding earthquakes. One of them talked about safety during an earthquake and the precautions one should consider when preparing for one. Another essay was about the technology available for study and monitoring of this natural phenomena. It was very interesting to hear about energy, earth movement and how everything worked up to an earthquake. Overall, I think it was a very cool and different panel, because most of them were from English literature classes. It was refreshing to hear about something science related, and how it worked its way into an English department conference. After that panel finished presenting, the next one went right back to an English class, which presented essays on Pleasantville and its relationship to black history.

David was the typical teenager, single, lonely and not happy with his life. That’s why he looked for an escape from reality by watching Pleasantville. A 1950’s soap opera, where everything was exactly that, pleasant. His sister Jennifer, much more sexually active than David, gets in a fight with him over a very strange remote control. They suddenly find themselves in Pleasantville, as Bud and Mary-Sue Parker. After a series of events, suddenly, there is a red rose growing in Pleasantville. The more rules are broken, the more colorful life gets in Pleasantville. This movie was used as a good case study for presenting important issues like teenage problems and bullying, discrimination and racism.

I thought the conference was a good idea, with interesting panels of discussion. Although I will critique the evaluation forms. The questions it asked was for a narrower theme, and it didn't envelope the diversity that was brought by the various panelists. Next time they should either make the topics relate to each other a bit more, or… they should help the audience evaluate everybody fairly and how they deserve.