Staff Writer- Shy Lee
If you’ve been meaning to educate yourself on new subjects, look no further, as the annual Celebration of Creative Inquiry (CCI) will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on April 22nd in Beck Hall Torrey Atrium.
Students of all majors will be showcasing projects from this year to foster interdisciplinary conversation and connect with each other. With around 100 participating students, there will be a variety of presentations to see for yourself. The CCI is not to showcase just the project, but instead, the process from beginning to end of how the project came to be.
At the CCI, there will be three separate sections: Poster Session A, Oral Presentations, and Poster Session B. These sections occur at different time frames in order to create an orderly formation at Beck Hall’s Atrium.
“We used to have the oral presentations at the same time as the poster sessions, but then nobody left the poster session to listen to the talks, so I separated it as its own thing in the middle of the event,” Professor of Chemistry Amanda Nienow explained.
There are roughly four talks in each room, all around ten minutes. Afterwards, the event will be finished with Poster Session B, according to Nienow.
As CCI changed over the years with fewer attendees and participants, it doesn’t change the strong foundation it creates for students. The event can be used in future interviews or essays when speaking about crucial skills and learning moments. Take the chance to register for or attend CCI when the time comes, as it can also help you.
“I had a senior student who was out on a job interview, and he was able to talk about his project during the interview. Using that practice of safe space and presenting here can help with the future things they’re (CCI participants) doing as well,” Nienow said.
Even in the large number of participants, it does not seem to compare to the previous years before COVID.
“The CCI was in the Campus Center, and we’d be across all the banquet rooms. There’d be so many posters from different areas like science, humanities, and art. There was also always a big spread of food in the conference or president’s dining room,” Senior Continuing Assistant Professor of Physics Darsa Donelan explained.
After going through COVID, almost everyone had lost interest in CCI, as seen in many other events and locations, Donelan mentioned. There were numerous faculty members, and due to a decrease in those faculty members, there has been less encouragement to students to participate outside of class. Although students may need encouragement and support, it does not change the fact that both students and faculty members have been burnt out, which created a disinterest in all of these projects, Donelan continued.
Attendees can look forward to the diverse collection of projects. It may be easy to find two projects that are similar, but there will never be two projects that are exactly the same.
“I have two projects that I am presenting posters for. The first I did with Dr. Jeff Jeremiason, looking at how sulfate levels near the Boundary Waters impacts mercury concentrations. The second was with Dr. Darsa Donelan. We created two sensors to measure water level and water depth and then went out in a canoe on the MN River to test them out…I put a lot of hard work into my research and project, and I am passionate about them,” Junior Grace LaTourelle asserted.
LaTourelle utilizes impressive material in her project to bring focus to the environment. After spending both summer and spring acquiring data, the posters were created and filled with detail to help people better understand. With great passion and knowledge for biology and the
environment, LaTourelle serves as a role model for students who have similar career aspirations.
“I’m a student data analyst for the office and we were given a data set of historic academic sanctions that the person who had originally created stopped working here…in 2024, they had a policy change for academic sanctions, so we try to help understand the numbers and suspensions,” Senior Meg Balfanz clarified.
Balfanz has been working hard to get the academic sanctions data set, having run into many problems during the process, but being able to rely on another person adds it together to an important experience. It constructs a pathway to success if Balfanz continues going forward as she is now.
“There’s a lot of value and lots of repetition. I feel like the first, tenth, twentieth time someone does this, there’s still a lot to learn. If someone’s done a poster presentation three times, wow, it’s great that you’re starting further ahead,” Professor of Chemistry Dwight Stoll expressed.
Stoll shows insightful thoughts on the effects of experiencing presentations and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Some may consider these the biggest factors in learning to grow, teaching a person how to communicate, show confidence, and keep organized.
“It’s definitely an important skill because things in the future are going to be presented at work to all kinds of different audiences…I think maybe that the biggest difference is knowing how to present yourself,” Stoll added.
Don’t miss the chance to meet new people and gain knowledge in various subjects. It would even be smart to register for next year’s CCI if you want to learn how to research and present your work to others.
“I hope that people take the opportunity to check it out. I think it’s a cool thing that the college puts on, and I hope that students make the most of it,” Balfanz shared.
Every student should use the opportunity given to them and take the time to see the impact CCI has on both presenters and visitors.