April 9 marked the 26th annual Academic Symposium at Goshen College. Since no classes were scheduled for the day, students had the opportunity to attend sessions throughout the day which started at 8:30 a.m. and finished with the Graduating Leader Award ceremony at 3:30 p.m. 

However, this isn’t what the symposium always looked like. Years in the past, the event would take place on a weekend. Jody Saylor, director of development and academic innovation and chair of the academic symposium planning committee, said, “It was hard to get people to attend. Eventually, and I’m not sure who made the decision … [but someone] decided that this was important enough, we wanted to showcase student scholarship and we were going to cancel classes and just make a day of celebrating student work.” 

One of these showcases was the 10 a.m. poster session in the Church Chapel Fellowship Hall. Bailee Brown, a sophomore psychology major, created a poster about myalgic encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as a part of her abnormal psychology class. Brown shared, “I really enjoyed presenting at symposium  … I loved being able to have conversations with people who were curious about my topic. Each viewer brought a different perspective or question, and it made my research and project feel a lot more meaningful and engaging.” 

Along with posters, there were demonstrations. Shoaib Ansari, a senior computer science major, presented an AI he created that was able to write cover letters: “I used it to apply to [a] couple internships, one of them was not successful and I never heard back from the other ones. My best guess would be that the cover letter, which I gave without any edits from my generator, was flagged as being AI — makes sense.” 

He also shared, “[I] was surprised to see how many people were interested in the project and what I did which was nice to see. It was something different and I had a great time.” 

The poster session and demonstrations were one part of the symposium, but other sessions were based around presentations. For example, Amanda Borden, an assistant professor of public health, hosted a session at 12:30 p.m. where students Kamille Badibanga and Gibby Gibson presented. Badibanga talked about the impacts of the use of e-cigarettes on middle and high school students, what led students to start vaping, what the health effects are and how the problem could be addressed. Gibson also focused on substance use by presenting on how alcohol use impacts mental health in students at GC by looking at why students use, the health impacts and potential solutions. 

Later in the day, Pinchpenny Press and Broadside Publishing hosted a reading of published works. Emma Gingerich and Emily Strzelecki shared poems published through Broadside. 

Bennett Silveus and Brenton Pham both read excerpts from their chapbooks recently published through Pinchpenny Press, and Oscar Murguia shared from his chapbook that will be published during May term. 

During the authors panel following the readings, Pham shared more about the inspirations for his chapbook, saying, “My relationship with my parents has been something I’ve thought a lot about, especially in these past two years. With my brother and I both in college, they’re new empty nesters, and I have had several tough conversations with them about what that’s been like. This story was a way for me to synthesize and unpack those talks because they felt important to me.” 

Pham continued, “Presenting at the academic symposium felt very rewarding … It was gratifying, then, to have a space to share my book with the public and be the one to read my words aloud. 

“My favorite part was after the questions panel where I got to sign the books that my friends and professors purchased. It made me feel very professional.” Both Pham’s and Silveus’ chapbooks will be available at the student art sale.

Many more events took place at the symposium. Saylor explained, “This year we had 148 unique individuals presenting.” As the event continues she encourages all students to attend. “I just think all students should be coming to this, it’s just such a great event and good energy, and the level — the caliber of the work is just phenomenal.”