Presentation: March 17, 3:00pm

Erin Loterbauer is an accomplished and driven student-athlete at St. Catherine University. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, she was recruited to play tennis for the Wildcats and has excelled on the court. However, Erin's talents extend beyond athletics, as she has taken several honors classes during her time at St. Kates and values the opportunities she has had to challenge herself academically. Erin appreciates the small, residential feel of the campus while still being close to the metro area. As an English education major, Erin has embarked on a fascinating honors project exploring the trend of book banning in American schools. Combining her interests in education and art, she has created digital art pieces that redesign the book jacket art of selected books while researching and analyzing the impact of book banning on students. Erin's project aims to raise awareness about the importance of protecting intellectual freedom and the role of art in advocating for change. Her passion for educational reform and belief in the importance of diverse and challenging ideas drive her work, and she hopes to inspire others to engage in critical thinking and creativity through her digital art project.

Link to Erin's Presentation Video

Presentation: March 17, 3:30pm

Fahima Abdullahi is a senior Nursing student and her project is titled Health Effects of Global Warming in Minnesota 

Abstract: 

Essentially, global warming is the result on human activities. While pursuit economic endeavors, society has created frameworks that result in emission of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants. Ultimately, not only have these, especially oxides of carbon, led to increased global temperature but, eventually, it is notable that these have direct and indirect effects. It is arguable that human activities feature a byproduct. While beneficial, fossil fuels sustain global mobility while causing global warming. With time, this has led to rising sea levels. In the urban settings, the increase in temperature results in the demand for air conditioning and refrigeration creating a cycle of global warming and solutions that exacerbate the problem. It is, however, the healthcare effects that Minnesota should be concerned about. Notably, the project reviews the vulnerable population, featuring children, the elderly, and those with underlying conditions, who are at the mercy of global warming. Rising temperature causes photochemical reactions that have been linked with various cancer, respiratory, and cardiac effects. Besides, global warming has been found to create a conducive ground for the breeding pathogenic hosts. Others, e.g., migratory birds, are forced to move and, while some carry zoonotic diseases, result in the spread of infectious diseases. However, there are social and technological policy initiatives that could be harnessed for addressing the public health effects. Indeed, the paper endeavors to correlate research literature with the conditions in Minnesota. Eventually the paper creates an avenue for understanding potential effects and possible mitigation.

Link to Fahima's Presentation Video

Presentation: March 31, 4:30pm

Senior student Elsa Joly is pursuing an Economics degree at St. Catherine University and plays tennis. She appreciates the supportive campus community that allows everyone to find their voices. Her favorite honors courses is Global Search for Justice (GSJ) Voices of Dissent because it engaged students on current important topics. Her honors project investigates, through data analysis, what method of shopping, either online or in-person shopping is the best for the environment, from the perspective of gas consumption. As she cares deeply for the environment, the project was an opportunity for her to combine her economics background with data analysis and a current issue. The topic is meaningful to her because it highlights the fact that consumer behaviors contribute to global warming, no matter how we consume, so it is important to be realize how consumptions behaviors can be harmful to then improve them.

Link to Elsa's Presentation Video

Presentation: April 14, 3:00pm

Julia Handley is a senior English major at St Kate's and her honors project is titled Kate is Late / ¡Kate sale tarde!: Representing Neurodiversity In Children’s Literature

"I chose St. Kate's because of the kindness and compassion of the St. Kate's community. I knew several alumnae before I started at St. Kate's, and all were important role models for me. During my own time at St. Kate's, I've really appreciated the school's commitment to helping all students succeed and working together to solve problems. One of my favorite honors classes was the Harry Potter Literature and Theology class, which was really fun! My honors project is called "Kate is Late." It is a children's book, written in both English and Spanish, about a young girl navigating life with ADHD. I was inspired to write it because of the experiences that some of my loved ones had, and I wanted to do a project involving both my major (English) and minors (Spanish and Language Studies)."

Link to Julia's Presentation Video

Presentation: April 14, 4:30pm

Elena Floyd is a passionate and talented student at St. Catherine University who values the small and supportive community that the university provides. She has taken several honors classes, including TRW, a project course, and seminars that explore topics such as "Women in Aging and Literature" and "Music in the Church and in the Streets." As a musician herself, Elena has a special interest in exploring the role of music in various contexts and cultures. Outside of her academic pursuits, she is an active volunteer in her community and involved in several music groups on campus. For her honors project, Elena is conducting a meta-analysis literature review paper that focuses on the history and consequences of the gender disparity in the diagnosis of ASD. This topic is of personal interest to her, and she hopes that her research will help create a more equitable and supportive system for individuals and families affected by ASD. Elena's dedication and expertise are sure to make a valuable contribution to the field of psychology and to the lives of those impacted by ASD.

Link to Elena's Presentation Video

Presentation: April 21, 3:00pm

Gabby Bodin is a junior at St.Catherine University. Born and raised in Plymouth she has lived her whole life in Minnesota. A Biology and Pre-Physical Therapy major, she hopes to be accepted into St.Kate's Physical Therapy program. (what sports she plays and when is she playing) What Gabby enjoys most about St.Kates is the community and their emphasis with social justice. as well as how accommodating the coaches are with her balancing sports and school. Gabby’s honors project this year tells the story of a grandmother who was an immigrant from Finland in World War II. Her honors project focused on how she was caught up in this  international conflict, how it affected her and relates to the  international conflict that is going on in Ukraine. By drawing correlations between then and now, Gabby hopes her project illustrates the idea of history repeating itself. 

Senior Biology student Gabby Bodin enjoys how the St. Catherine community supports each student's academic and athletic goals. Her favorite honors course has been Healthcare Improv. Her honors project is based on her grandmother’s childhood experience growing up in Finland during World War II through the lens of historical fiction, capturing the atmosphere of a war torn country from the perspective of a young girl. She chose this topic to highlight the civilian experience from World War II and demonstrate many of the similar experiences Ukrainian civilians are currently living in. The project has also given her the opportunity to record her grandmother’s oral history and learn more about her family history.

Link to Gabby's presentation video

Presentation: April 21, 3:30pm

Abby Conrad is a junior Exercise and Sports Science and pre Physical Therapy major at St. Kate's. As soon as she set foot on campus, she could feel the sense of female empowerment. She enjoys the encouraging on campus where she has found other students like her: independent, motivated, talented, driven women who work hard to create their own path to achieve their dreams. She appreciates the relationships that she has formed here with faculty, other students, mentors and friends. These relationships have helped her to bloom into the person she is and have helped her to find her way in college and to become the student she is. Her favorite honors course is Let’s Start with the Body, Feminist Ways of Knowing because she learned a lot about herself, how to process my emotions and manage academic stress. She was happy with the unique learning environment the class created and witnessed both individual and group growth in the class. Her honors project is a children’s book about the cancer treatment process from diagnosis to remission following a little girl’s treatment through the eyes of her Teddy Bear. She chose the project because she is a childhood cancer survivor and has been a significant part of her life. She is 16 years cancer free, but that trauma and experience is something she carries with her every day. Her project creates a resource she was unable to access through her own treatment. The project is meaningful to her because it is her way of giving back to the community that saved my life. She is beyond thankful for those who made her treatment more bearable. She hopes that the book will be published so it can be a resource for children and parents who are starting the process. For her project the book will be digital with an accompanying reflection paper about the process as a whole and her emotions throughout this year long journey.

Link to Abby's presentation video

Presentation: April 21, 4:00pm

Hannah Affolter, a senior at St. Catherine University, is pursuing a Biology degree while also playing hockey. Her honors project focuses on Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), a rare neurological disorder her grandmother has been diagnosed with. Hannah hopes to increase awareness and understanding of the condition by combining poetry, artwork, and a research paper to convey the emotional and personal impact of the disease. Her project promises to be an insightful and inspiring contribution to the understanding of MSA. Outside of her studies, Hannah is an active member of the St. Kate's community and is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of others through her work.

Link to Hannah's presentation video

Presentation: April 21, 4:30pm

Chyenne Vang is a senior studying psychology at St. Catherine. She was inspired to apply to St. Kate's by her high school music teacher who is a St. Kate’s alumna. She enjoys the campus community as it allows students to develop closer and professional relationships with staff and faculty, and makes her feel welcome to share her ideas, feelings and educational concerns. She has developed a strong sense of community within the Psychology department. Her favorite honors class is "Let's Start with the Body" directed by Hui Wilcox and Marcus Young. For her honors project, she will be presenting on the benefits of Music Therapy on the providers and their client's lives. After graduation she would like to pursue a career in therapy or counseling with her Psychology degree.

Link to Chyenne's presentation video

Presentation: April 28, 3:00pm

Nursing student Joelle Tokpa is a senior at St Catherine University. She admires St. Kate's because of its values, the welcoming environment, and the way the university cherishes education and empowerment of women. She feels they adequately prepare their students for the world. Of all the honors classes she has taken, her favorite was Global Search for Justice (GSJ): Voices of dissent because it held power in opinions, the way she takes on the world, and her capability of leading. For her honors project she investigates the experiences of children with healthcare professionals with the intention to educate healthcare professionals and parents of pediatric-aged children on how to reduce the anxiety and fear surrounding care and procedures performed in these settings. Through her research and collaboration with Child Life Specialists at Children’s Hospital Minnesota, she discovered the opportunity not only to verbalize the importance of interventions but to find specific methods that are effective. She currently works in a pediatric hospital where she has seen children’s fears first-hand. As she transitions into the RN role she want to adequately prepare herself and many others on how to break down those fears of young patients and create a calm environment. She will be using children’s book displays, through simple illustrations and short sentences to demonstrate how effective care can change the outcome of a clinical experience. 

Link to Joelle's presentation video

Presentation: April 28, 3:30pm

Zoe Sternberg is a senior Biology student with a minor in Chemistry. The title of her project is The Lives and Contributions to Science of Five Women Scientists That You Should Know.

Abstract: 

Picture in your mind a typical scientist. Did you imagine someone wearing a long white lab coat wearing safety glasses, and maybe holding a container filled with some sort of chemical or looking through a microscope? Now think about what that scientist looks like. If you imagined a middle aged white male, roughly 41% of liberal arts undergraduate students would agree with that description (Gormally and Ingrham 2021). This skewed perspective is the result of the overrepresentation of white males in the history of science. Throughout history, the work and lives and women, especially women scientists, were diminished relative to their white male counterparts. Historians have recently begun to change the narrative of women in science by uncovering the truth behind the lives and works of countless women scientists. This project aims to highlight the life of five women and their contributions to science in the face of insurmountable obstacles in male-domianted fields and patriarchal society. Each of these women have made significant contributions to science, but not all of them have received the proper recognition for their work. This project will describe the social and historical context that each woman lived and worked in as well as how their work was received by their peers and the public. This project will also explore how and if these women were recognized for their work and how their work has been perceived over time. Women scientists living in a patriarchal society relied on men to practice and succeed in science, but men were also responsible for diminishing or even sabotaging their work which prevented them from receiving recognition for their discoveries. This project will tell the story of the five following women: Mary Anning (1799-1847), Alice Augusta (1892-1916), Helen Taussig (1898-1986), Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958), and Suzanne Simard (1960-present).

Link to Zoe's presentation video

Presentation: April 28, 4:00pm

Kate Yapp is a senior Double Major in Political Science and Communications and a Double Minor in Philosophy and Marketing. She chose St. Kate’s because her mom is an alumna and for the beautiful campus. Because St. Kate's is close to her home she was able to keep developing her relationship with her younger brother before she ventured further away for graduate school. As someone interested in political science and social change, Kate admires the social justice praxis of the CSJs who are motivated by their faith, and the meaningful diversity at St. Kate's which allowed her to think about social justice in collaborative and humble ways that took the perspectives and experiences of underrepresented people into account. She has appreciated the strong community she has built with professors, staff, and other students who just want to see each other succeed. Additionally, she appreciates the safety and dignity given to her ideas and thoughts, especially when it comes to political science, and being in a community that wants to focus on actual solutions, not resorting to bigotry or being a devil's advocate. Her favorite honors course she took was Accio Evil, Expecto Equality (theology and literature) with her roommate, Charlotte Kadifa who had insisted she read the Harry Potter books. Her faith helps motivate and guide her social justice and through the honors class she could see the two elements weave together. The experience was a beautiful way for her to stay connected and encouraged during Covid and bond with other Katies. For her honors project she focused on helping clarify the confusion and anxiety around study abroad and giving more insight so Katies can go through the process more empowered and more likely to succeed. She applied for study abroad twice, with one delay during Covid, and found the process to be an overwhelming experience. She wants more Katies to be able to study abroad with as little stress as possible so they can get the most out of their experience and encourage others to do so. She feels that Katies could benefit from experiencing new cultures and also that the world could benefit from the perspective and knowledge that Katies. Her project is a result of writing testimony for a grant application for the Global Studies office to help subsidize some application fees, and a column she wrote for the Wheel: "Go Global with Kate Yapp”. Additionally, she has been working with CIEE as a study abroad ambassador at St. Kate's. 

Link to Kate's presentation video

Presentation: April 28, 4:30pm

Maya O'Reilly is a Studio Art major at St Catherine University. She chose St Kate's based on the opportunities here for scholarships and the honors program. Her older sister also attends St Kate's, so it was fun for her to know someone on campus! She has enjoyed taking honors courses on music and theology, women dissenters, and 5th Century art and history. Her project is about the complexity of being a feminine person during adolescence through art. She chose this topic because she wanted to speak from her own life experience and the stories of the people that surrounded her. Her project will be displayed in the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery and online on her virtual gallery. She has created artwork in several mediums including ceramic, textile, and bookbinding, all of which she was able to strengthen her artistic skills and learn several new techniques.

Link to Maya's presentation video

Presentation: May 5, 12:00pm

Emily Ernst is a Public Health senior at St. Catherine University. She initially chose St. Kate’s because of the Occupational Therapy program but changed her degree because of her love for the Public Health program. She has appreciated her time working at the Center for Spirituality and Social Justice (CSSJ). She attributes much of who she is today and the leader she feels capable of being due to her experiences working at the CSSJ office. She has had the opportunity to help make the space into somewhere all people can feel welcome to explore and engage in their spirituality, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Her favorite Honors class she took was called Aging Women in Literature. The purpose of her project is to explore how sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals understand and experience minority stress and its impact on their health. She chose her project because of her experiences with research on SGM health, exploring how the LGBTQ+ community is disproportionately affected by several negative mental and physical health outcomes. She seeks to fill the gap in the research on what SGM individuals know about their increased risk for these negative health outcomes and how they perceive that risk. If they do not know about this increased risk, they are less likely to know how to get help and take preventive measures, when appropriate. Her project can help provide guidance on ways that public health workers and healthcare professionals can help SGM individuals feel empowered about their health. The subject is meaningful to her because of her personal experience with minority stress on mental and physical health. Her academic experiences lead her to help people in similar situations with preventive steps for the sake of their health and well-being. Her project will take the form of a paper.

Link to Emily's presentation video

Presenation: May 5, 12:30pm 

Kate Nordstrom is a senior Communications student with a minor in Spanish. The title of her honors project is The Beauty of Being Bilingual: The Connection of Language and Empathy in Speech-Language Pathology

Flowing between two languages is beautiful in many contexts and even more so when the goal is to enhance communication and encourage progress in the speech-language pathology setting. While working in a local Spanish Immersion school, I was fascinated by how the speech therapist would speak to the students using their first language of Spanish or English. I was curious, how does speaking in their first language create a safe and comfortable environment? In “The Beauty of Being Bilingual: The Connection of Language and Empathy in Speech-Language Pathology,” I will interview bilingual SLPs in the Twin Cities to learn about their philosophies and discover the significance of bilingualism in the workplace. I’ll also explore how focusing on empathy builds relationships with each student and how new dialogue opens through demonstrating genuine interest in each client. By speaking with native Spanish speakers in their language, I will strive to show an increased understanding of the culture.

Presentation: May 5, 1:00pm

Claudia Milum is a senior at St. Catherine majoring in Spanish. The title of her project is More Than Just Tacos: An Exploratory and Sensory Journey of the Colorful History of Chihuahua Cuisine.

Abstract: 

Although tacos are one of the most iconic dishes when it comes to Mexican cuisine, it is so much more diverse and rich than just this dish. Mexican cuisine is a blend of cultures, melding together to create the ancestral and innovative cuisine that it is today. Many Chicanos living in the United States experience a disconnect between two cultures; they are not perceived as Anglo-Americans, but are also rejected by Mexicans or their Mexican family for being ‘too Americanized’. By researching the connection Mexican cuisine has with its own history (marked both by acts of imperialism and acculturation), and by recreating the staple dishes of my ancestral state of Chihuahua, Mexico, I hope to develop a deeper understanding of my own Mexican heritage and what food means to me as a connection to this heritage. After choosing five dishes distinctive of the region of Chihuahua, I researched the history of these dishes and their significance to Chihuahua culture and history. I prepared the chosen dishes using recipes adapted from Mexican cookbooks, as well as from Mexican Youtube creators. I intended to not only gain a closer understanding of my own culture and heritage, but also to investigate how food is related to cultural belonging and connection. Because of the diversity of Mexican cuisine that exists within and across different regions, the focus of this project is the cuisine of Chihuahua, where my maternal lineage originates. Based on my findings from narratives of immigrants and the descendants of immigrants, I found that food, cooking, and cuisine are common gateways into cultural belonging and feelings of identity. My own experiences during this project have also allowed me to enter a gateway into my own heritage that I otherwise would not have been able to connect with.

Presentation: May 5, 1:30pm 

Captivating Chemistry: Designing an evidence-based workshop to introduce computational chemistry

Presentation: May 5, 2:00pm

Charlotte Kadifa, a senior student at St. Catherine University, has developed a strong appreciation for the community and educational opportunities available. Her passion for learning and the welcoming and supportive environment at St. Kate's have enabled her to excel academically, with her senior honors project being a reflection of her interests and expertise. As a French and History major, Charlotte is investigating the factors that have led to the current state of the welfare systems in both France and the US, seeing them as a reflection of a country's values and culture. Her project aims to contribute to the conversation on social welfare policies, which she believes is crucial in today's world. Charlotte plans to present her research findings and insights through a visually engaging display, making her project accessible to a wide audience. With her keen insights and thoughtful approach, Charlotte is well-positioned to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the French and American welfare systems and the factors that have shaped them. Overall, Charlotte's project promises to be an enlightening and meaningful contribution to her areas of expertise and the broader field of social welfare policies.

Presentation: May 5, 2:30pm

Emma Seehafer is a senior History major with a minor in English at St. Catherine University. She initially chose St. Kate's Public Health program but changed her major to History and English later at the end of my second year. She appreciates the faculty, especially the amazing humanities faculty. She also enjoys the opportunities that are available through the Office of Scholarly Engagement (OSE), especially the Assistant Mentorship Program because OSE allows for a lot of growth both academically and general life skills. The History, Art and Intellectual Life was her favorite honors seminar because she really enjoyed the discussion-based format of the class and the faculty who taught it. Her honors project is a research essay that focuses on the crisis of the humanities major in higher education and the possible solutions there are to save it. She chose the project because she started writing a shorter version of her paper for a College Writing class, and it interested her as a humanities student to see departments declining in size, promotion, and funding across the country. The topic is meaningful to her because she sees the benefits and skills that are learned through a humanities degree and how important it is to keep humanities going and investigate how they can be restructured. Her project will take the form of a long research essay focusing on topics of public perception and grant funding, as well as possible solutions, and will also include a new Interdisciplinary humanities major course curriculum. 

Presentation: May 5, 3:00 - 4:00pm

Dasha Parker is a Business Administration and Economics major at St. Catherine University. She chose St. Kate's because of Mary Giorgi, the golf coach, after staying for an overnight during her senior year of high school. She also loves the campus and how welcoming it feels. She has enjoyed building relationships with her professors, peers, and her golf team. Additionally, she has enjoyed the class material and the personal and supportive educational experience. Her favorite honors class she took was "Let's Start With The Body," taught by Hui Wilcox and Marcus Young. She had never taken a class that made her reflect so interpersonally, be present and vulnerable, and feel like such an open and safe space. She wishes that everyone could take the course because it is so inspiring and life-changing. Her honors project with Jessica Loera is about how St. Kate's coaches use different leadership and coaching styles to motivate athletes and build high-performance teams. She and Jessica surveyed the tennis, golf, and volleyball team and their coaches to create a magazine pamphlet to display and discuss their findings. In addition to being a golfer at St. Kate's she has always been interested in how skills and leadership qualities taught in athletics carry over into the workforce and how individual and team sports may require different leadership and coaching styles. It is meaningful to her because she has been in athletics her whole life and is very passionate about athletics and the sports industry. In the future, she wants to become a manager as she believes it's important to understand what the most effective leadership styles are for different types of people and how that ties into her values and personality. She and Jessica will conduct an hour-long presentation on their findings and the magazine they created.

Presentation: May 5, 3:00 - 4:00pm

Jessica Loera is a senior at St. Catherine studying Exercise and Sports Science and Pre-Physical Therapy who enjoys playing golf. She appreciates the close-knit community at St. Kate’s and how easy it is to make friends. Mni Sota Makoce and Settler Colonialism: Communication and Theological Perspectives is her favorite honors course because she had the opportunity to learn about the Indigenous people of Minnesota. Her honors project focuses on how college athletics has helped individuals become better leaders while in college to create a pathway for success in the workplace. She feels that being an athlete has been beneficial in improving her leadership skills, enhancing the qualities that she can bring with her to grad school and the workforce. The topic is meaningful to her because she is an athlete who relies on motivation to get her through goals and was curious about how St. Kate’s athletes also rely on motivation and what implements can be made to help with this. Her project takes the form of a magazine.

Presentation: May 5, 4:00pm

Liz Bolsoni is a senior Communications student at St. Catherine University. She chose St. Kates because of the beautiful campus in an urban setting as well as the small class sizes. She feels challenged in a good way by the classes she’s taken. Particularly as a writer, she’s been challenged to write more, and better along the way. It is important to her that the work she has done in classes is something she wants to reflect on. She appreciates the enriching events every day on campus led by her peers, professors, and other community leaders. Her favorite honors courses were Mni Sota Makoce: Settler Colonialism and Let's Start with the Body: Feminist Ways of Knowing because of the community they built as a class. In both courses, she got to leave campus and learn from people outside of her institution like community activists, storytellers, friends, and strangers. Her honors project is about mapping St. Kate's campus through photos and written analysis. She questions what spaces on campus do students feel safe or comfortable in as opposed to censored or uncomfortable. She answers this question through autoethnographic methods to reflect on her relationship with space as a student and an investigator. She chose the topic because the significance of space is very relevant to her major. Additionally, what she discovered in classes like Organization Communication and Rhetoric of Resistance, for example, helped shape this curiosity. The topic is meaningful to her because she finds interviewing students and exploring every nook of campus to observe or take pictures helps her appreciate all that she has come to take for granted after 4 years. To her, it feels like a ceremonial way to remember what she is leaving behind and how it shaped her into who she is. Her project will take the form of a website to incorporate the feel of a map and curate her photos in a meaningful way, drawing inspiration from museum websites. 

Presentation: May 5, 4:30pm

Emilia Garrido Vasquez is an international student and senior double majoring in Psychology and Theatre & Dance. She is fulfilling her Theatre & Dance major at Macalester through the ACTC program and just completed her capstone Honors research paper and performance.

She joined the honors program at Macalester through her work in the ACTC program. There she took a psychology class with a lab component which established the foundations of her project research.

Her research project is Stim Dancing; The History of Incorporating Neurodivergent Movement in Dance Performance. In addition to her writing and research, her honors performance dance project is called A Place in Between which she performed with cast member at the beginning of April for the Macalester Spring Dance Concert. Her piece was a dance trilogy composed of different experimental and formal dance elements. 

Her approach to choreography reflected her research and fostered a community and an environment, that was neurodivergent-friendly. All of the cast were neurodivergent dancers and together they learned that we can work together to complement each other's dance skills and background. The collaborative space felt natural to them all.

The interdisciplinary component of combining her two majors: Psychology and Theatre & Dance allowed her work to stand on its own as a piece of art but also lead the way to her interest in Dance Therapy, the formal and exploratory ways of conducting therapy for the wellbeing of patients. In her honors committee, she had the pleasure of working with people from different fields and backgrounds as well as people who supported me throughout her project.