MDC Honors College

NEWS AND EVENTS

Summer 2009 activities

Every summer honors students are encouraged to take part in various off-campus activities. This year the following students have applied for and are taking part in the following activities.

Jenelle Fernandez
2009 Graduate transferring to University of Florida

Jenelle Fernandez a graduating sophomore of The Honors College has been selected to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson/AAMC Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) at the University of Louisville Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, Louisville, Ky.

This six-week program (June 21- August 1, 2009) is designed to enhance students' learning skills, awareness of current issues in healthcare disparity, and research skills. Topics such as social and scientific aspects of healthcare access and delivery, analytical reading, and basic scientific concepts will be discussed in small-group, problem-based settings, facilitated by faculty, students and staff.

Diandra Perez
2009 Graduate transferring to Columbia fall 2009

Diandra Perez, a graduating sophomore of The Honors College has been selected to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson/AAMC Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Yuray Rodriguez
2009 Graduate transferring to Purdue University

Yuray Rodriguez is a graduating sophomore and engineering major. He was selected to attend the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships at Purdue University. The SURF program provides students across all engineering, science and technology disciplines with an intensive research experience, allowing them to work closely with graduate students and professors in their respective schools.

The interdisciplinary aspect of the projects allows students to learn and work across other disciplines while still applying the concepts and skills from their own programs. This setting provides undergraduate students with an avenue to perform research in an academic environment while exploring future graduate study options.

SURF program benefits include paid, hands-on research under the guidance of a faculty member and a graduate student; weekly seminars on research methodology, graduate school, and professional development; student poster presentations; social activities with other SURF students; and end of summer banquet.

Rodannie Zapata
2009 Graduate transferring to George Town

Rodannie Zapata is a graduating Sophomore from The Honors College. She will be taking part in The Sierra Club's Environmental Leadership Training Program in Puerto Rico. The SSC's Student Environmental Leadership Trainings, are week-long peer-to-peer programs led by the nation's top youth organizers. Participants develop their grassroots organizing and leadership skills, network and bond with fellow students, engage in fun activities and enjoy tasty vegetarian cooking (the low carbon diet for the climate).

Students learn to how to:

start and run an effective youth organization
recruit, run a meeting, develop new leaders to ensure that the organization continues once the student has graduated.
plan, implement, and run an effective environmental campaign using The Sierra Club Matrix which teaches the most essential skills needed to effect real change.
define the message and get it across confidently and persuasively to the media, to fellow group members, and to the public.

Students also meet some amazing special guests--Sierra Club experts, leaders of the movement, and experts on various aspects of climate and energy justice; enjoy the locations beautiful surroundings of a serene location, hikes, games, and energizing evening activities; delicious vegetarian cooking; and the company and friendship of like-minded youth

Freshmen will be busy too

Amanda Balarezo a freshman in The Honors College will be completing service learning work at Aldeas Infantil SOS. Aldeas Infantil SOS is a 22nd year old orphanage in Chiclayo, Peru. As a pre-med major, the nurse at the orphanage has asked that she spearhead a dental project. Amanda will be checking the children for chipped teeth, gingivitis, bleeding, sores, etc., then take those with dental issues to the local clinic to get dental work done.

Ingrid Cepero a freshman in The Honors College, was selected to attend the Ecology Society of American (ESA) SEEDS Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory Field Experience. SEEDS is an education program of the Ecological Society of America. The core SEEDS program components offer hands-on, engaging experiences with ecology that exhibit the relevance and applications of the science. The 2009 SEEDS Spring Field Trip will take place from June 7-13 at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) in Crested Butte, Colorado.

During the field trip, students will tour RMBL, meeting with many faculty, staff and graduate students. Students will not only learn of the research being conducted at RMBL, but will also have the opportunity to conduct group investigations and present their results. In addition, students will visit the town of Crested Butte, enjoy hikes in the area, and a career panel, participate in a writing workshop, and learn about the important cultural history of the area. A career panel discussion will also give students some ideas of the diverse career paths in ecology.

Eva Sevilla a freshman in The Honors College, was selected to participate in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) summer internship program which hosts 300 to 400 undergraduate and graduate students and some faculty every summer in support of its world-class scientific facilities and staff and in an effort to help train the nation's next generation of scientists and engineers. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) offers outstanding scholars the opportunity to complement their academic endeavors by working in a world class scientific research environment with state-of-the-art facilities.

Ali Bawany, Ingrid Cepero, Melissa Baron, Arpita Khajanchi, Johanna Hernandez, Marise Jimenez, Eva Sevilla and Elton Thomas participated in the Earth Literacy Center at Narrow Ridge in Washburn, TN through the Earth Ethics Institute. They were involved in organic gardening, visited the Norris dam that supplies water to the city, took a 4 mile hike in the wilderness, swam in the Norris Lake, visited the Y-12 Nuclear power plant (the only place in the US where nuclear weapons are still being produced), and visited an ash spill that occurred at a coal power plant that destroyed an entire lake and its surrounding homes. They also attended presentations regarding genetically enhance foods and how our government is keeping this information away from the consumer.