The e-newsletter of Chestnut Hill College

chc logo

The e-newsletter of Chestnut Hill College

Seniors Wrap up Four Rigorous Years

Seniors Wrap up Four Rigorous Years

Senior Seminar
Thomas Snider ’16 poses with one of his two projects, Big Brother, Little Drone: Who’s Really Watching.
All photos by Marilee Gallagher '14

Senior Seminar. Two words that bring to mind months of research and preparation, often mixed with anxiety and exhaustion. Yet, they also allow students the chance to explore new concepts and follow their passions.

Four years of hard work, education and learned experience in a particular field culminates in the opportunity for a senior to share his or her final assignment with the entire College community. Recently 93 seniors did just that, presenting posters in the Rotunda or oral presentations in the East Parlor. Topics were wildly diverse and included web accessibility, benefits and downfalls of home schooling, smartphone usage among college students, hegemonic masculinity, overcrowding in prisons and recidivism, female terrorism and much more.

Senior Seminar
Cody Bloom discusses his poster presentation with President Carol Jean Vale, SSJ, Ph.D.

Thomas Snider ’16, a dual criminal justice and digital forensics major, even used a real drone in his two projects Big Brother, Little Drone: Who’s Really Watching and Cyber Security Issues with Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous Robots. According to Snider, it was his fascination with drones that led to him pursuing his research.

An avid hockey fan, Jessica Hubbard ’16 also took a previous interest and turned it into her seminar project, choosing to study the impact of Canadian and United States currency in the National Hockey League and how the changeover rate affects team finances and players’ salaries.

Senior Seminar
Shatha Salemn poses with her poster presentation on diverse learners in kindergarten.

“Most people know that the NHL is composed of U.S. and Canadian teams but I don’t think anybody really considers how the use of two different currencies affects the ways the NHL does business,” Hubbard explains. “It was fascinating to discover that such a small difference in the conversion rate can have a million dollar impact on the salary cap and the money these teams have to spend on players and other expenses.”

The seminars were open to the entire College community and many students and faculty and staff members came out to learn and show their support. Even CHC’s president, Carol Jean Vale, SSJ, Ph.D., took time out of her busy schedule to visit the poster presentations. It was a gesture that did not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

Senior Seminar
Wolfgang Natter (right), Ph.D., dean of faculty and vice president of academic affairs listens to Joseph Long explain his project.

“Sister Carol came over and said, ‘Everybody’s been telling me how wonderful your presentation is,’” says Hubbard. “To know that the president of the College cared enough to come support our research and take a real interest in it was certainly something I didn’t expect. It was great, though, and really goes to show just how much everyone in the college community cares about the students.”

Click here to see more photos from the 2015 Senior Seminar presentations.

 

— Marilee Gallagher ’14