SUNY Brockport hosted its annual “Scholars Day: A Celebration of Academic Excellence” on April 9. Students and educators gathered from multiple academic fields to discuss, learn and highlight their work and achievements.
This year’s Scholars Day festivities included three presentation sessions across campus, Poster Palooza, Get in the Game: Alumni Panel Discussions and Keynote Speaker Kate Moore.
The presentation sessions allow students to showcase their research and include a larger community in their focused scholastic endeavors. Senior Justice Crane majors in English with minors in Biology and Chemistry. During the first presentation session Crane showcased her honors thesis, “How do Antiseptics Play a Role in the Development of Resistant Bacteria?” in Edwards Hall.
“I took bacteria samples from my skin using proper protocol then I grew them, incubated them and then found out what concentration of different antiseptics would kill the different bacteria samples that I had,” Crane said.
With the advisement of chair of the biology department Michel Pelletier, PhD, Crane has developed this research over the course of multiple semesters. She found Scholars Day to not only be a great opportunity for others to explore this research but to learn from her peers as well.
“In general, I like to keep up with new discoveries and what people are interested in and researching. I think it’s really important for me to share my research, but I think it’s equally important for me to be attending other people’s sessions and learning more about what they do,” Crane said.
Junior Corey Robinson presented with Crane through the Sociology and Women and Gender Studies departments. Crane is the founder and president of the Women Rising club and Robinson is the treasurer. Under the advisement of women and gender studies professor Milo Obourn, PhD, Robinson and Crane displayed their interactive campaign. Together, they presented a closer look at their “Empowered Women” initiative in the Fannie Barrier Williams Liberal Arts Building.
“We spoke about how we ran interviews throughout the month of March with nominees who are inspiring women around campus. We posted it [on bportwomenrising Instagram] and the interviewees shared things like advice and they’re life stories about them being a woman and how that is intersectional with their career and education experiences.”
Robinson and Crane’s goal was to bring more attention to the importance of women’s voices during Women’s History Month and provide a platform for local community members. Corey noted Scholars Day to be a motivational factor and affirming for their research.
“People want to see people like them in fields that they’re pursuing,” Robinson said. “I mean inspiring, yes, but I think a better word would be powerful to see someone who looks like you or identifies in a similar way to you pursuing a career that you want. So, it kind of affirms the fact that you can do it.”
Robinson was excited for this opportunity as it gives voice to an “underrepresented holiday” as they find it crucial “to shed a spotlight on women in positions of power and knowledge.”
In between the second and third presentation sessions, Poster Palooza took place from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the SERC. Senior Mathew Muscolo displayed his “RIT Strength and Conditioning Internship” poster with Hunter Wassink.
When approached about their work Muscolo and Wassink highlighted their learning objectives, responsibilities and professional goals while interning at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
“I spoke on the importance of building relationships with the athletes and being more than just a coach,” Muscolo said. “Some [RIT athletes] are at a really high level and some are brand new, so I was able to force myself to differentiate approaches like, how to explain a certain movement to different types of athletes.”
Muscolo found Scholars Day to be the perfect opportunity to share his experience and gain perspective in a scholarly environment.
From 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. the Get in the Game: Alumni Panel Discussions featured the successes of representing Golden Eagles in the work world. The “Alumni in Sports Communications and Marketing” panel was moderated by chair of the Department of Journalism, Broadcasting and Public Relations Dr. Marsha Ducey in the Seymour Union West Ballroom.
Alumni Elijah Burke working for NASCAR’s RFK Racing Team, Emily Dumas for the Arizona Cardinals, Gregg Pastore for the Buffalo Bills and Alex Wesley for the US Tennis Association of New England shared their experiences and how Brockport created a foundation for an accomplished career life.
Similarly in the Seymour Union Lounge “Alumni in Sports Operations, Business and Gaming” was moderated by Distinguished Service Professor of sports management Dr. Robert Schneider. Alumni Will Rumbold spoke about his long-time position with the Rochester Red Wings, as did Louis Trombetta for FanDuel and Dan Velte for Little League Baseball.
The final panel discussion “Brockport Alumni Take us Behind the Scenes of the World of Sports” was moderated by sports anchor for WROC-TV Thad Brown. Panelist included NBA Vice President Eric Finkelstein, UMass Wide Receivers Coach Jordan Hogan and Yahoo Sports Women’s Basketball reporter Cassandra Negley.
This day of scholarly excellence concluded with New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of “The Radium Girls” Kate Moore. Moore discussed the historical depiction of the radium girls and their presence in women’s workers’ rights. Moore touched on the creation of this book and all the research that went into it behind the scenes, and at the end sold and signed copies for attendees.
The annual Scholars Day celebrations provide a platform for students, educators and alum to intellectually dissect multiple academic disciplines. While this day is a chance to absorb knowledge, it’s also a pillar in the Brockport community highlighting the exceptional work Golden Eagles past and present are doing.
