Symposium Day for Scholarship and Creativity: A celebration of research and achievement

By: Olivia Wile

@o_wile

The University of Findlay’s annual Symposium Day for Scholarship and Creativity, held on April 2, was an action-packed day.

Before evolving into the present-day Symposium, the University’s annual Academics Day of Excellence, as it was then called, was established in the early 2000s.

Although many view it as simply a day without classes, the Symposium offers students much more than just a day off.

“We don’t cancel classes, but encourage students to participate and attend,” said University of Findlay’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, Darin Fields.

During the morning of Friday, April 7, 45 oral presentations were given while more than 100 poster presentations were displayed throughout the afternoon. Many of these participants were sophomores or upperclassmen. All projects required sponsorship from faculty within the academic departments.

Presenters weren’t the only ones allowed to participate, however.

Fields explained that student involvement was encouraged through the distribution of passports that could be stamped at the different displays. After filling them up, students could turn them in for a free t-shirt and other prizes.

“There were so many things offered,” said freshman Pharmacy major Jace Swingle. “I went to a presentation on the misconceptions of homelessness for Habitat for Humanities.” Swingle was awarded the Freshman Pharmacy Camp Scholarship.

Public Relations major Jacob King was also an awards recipient on Symposium Day. He received multiple awards within the College of Liberal Arts, and presented a project on the Sexuality and Dominance in American Horror Story.

“I was trying to be sensitive to women and homosexuality in the media,” King said.

As if all the awards and presentations were not enough to fill one day, both the Scholarship Luncheon and Accepted Student Day occurred during the Symposium. This is the third year the Luncheon was hosted on the same day to allow donors to see their contributions at work.

Despite months of preparation leading up to the Symposium, as well as the busy day itself, Fields says he enjoys the Symposium day every year.

“This is my fourth one,” Fields states. “(It’s’) my favorite day next to Commencement, but really a day for any student at Findlay to be proud.”