The Honors Colloquium is scheduled for April 30-May 2 and May 4.
Twenty-seven Wayne State College students will present their honors research projects during the Spring 2025 Honors Colloquium being held Wednesday through Friday, April 30-May 2, and Sunday, May 4. The public is invited to attend.
The first presentation will be held from 2:45 to 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, in the Providence Medical Center’s auditorium, located at 1200 Providence Road in Wayne. Presentations for Thursday and Friday, May 1-2, will be held in the Kanter Student Center’s Niobrara Rooms (east and west) on campus. The final presentation is at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 4, in Ley Theatre, located in the Brandenburg Building on campus.
The Wayne State Honors Program allows students to be more involved within an academic discipline, to broaden and deepen an education beyond the usual required work, and to nurture and reward genuine intellectual curiosity. Research opportunities help develop the skills of independent thinking and scholarly inquiry.
The Wayne State Honors Program engages students through a combination of specialized general education courses and research projects completed in the academic major.
At Wayne State, belonging to the Honors Program means not only distinction, but special opportunities and challenges for students with high aspirations. In any academic program at Wayne State, honors students have the option of choosing one of three honors options: High Honors in the Major, Honors in the Major, and Scholar in the Major.
For more information about the Wayne State Honors Program, visit www.wsc.edu/honors-program.
The schedule, with presentation titles, times, and locations, is:
Wednesday, April 30
Delanie Heil of Loup City, Neb. – 2:45-3:15 p.m., Providence Medical Center auditorium, 1200 Providence Road in Wayne, Neb.
"Fighting Back: Effects of Rock Steady Boxing Participation on Quality of Life in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease”
Instructor: Dr. Kris Fox
Thursday, May 1
Jacob Kneifl of Wayne, Neb. – 8:30-9 a.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"Social Determinants of Managing Type II Diabetes Mellitus"
Instructor: Dr. Barbara Engebretsen
Gordona Howell of Polk, Neb. – 9-9:30 a.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"Beyond Pets: The Lasting Benefits of Childhood Connections with Animals on Emotional Health"
Instructor: Dr. Sara Walsh
Abby Kopecky of Aberdeen, S.D. – 9:30-10 a.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"The Many Faces of River Blindness: From Parasite to Public Health"
Instructor: Dr. Jillian Wormington
Brayden Almgren of Stuart, Neb. – 10-10:30 a.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"Zoonotic Disease: Anthropogenic Causes, Prevention Measures, and Educational Gaps"
Instructor: Dr. Jillian Wormington
Holly Tomcak of Howells, Neb. – 11-11:30 a.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"Ephemera: A Collection of Poetry"
Instructor: Dr. Stephanie Marcellus
Sean Munemo of Cape Town, South Africa – 11:30 a.m.-Noon, Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"Enhancing Construction Safety in South Africa: Lessons from OSHA Standards"
Instructor: Dr. Jeff Allen
Avery Partida of Wayne, Neb. – Noon-12:30 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"The Theory of Acting: The Process of Performance and Creations for Stage"
Instructor: Rusty Ruth
Rivar Yoder of Waterbury, Neb. – 12:30-1 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"Chromatic Veil Tarot: Re-imagining the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck through Modern Tools and Technology"
Instructor: Dr. Ann Riley-Adams
Danielle Janssen of Tecumseh, Neb. – 1-1:30 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"The Mythological Circe in Modernist and Postmodernist Literature"
Instructor: Dr. Ann Riley-Adams
Kayla Fischer of West Point, Neb. – 1:30-2 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"Name, Image, and Likeness Impact on College Athletes' School Selection"
Instructor: Chad Maas
Faith Lubischer of Pierce, Neb. – 2-2:30 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"Chocolate's Dark Side: Exploring the Impact of Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry"
Instructor: Dr. Mark Hammer
Sydney McKay of Humphrey, Neb. – 2:30-3 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"The Beatrice Six: A Nebraska Case Study of the Wrongfully Convicted"
Instructor: Dr. Rachel Kunz
Alaina Suchsland of Minden, Neb. – 3-3:30 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"Shots Fired: How Ballistics Testimony Affects the Outcome of Criminal Cases"
Instructor: Tara Wiles
Friday, May 2
Parker Albers of Hartington, Neb. – 8-8:30 a.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"Nationalism, Sensationalism, and the Perception of American Tragedies"
Instructor: Dr. Randy Bertolas
Kylie Cautrell of Hoskins, Neb. – 8:30-9 a.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"Beyond Numbers: The Dynamics of African, Demography, Reproductive Healthcare, and Population Expansion"
Instructor: Dr. Randy Bertolas
Julia Dvorak of Brainard, Neb. – 10:30-11 a.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"Two Paths, One Breath: Investigating Oral and Nasal Respiration"
Instructor: Dr. Shawn Pearcy
Griffin Ryan of Wahoo, Neb. – 11-11:30 a.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"Subsidized Greed: How Quantitative Easing Encouraged Risky Investment Practices on Wall Street"
Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Miller
Juliana Koperski of Lincoln, Neb. – 11:30 a.m.-Noon, Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"Glioblastoma and the Impact of the Methylation of the MGMT Promoter Region on Treatment"
Instructor: Dr. Danielle Peekenschneider
Anna DeGroot of Clarinda, Iowa – 1-1:30 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"Creepy, Crawly, and Consistent: Evidence of Personality in Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches"
Instructor: Dr. Jillian Wormington
Jayde Teutsch of West Point, Neb. – 2-2:30 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"Color-Blind and Merit-Based: A Review of Executive Orders' Impact on Racial Policy"
Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Miller
Jasmyne McDonald of Bellwood, Neb. – 2:30-3 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"An Analytic Take on Mass Incarceration: A Broken System that is Racially and Monetarily Motivated has No Place in Modern Society"
Instructor: Dr. Rachel Kunz
Erin Zulkoski of Broken Bow, Neb. – 3-3:30 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"Should Female Serial Killers be Treated Differently from their Male Counterparts: An Argument in Opposition of the Difference of Application of the Law"
Instructor: Dr. Rachel Kunz
Shawn Zellmer of Pierce, Neb. – 3:30-4 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"Wildcat Way: A Digital Solution for On Campus Navigation"
Instructor: Jeremy Wynia
Wyatt Bergen of Sutton, Neb. – 4-4:30 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara East)
"The Wars that Changed Medicine: Innovations and Legacies of the World Wars"
Instructor: Dr. Shawn Pearcy
Luz Cabrera Rios of South Sioux City, Neb. – 4:30-5 p.m., Kanter Student Center (Niobrara West)
"Private AI Chatbot Architecture: Two Machines, One System"
Instructor: Dr. Lori Nicholson
Sunday, May 4
Jayden Carper of West Point, Neb. – 3 p.m., Ley Theatre (Brandenburg Building)
“Strange Times and Drastic Measures: A Concert of Original Compositions”
Instructor: Dr. Angela Miller-Niles