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"PLACE*" was the theme for the 2025 Western Regional Honors Council Conference, hosted by the Metropolitan State University of Denver's Honors Program, and scheduled for April 3rd-5th, 2025.
This is my second time participating in the Western Regional Honors Council conference, and just like the first, it was an experience I will never forget.
Before the Spring 2025 semester began, I was confident I would submit my research proposal for consideration at this year's conference. Having participated in last year's conference helped me feel calmer and gave me a foundation for the research process, but I still didn't know exactly how I would approach this year's research, as it took a slightly different approach.
A couple of months later, I was thrilled to receive my acceptance email. I was about to begin my research on a topic I care deeply about, and I would also be attending the conference as a member of the Honors Program Team! 😄 I was very excited to be able to share about a topic I consider very important and also to be able to support the SLCC Honors Program students, who would also be presenting their research.
My research project focused on the effects of Imposter Syndrome on higher education students, specifically those at SLCC. This topic presented its challenges, mainly because there weren't many scientific articles addressing the topic as such. I considered seeking general information on the subject from expert bodies in the field of psychology, and that's when I learned that there were methods to measure the effects of Imposter Syndrome, and one of them was surveys. I reviewed different surveys, reading each statement to get an idea of what they consisted of, and I also saw that they all used a scale for the responses. Finally, based on the literature reviewed and the different surveys I found, I was able to write my first draft with the questions for my survey, and began to see which areas I would consider for my research.
Professor Tom Hanson helped me review the questions on my draft and gave me extremely helpful feedback. Kathy Tran-Peters reviewed it a second time and also gave me feedback. She also helped me see how I could begin gathering information and what areas I would focus on. Once I had the reviews, feedback, and final details, I began sharing the survey for data collection. The process was a bit slow at first, so I decided to start asking students around campus if they would take my survey, making it clear that their responses would be anonymous.
I learned so much from this experience. Having to talk to several people, asking if they could take my survey, made me step out of my comfort zone. It's a bit difficult for me to interact with people I don't know, but this helped me loosen up a lot, which also helped me not feel nervous on the day of the conference itself. I then began the process of data analysis, something that was new to me. Investigating which tools or methods could help me with the data processing was also a new experience. I ended up choosing the ones I considered best for this research, and from there, I began to find relationships/patterns in the respondents' responses.
The responses were very interesting, and the connections answered some of my hypotheses. It's surprising, and worrying, how many students experience feelings of imposter syndrome, and how it affects different areas of their lives. I realized that this was a topic that wasn't talked about much, but that it was very present in students' lives, and that made me think about how necessary it was to start looking for and providing resources that help with this. I'm happy to have been able to conduct this research, but I would have liked to have a larger sample so I could present it to my school and have them consider holding workshops to discuss it.
I am deeply grateful to everyone who helped me develop this research and to those who made it possible to attend the conference. They all undoubtedly support student learning. It was an honor to represent Salt Lake Community College and the Honors Program and to be able to support the students in this incredible experience. I was very happy to be able to give back to the support and guidance my mentors gave me last year; it was a wonderful experience.
I plan to continue this research at the University of Utah and be able to recruit a larger sample because it's a topic that interests me greatly. I believe it will greatly help raise awareness about this issue, which will also help provide more resources to help students who are going through this. Finally, I hope that anyone who knows about these types of academic events, or who is reading this reflection, will be encouraged to participate in these conferences. It's a wonderful experience from which I know they will learn a lot.
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