Epic Expo
This Earlham Day, join us for the Epic Expo: an all-campus showcase of the Earlham experience.
The Epic Journey is the totality of every Earlhamite’s experience. It’s the story of how academics, co-curriculars, internships and research, and off-campus study come together in an experience unique to each person—an experience that will carry you into the future as you shape a life and career of purpose.
At the Epic Expo, we celebrate that journey—and the experiences that move you forward—through presentations of student learning.
Many of these experiences could not be possible without the support of Earlham alumni and donors. Their generosity makes these kinds of journeys accessible to each new generation of Earlhamites.
Join us on April 28 as we celebrate Earlhamites’ journeys forward.
Schedule of events
9 – 9:20 a.m. | Welcome Includes performances by the Earlham Hand Drum Ensemble and the Jazz Ensemble. Face masks strongly recommended. | Athletics and Wellness Center |
9:30 – 10:30 a.m. | Poster session Faculty and students from a variety of departments and career communities will present their research, scholarly work and internship experiences. View poster abstracts. | Athletics and Wellness Center |
9:30 – 10:30 a.m. | Student Success Photoshoot We would like to celebrate the success of our Earlham students, especially those who have secured opportunities for summer 2022 and beyond. Whether you have landed a job or been accepted to graduate school; secured an internship, apprenticeship, or research opportunity; or completed a certification— we want to know and celebrate with you and give you a token of congratulations! | Athletics and Wellness Center |
10:45 – 11:45 a.m. | Concurrent sessions #1 Panels and presentations by students and faculty. View the available sessions below. Face masks strongly recommended. | Various locations |
Noon – 1 p.m. | Lunch | |
1:15 – 2:15 p.m. | Concurrent sessions #2 Panels and presentations by students and faculty. View the available sessions below. Face masks strongly recommended. | Various locations |
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. | Concurrent sessions #3 Panels and presentations by students and faculty. View the available sessions below. Face masks strongly recommended. | Various locations |
4 – 5 p.m. | Spring Awards Ceremony A celebration of Earlham student achievement. Face masks required. | Goddard Auditorium |
5:15 p.m. | Earlham Day Festival Wrap up the day with games, rides and snacks! Make sure to drop by the giving tent to make a gift and unlock an extra $400 for the Earlham Fund plus the chance to win the Earlham Day 2022 banner signed by friends and classmates. | The Heart (Rain location: AWC) |
8:30 p.m. | Muslim Student Iftar For those observing Ramadan. | Comstock Room, Runyan Center |
Poster session details
Learn more about the poster presentations in AWC. Posters are grouped according to relevant career communities.
Concurrent sessions details
Learn more about the presentations and panels happening during the concurrent sessions.
LBC 211A/B
Commercializing The Geckskin
Tsitsi Makufa
Environmental Sustainability, Global Management
Felsuma is a private, investor-funded startup commercializing the Geckskin technology, licensed exclusively from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Felsuma has developed a portfolio of Geckskin devices with Grip & Peel capability, wherein solving the (allegedly) coveted four performance facets in load-bearing, removable adhesives that have never before been solved in one device. However, they have failed to capitalize on that capability to find a niche market where the need is clearly defined so that their value proposition is evident. My project is to determine if there is a need and to determine a value proposition for the product portfolio to potential customers through conducting research as the Marketing Consultant Intern.
LBC 201
Critique and the Redemptive Power of Despair: Between Hegel and Adorno
Daniel Oni
Philosophy
I propose to explore the philosophical problem of “critique” and its relation to despair while also examining the problem of the status of the subject. These twinned angles converge on what I aim to show in this thesis: that despair is not only essential to, but also intrinsic to, any critical philosophy. In contemporary discourse, despair has come to be seen as deeply detrimental to thought and as something to be excised from our lives perfunctorily. In purportedly critical discourse, despair is seen as paralyzing, narcissistic, resignatory. It can be said that, for example, Habermas and his inheritors—Axel Honneth, Seyla Benhabib, and Rainer Forst, amongst others, see despair as a symptom of the impotence of thought and critique must be rescued from despair. However, I wish to argue the opposite: it is the avoidance of despair in how we think about our world, or in our attempts to critique it, that testifies to thought’s impotence. In other words, the effacement of despair’s relationship to critical thought serves no other purpose than to blunt the sharp edge that critique ought to bring to bear on its situation. It is also this sharp edge that animates what is the secondary— but nonetheless important— contention of this thesis viz., the philosophical problem of redemption.
LBC 101
Putting Fun in Stress Management
Hannah Lipps
Counseling Services
This hands-on workshop will invite participants to re-imagine the ways they interact with daily stressors. The goal of this workshop is to empower participants to take charge of the stress in their lives and use it as a motivator, not a deterrent.
LBC 124
What To Do Until Peace Breaks Out: Peace Corps and Peace Corps Prep
Jennifer Seely
African and African American Studies; Comparative Languages and Linguistics; French and Francophone Studies; International Studies; Law and Social Justice; Public Health; Community Engagement; Center for Career Education (i.e. internships); Center for Global Education
Did you know that Peace Corps Volunteers have returned to the field in 2022? Come learn about the Peace Corps and the Peace Corps Prep Applied Minor at Earlham College at a hands-on, open-house session and you’ll get a unique opportunity to see examples of Volunteers in action. You can also answer some trivia questions and win some PC swag!
CST 103
Mathematics of the Lights Out Puzzle
Wisdom Boinde, Igor Minevich
Computer Science, Mathematics
The Lights Out Puzzle is an interesting mix of mathematical and computer magic. The rules are easy to learn, but solving the puzzle can be quite difficult. Moreover, there are numerous questions one can ask about the puzzle, such as how many solutions there are, that lead to explorations all over the mathematical realm. In this research, we have extended some of the theory that was developed for the 2-color puzzle to multiple colors and discovered many key pieces to the puzzle along the way, including one construction that creates beautiful patterns.
CVPA 150
Making Music with Computers
Facilitator: Forrest Tobey
Presenters: Jen Astorga, Meesh Feller, Nicola Gacy, Rene Gaundreau, Tra-Vaughn James, Daniela Joseph, Avin Newswanger, Mehmet Ali Schubel, Doug Wagner, Egan White
Music
The spring Making Music with Computers class will share their work, including scoring for videos and collaborative spoken word compositions.
CVPA 216
Testing Glazes: Same Glazes, Different Clays and Kiln Atmospheres
Facilitator: Judy Wojcik
Presenters: Amal Tamari, Caleigh Zolman
Art
The use of glazes in the different atmospheres at cone 6 (2269 degrees F) that gas and electric provide results in a variety of surfaces. During the five weeks, we tested and studied seventeen glazes in both the gas and electric kilns, and wanted to discern which ones created an optimal glaze, provided a solid base, and would potentially allow for further research with the glazes independently and with underglazes. We mixed 100 grams of each of the glazes, extruded test tiles of white stoneware, commercial stoneware, and Brooklyn red bodies, and dipped each tile in slips and glazes according to a set number system that we created. Through our research, we were able to assess these glazes and found multiple new glazes and colorants that we continue to test. We were able to dive further into understanding how our current glazes work, and developed the skills to mix and assess new glazes throughout this process.
AWC 2225A/B
Video Analysis and Team Building; Two ways to improve athletic performance
Patrick Morrow, Arantxa Rosainz
Athletics, Wellness, and Physical Education; Computer Science; Data Science; Exercise Science; Graduate Programs in Education; Human Development and Social Relations; Mathematics; Psychology
We’ll be looking into how video analysis affects reaction time for baserunners in baseball. Analyzing the teaching method of video and the implications it has on the players who receive it. As well as evaluating the effects of team building activities on intrinsic motivation in student athletes.
LBC 211A/B
Sociology/Anthropology and Media and Communications Senior Thesis Presentations
Facilitator: Nora Taplin-Kaguru
Presenters: Minh Doan, Jessenia Fanini, Aza Hurwitz, Daniel Oni
Sociology/Anthropology; Media and Communications
The female bodies on TikTok and women’s performative attempts to regain bodily autonomy
Presenter: Minh Doan
Women experience slut-shaming regularly as a part of the sexual harassment in the digital space. Focusing on the video-based platform Tik Tok, this study investigates how female users react against the social constraints over their bodily autonomy and implement its features to regain lost control. Qualitative analysis was conducted over 10 videos that center on slut-shaming and the sexualization of the female bodies. The discussion hereby suggests a fantasy of freedom created both as a coping mechanism against the constant censorship and motives for the hyper-sexualization of the female bodies on Tik Tok.
Celebrating Hair: The Intergenerational Transmission of Beauty Among Black Women in America
Presenter: Jessenia Fanini
This thesis examines the hair care narratives and intergenerational-relational experiences of Black women in America. There is much deserving literature surrounding the oppression, hardships, and enslavement that has been brought upon Black populations, women especially, through White supremacist frameworks. By exclusively framing African descendants as a struggling population, academics continue to view the Black community through a Eurocentric lens. Thus, this project aims to balance that energy by reframing Black women in an Afrocentric thought that reclaims their personhood and agency. Many of the women interviewed explained their journey in hair reclamation, another large component of celebrating Black hair as explored through this thesis. Through integrating a collection of oral stories from interviews with ten Black women with existing socio-historical accounts, this research applies an Afrocentric and decolonial approach to celebrating Black women’s relationships with their hair as learned and influenced by the generations of Black women who have come before them.
The Anonymous Bricks
Presenter: Aza Hurwitz
What does it mean to be the paint on a wall? Or the painter of a wall? This presentation will explore ways humans interact and respond to street art and the spaces it inhabits. Looking at and questioning where the ‘art’ actually takes place and who creates it.
On Late Capitalism and the Whimsical as an Aesthetic Form
Presenter: Daniel Oni
Although the study of capitalism and culture is not new, analysis of aesthetic form has remained confined to the traditional categories of the sublime and the beautiful. These categories still undergird most critical projects even in the so-called postmodern turn. Nevertheless, these categories are not sufficient for thinking through capitalism and culture today because of massive structural transformations in all domains of capital- production, exchange and consumption. It is to this effect that I intend to make a case for the whimsical as an aesthetic category that has not only emerged to prominence in and through capitalism’s transformations but will also more adequately illuminate the dynamic between capital and culture today.
LBC 315 A/B
Tips and Stories from Recent Fellowship and Award Recipients
Sumin Park, Feven Naba, Wisdom Boinde
Center for Career Education
Panelists will share their tips and stories behind recent scholarships and awards they secured for the summer of 2022. The student panelists will discuss their proposals and application process for the following award/scholarship: 1. Davis Peace Prize 2. DAAD RISE scholarship.
LBC 101
What We Cannot Know: Trauma, Art, and 9/11
Katelyn Goodpaster
Philosophy
“What We Cannot Know: Trauma, Art, and 9/11” is the culmination of Katelyn Goodpaster’s undergraduate thesis work in philosophy. This talk will explore the concept of knowledge through the lense of 9/11. Through the discussion of art and qualia, Goodpaster demonstrates the potential power of visual art to communicate the ineffable. This talk will challenge listeners to question not just what they think that they know, but to also question what it means to know.
LBC 201
Working with the Sierra Club to connect with Minnesotans on Environmental Justice
Eloïse Boigenzahn
Environmental Sustainability
I will be speaking about my experience with Sierra Club North Star Chapter as a Communications Intern, describing what my tasks were and what I learned from the experience. My responsibilities were reaching out to legislators, posting updates on the Sierra Club North Star social media pages on fight for climate justice, and experimenting with how to best reach our audience.
CST 103
The Give and Take of Teaching Middle School
Ashley Awbrey, Riley Patrick Green, Colin Kimiecik
Graduate Programs in Education
Three MAT students present their final action research done during their school year at various middle schools in Wayne County. All three follow a common theme of the difference between the presence and absence of non-traditional learning tools in the classroom. One seeks to find the effects of abstract learning versus hands-on learning. One looks to find the differences between textbook and non-textbook learning. The last introduces fidget toys in order to find how their presence affects learning and attention.
AWC 2225A/B
Three Coaches Share Ways To Improve Athlete Mentality
Casey Monahan, Drew Fitzgibbon, Nate Baker
Athletics, Wellness, and Physical Education; Exercise Science; Graduate Programs in Education
We will have three twenty-minute presentations, exploring athlete mentality and how it can impact an athlete’s performance. One will look at how guided visualization can impact a player’s confidence in their sport. Another will explore whether reviewing oneself over video will aid in self-belief. The third will explore the impact of different types of short-term goal setting and their impact on improving athletic performance.
CVPA Atrium, 1:45 – 2:15 p.m.
Javanese Gamelan Ensemble
Facilitator: Marc Benamou
Guest Musician: Heri Purwanto
Performers: Ariel Anurantha, Chadha BenAbederrahmane, Jarred Costa, Neon Guzman-Delgado, Owen Kaplan, Bridget Lewis, Yara Matar, Avin Newswanger, August Nord, Leigh Siler, Madeleine Spellman
Music
Please join us for a preview of the Earlham Javanese Gamelan Ensemble’s May 7th concert. We will be joined by master musician Heri Purwanto on both occasions. Our May concert will feature our full bronze gamelan—with its many melodic layers of tuned percussion, along with a plucked zither, bowed lute, and bamboo flute. Here we will be using a more portable ensemble called larasmadyå, which consists of unison choral singing accompanied by frame drums, a pair of tubular bells called kemanak, and a double-headed drum. The ensemble meets twice a week and includes both beginners (MUSG 127) and returning students (MUSG 327). Mr. Purwanto, who taught at Earlham from 2014-6, is currently a visiting artist at the University of Washington in Seattle.
LBC 101
Interactive Language “Tasting” Event
Facilitator: Candice Quiñones
Presenters: Elizabeth Edmonds, Ian Gorley, Guru Sahai Khalsa, Jessica Mohler, Connor Newlin, Myra Robinson, Lucas Suarez-Findlay, Luz Tafradjiyski Mostacero, Alden Thompson Vought, Karol Zetzsche Silva
Comparative Languages and Linguistics
Join us for mini-lessons in a variety of different languages taught by the students taking part in the TESO/CLL 344: Studies in Language Learning and Teaching course. Participants will enter and rotate between stations for 10-minute, interactive, mini-lessons each in a different language until they have completed the circuit of presentations.
LBC 211A/B
Sociology/Anthropology and Media and Communications Senior Thesis Presentations
Facilitator: Nora Taplin-Kaguru
Presenters: Martha Barefoot-Yeager, Zaid Daana, Lucas Mulhall
Sociology/Anthropology; Media and Communications
Betwixt and Between: Exploring the Power of Transformative Experiences and Returning to the “Real World”
Presenter: Martha Barefoot-Yeager
For my thesis I have explored transformative experiences and rituals and what happens when those transformations are not acknowledged by your community after their completion. Starting with anthropological literature on stages of rites of passage, I found that those structures did not match with my moments of ritual in my youth. Using a combination of auto ethnography and interview data, I looked specifically at study abroad and summer camp experiences as key sites of transformation. Exploring themes of nature, place, and daily life, my thesis explains why experiences like study abroad and summer camp are so powerful and why talking about them post return is a challenge.
Social Media Intifada
Presenter: Zaid Daana
The presentation will consist of multiple videos as example of how Palestinians employed social media during the May 2021 Anti-Sheikh Jarrah evictions social media movement. Moreover, the presentation will try to explain the importance of social media as a tool for Palestinians in the midst of anti Palestine propaganda in the mainstream media.
Invasive, Vicious and Sweet: Honeysuckle Stories
Presenter: Lucas Mulhall
Honeysuckle is a pervasive plant that resists removal. What kinds of relationships do people have with honeysuckle, and the difficult and potentially impossible task of eradicating it?
LBC 201
Student Motivation in the Classroom
Allison Nash, Henry Wildes, Charis Williams
Graduate Programs in Education
A series of three presentations exploring motivation in secondary school classrooms. Allison Nash is presenting on how technology and free writing impacts motivation in the English Language Arts (E.L.A.) classroom. Henry Wildes is presenting on how music affects student motivation in the Physical Education (P.E.) classroom. Charis Williams is presenting on using choice as a tool for student motivation and engagement in the Social Studies/History classroom.
CST 103
Action Research: An Application of Educational Video through Viewpoints in a Ceramics Class
Isaac Lipkowitz, Padgett Yoder Gustavson
Art; Graduate Programs in Education
Within the context of ceramics education, the wheel can prove a daunting process to understand and persevere through. The aim of this action research was to examine if the use of a viewpoint driven demonstrational video helped bridge the gaps between seeing, understanding, and doing. Based on the theory of the Japanese craft philosopher Soetsu Yanagi, the video served to supplement the learners’ understanding of intended learning goals, and to allow the participants “to see and at the same time comprehend.” The video demonstration was contrasted with a traditional live demonstration in terms of student experience, confidence, and overall success in replicating the techniques shown.
Joseph Moore Museum
Connecting to the Richmond community through informal education: Spotlight on Joseph Moore Museum’s Great Discoveries students
Facilitator: Heather Lerner
Presenters: Abby Shuck, Cade Orchard, Cole Morse, Hannah Grushon, Jenn Baker, Kiyomi Johnson, Megan Steinhiser, Nathen Peck
Archaeology; Art, Nature and Conservation; Biology; Data Science; Earth and Environmental Science; Graduate Programs in Education; Museum Studies; Outdoor Education; Community Engagement
How do museum collections and museum outreach impact the teaching and learning of the Earlham community? Students from the Great Discoveries in Natural History Collections class will share their path at Earlham using museums and museum collections. We will answer this question through examples from (1) experiential learning, informal STEM education by taking people outdoors and creating a non-answer-driven learning environment (2) using Earlham collections for paleontology research in combination with other institutions’ collections (3) uniquely adapting to the background knowledge and interest of a live and ever changing audience of the campus and broader community (4) creating access to our biodiversity collections through digitization and connecting with other institutions (5) learning from anthropologically significant artifacts (6) learning how museums are run and how to prepare new specimens for the collection. Following short student presentations, the students will take questions as a panel.
CVPA 143
Theatre for Social Change: Art & Action
Facilitator: Lynne Perkins Socey
Presenters: Sarah Cohen, Austi Jenkins, Mike Martin, Katie Zack
Arts and Advocacy; Arts Management; Creative Writing; Earlham School of Religion; Film Studies; Graduate Programs in Education; Human Development and Social Relations; Media and Communications; Museum Studies; Peace and Global Studies; Psychology; Sociology and Anthropology; Theatre Arts; Community Engagement
Stories brought to life for audiences through theatre, film, and television can raise awareness, amplify underrepresented voices, reflect changes in societal attitudes and/or catalyze community conversations. But Forum Theatre, Verbatim Theatre, Arts-in-Education, Theatre of the Oppressed, Socio-Drama, and drama therapy practices can also support individuals, small groups and/or communities with shared interests as they problem-solve through play. Theatre for Social Change course students will share what they’ve learned through their research, experiential learning, and community service projects this semester. (Audience interaction encouraged – but not required.)
Support your classmates. Win new luggage for your next Epic Journey adventure!
Every student who attends the poster session and any one or more of the concurrent sessions will be entered into a drawing for luggage. You will receive one entry for each session you attend. Attend all four sessions and receive a fifth bonus entry!
Muslim student iftar for Ramadan
Students, faculty and staff who are observing Ramadan on April 28 are invited to a special community iftar at 8:30 p.m. in Comstock Room, Runyan Center.
Questions?
Contact us at [email protected] with any questions about this event.