Scholars Day Research Covers Cattle, Birds, Social Anxieties, and More
IASB leader encourages students to advocate for the ideas of others
Dozens of Buena Vista University students showed off their research and findings in the 19th annual celebration of Scholars Day on campus in Storm Lake.
Duane “D.T.” Magee, Executive Director of the Iowa Association of School Boards, served as keynote speaker. Magee, who earned a Master’s Degree in Education Administration from BVU in 2001, shared insight on his time as an educator, encouraging students to write goals, share ideas, become advocates for the ideas of others, and more. Magee, who talked about being at the table when the Teach Iowa job-networking website was formulated, now helps lead programs and services that support some 1,800 school board members across Iowa.
Magee joined several BVU faculty, staff, and community members in asking questions of students as they detailed months-long research efforts that culminated in this academic celebration.
“An accomplishment is what it really is,” said Dr. Thom Bonagura, Dean of the BVU School of Science. “You started this journey months ago. It was full of ups and downs and conflicting feelings. Maybe you pitched an idea to a faculty mentor, and they were not as enthused as you hoped, a downer. But they pushed you, made you think about how this idea could be refined. You then began the debate, a little push and pull...until a week or two ago, when you printed that poster or gave your final practice talk; a huge surge of elation. That feeling is pure learning. It is what we seek here at a university.”
Projects were varied in size, scope, and subject matter, ranging from a Bird Image Recognition Detector to a study measuring Social Physique Anxiety in Athletes vs. Non-Athletes to findings on the Respiratory Effects of Oxytocin on Bold Jumping Spiders to The Evaluation of Enogen Corn within Cattle, and more.
For a full list of Scholars Day presentations, a listing of students and faculty sponsors, go to Scholars Day.