Six Honors Program students attended the Northeast Regional Honors Conference April 7-10 in Philadelphia. Two of them were involved as presenters. 

The theme of this year鈥檚 conference was 鈥淎 More Perfect Union: Creating and Restoring Community in An Age of Disruption.鈥� The conference schedule included a keynote address by Rutgers University professor Marybeth Gasman, presentations, poster sessions, an art show, dedicated gatherings for students and faculty, a banquet, a gala, and an awards ceremony. Conference participants had the option of attending in person or virtually.

Zachary Davis participated in a panel discussion, 鈥淟anguage and the Stories of Social Justice,鈥� where he addressed 鈥淢ilitant Monolingualism in the United States.鈥� Grace Lester presented a poster, 鈥淒ismantling Disruptions to the Rights of Deaf People in Carceral Institutions.鈥� Other students in attendance were Lillian Berggoetz, Hailey Burton, Mara Land, and Maizy Wilcox. Honors Program Director Jennifer Nelson accompanied the group. She noted that this was a prime opportunity for networking and gathering information for capstone projects.

Mara Land, a sophomore communication studies major from South Dakota, echoed Nelson鈥檚 sentiments. 鈥淭he NRHC conference was really amazing! I got to meet so many students from all over the Northeast region and was able to have so many good conversations with the people I met as well as the other Gallaudet students who attended. There were so many poster and panel presentations that had a lot of really neat information about so many different topics. I now have some idea of what I will do for my capstone plus motivation to present at this conference in the future.鈥�

Eight Honors Program students will present their capstone projects on Thursday, May 5 from noon to 4 p.m. in the I. King Jordan Student Academic Center, Sprint Multipurpose Room. These eight students, plus Emelia Beldon, who completed her capstone last year, are expected to graduate with University Honors. Their capstone projects are in biology, Deaf studies, history, information technology, mathematics, and psychology. 

The history capstone, by Brenna Smith, includes classics and creative writing.  Also, Sabine Castro is the first-ever Online Degree Completion Program (ODCP) student to complete an Honors capstone, in Deaf studies.