While classes were canceled at SUNY Brockport on Tuesday, April 14, learning wasn’t. The campus celebrated Scholars Day, an annual event that allows the campus community to celebrate student research and achievement.
During Scholars Day, over 250 students from the university’s various academic departments presented projects. This included junior childhood inclusive education major Tannor Walker, who presented with his classmates from a course called Technology for Learning, under the mentorship of assistant professor Janeen Pizzo. In their presentation, Walker and his classmates presented different tech tools that can make classrooms more accessible.
Walker said Pizzo’s mentorship was very supportive when developing the presentation.
“She really guided us through the way,” Walker said. “She made us feel comfortable in that space.”
Walker said he appreciated having the opportunity to present at Scholars Day because it helped him practice his public speaking skills.
“As a teacher, I’m going to be up in front of the classroom all the time,” Walker said. “Anytime I can have that experience, I’m going to use that.”
Walker’s Scholars Day pursuits did not end after he presented Tuesday morning, as he attended the 11th Annual Poster Palooza that happened in the SERC that afternoon to support other students’ research. Walker said he visited a few poster presentations because he wanted to learn about other things outside of his own field of research.
Junior international business major Brenda Peralta Cumbe was one of the many presenters at Poster Palooza. As a part of her Supply Chain Management class, taught by associate professor Michael Ziolkowski, Peralta Cumbe created a poster about the supply chain of her father’s construction business. Her father, Juan T. Peralta, is an independent subcontractor based in Queens.
“The most rewarding [part] is getting to put your knowledge on a piece of paper and having people to come look at it,” Peralta Cumbe said. “I was able to also go deeper into a connection as to what my dad does, because this is also his way of income for us. I never used to know a lot [about the business], but now that I worked on it with him, I was able to show others.”
Alongside being a full-time student and working on her research project, Peralta Cumbe is also involved in campus life, as she works as a resident assistant and a night desk attendant in McFarlane Hall. With the help of both Ziolkowski and McFarlane Hall resident director Dewayne Mitchell, Peralta Cumbe said she was able to keep track of her many responsibilities and prepare for Scholars Day.
“[Mitchell] definitely helps me keep on balance, because he’s all about work life balance,” Peralta Cumbe said. “He is a person I can lean on, always pointing me to the right resources.”
Scholars Day is possible because of the mentorship students receive from faculty members, such as anthropology professor and director of Undergraduate Research Jennifer Ramsay.
“I absolutely love promoting students doing research on campus, so this is just the highlight of it,” Ramsay said. “It is so amazing to see so many students and all of the projects they’re working on.”
While Ramsay wasn’t mentoring any projects for Scholars Day this year, she has previously served as a mentor for both Scholars Day and Summer Undergraduate Research Program, known as SURP, projects. Ramsay said that mentoring a student begins with a project, whether it is something a student starts in the classroom or something that has to do with what a faculty member is researching.
“A student will come up to [a faculty member] and say, I’m really interested in that project. Is there anything I can do to help you with that? And that’s how I’ve gotten several, because I do archeology in the Middle East, and I’ve taken students,” Ramsay said.
Ramsay said her favorite part of being a mentor for students is watching them excel.
“I love coming up to these and seeing students that were so shy the first class they were ever in with me, and then they’re presenting at Scholars Day,” Ramsay said. “Not only is their research cool, but here they are talking in front of all these people.”
As director of Undergraduate Research, Ramsay is working to spotlight student research to the campus community.
“If the students, the university, the faculty, the alumni and everybody knew how much we were doing with our undergraduate students on-campus and graduate students, then I think they would be so impressed with where our students are going, like how it’s helping them in their future careers,” Ramsay said.
This Scholars Day was the first year Walker attended. He said Scholars Day should be talked about it more with students, so more students come to support their peers and their research. While classes are canceled on Scholars Day so students can attend research presentations, many students do not attend Scholars Day sessions.
“I think not a lot of students realize the importance of it,” Walker said. “I think now being here and actually seeing what Scholars Day is, what Scholars Day is actually about, it’s very impressive.”
From presentations to student research, posters and learning took flight on Scholars Day.
