HIP #4: Western Regional Honors Council Conference 2024

Having the support of Kathy and the program's peer mentors was what motivated me to participate in the conference. They explained to me how broad the scope of the research was and guided me through the process of how to carry out my project. I sent my proposal with a lot of fear and without hope that it would be accepted, but to my surprise it was. The process of creating my project involved a mix of different emotions, from happiness and excitement to fear and sadness. Many times I wanted to give up because I didn't feel that my project was interesting or “enough” to be considered research, but having the support of my mentors was what pushed me to keep going.

I learned a lot from this experience, both educationally and personally. The main thing I learned was that research is not necessarily discovering something, since that carries a very broad meaning. Another thing I learned was the importance of this type of event because it contributes to research and curiosity in students both about topics that interest them and new topics. Furthermore, thanks to this experience I managed to overcome some fears that I had, such as speaking in public and interacting with unknown people.

This experience taught me how important it is to have support, and how that influences self-confidence. I was able to learn about the great impact that programs, such as the honors program, have on the development of students. These types of programs help students continue developing their skills and have a support network that drives them to be better every day. If it had not been for the support that this program gave me at all times, I believe that I would not have been able to carry out the project, much less the presentation.

Before the day of the trip to Long Beach, I was really scared about my poster presentation. The main worry I had was that maybe my research wasn't any good, but so was the fact that I was afraid of speaking in public, even more so engaging in one-on-one conversations with people I don't know. I was afraid to talk to people and I was starting to think that maybe I hadn't prepared enough and that this probably wasn't for me.

The night before the conference we had a practice session. We meet to present our projects to each other, and we also have a round of questions and feedback for our presentations.

When it was my turn to present I felt a little nervous, but hearing everyone's words of encouragement helped me feel more confident. The questions that my classmates asked me helped me practice my answers, and some questions helped me complement information that I had not considered. One of the questions that one of my classmates asked me was asked by a conference attendee, and at that moment I realized how important it is to practice and consider different points of view. Being able to practice with my mentors, and classmates, Kathy Tran-Peters, Mike Young, and Dr. Sahar Al-Shoubaki gave me the confidence I needed, helped me feel more confident about my project, and helped me know that I can achieve great things.