MSJC Honors Students Awarded at Honors Research Conference
5/1/2024
Five Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC) received awards and accolades during the 2024 Honors Transfer Council of California (HTCC) Honors Research Conference on Saturday, April 20 at UC Riverside.
According to the HTCC website, the HTCC is a consortium of more than 50 honors programs in California community colleges. Each is committed to serving the state’s diverse populations “by offering highly motivated students academic engagement, enriched learning environments, and research opportunities.”
A total of 28 MSJC students presented their research in either poster or oral presentation form, for a total of four posters and 19 oral presentations. In addition, eight more MSJC students served as volunteers for the conference, helping to moderate sessions. The MSJC contingent at the conference was rounded out by 13 MSJC faculty, most of whom were mentors for the student presenters, and two administrators, including Dr. Roger Schultz, Superintendent/President, and Alma Ramirez, Dean of Instruction, Arts, Communication & Design Pathway.
Students were welcomed to the conference by the UC Riverside University Honors Program and by one of their alumni, Sandy Reyes-Moran, who discussed her experience going from being a high school dropout to enrolling in classes at San Bernardino Valley College to transferring to UCR and their Honors Program. She recently graduated from UCR and is now attending UCR’s MBA program. MSJC Honors Program co-director Christina Yamanaka-Vu, who serves as the HTCC President, opened the conference by remarking on the significance of the experience for both the students and their faculty mentors. Attendees also heard from MSJC Honors Program co-director Erik Ozolins, as the Conference Chair, serving as the emcee for both the opening and closing sessions.
The MSJC Honors Program requires that all student presenters attend practice sessions where they receive feedback on their presentations from members of the Honors Committee. This year committee members Dan Peace, Jennifer Baney, and Morgan Hoodenpyle attended several practices sessions and helped the students to hone their presentations and be ready for the conference.
All of the work the students put in along with the support of the faculty mentors resulted in four MSJC students earning special awards and recognition at the conference.
- Caris Sandino - Juan Lara Scholarship
- Joseph Awad - Outstanding Abstract Award for their presentation “Contextualizing the Lived Experiences of Queer Arabs: Understanding the Dimensions & Manifestations of Fear"
- Joseph Awad and Luis Guerrero Escoto - 1st place, Social Sciences/Humanities poster category for their poster "Assessing the Psychosocial & Demographical Determinants of Voter Willingness amongst California Community College Students: Exploring the Roles of Perceived Powerlessness, Hopelessness & Age"
- Steven Chamul - 3rd place, Social Sciences/Humanities poster category for their poster "Confronting the impact of Social and Economic Conservatism on Depressive symptoms amongst California Community College Students"
- Alvaro Villarreal - 2nd place, STEM poster category for his poster "Tacky Tribulus Terrestris: A Spiky Weed’s Growth in an Urban World"
