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Nine students in Arcadia’s Honors Program visited Denver, Colo. to present at the National Collegiate Honors Council’s (NCHC) Annual Conference in November. The conference, themed Thrill of the Climb (inspired by its location in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains), focused on taking on challenges. Heather Ciallella ’15, Nancy Dennehy ’16, Theresa Dewa ’16, Amanda Edholm ’15, David Klein ’15, Melanie Martin ’15, Amber McDaniel ’16, Ruth Stetler ’15, and Aashika Suseendran ’15 presented on research they conducted during the past academic year and exchanged ideas with members of a national honors community.

Suseendran ’15, who has been to the conference three times, said that she believes this year’s event was a culmination of her experience. She presented psychological research she conducted with Zoryana Mahlyak ’15 regarding the recycling habits on Arcadia’s campus as part of the conference’s Student Interdisciplinary Research Panel. She hopes her research will “perpetuate empirically-based go green practices across the country.”

“I have been hoping to finish out senior year with a bang, and NCHC really has been a profound vehicle and growing experience toward that aim,” said Suseendran. “Traveling to a new area and interacting with intrinsically driven scholars and professors from around the country has been absolutely inspiring.”

Though this was her first year participating in NCHC’s conference, McDaniel ’16 won best poster in the Social and Behavioral Science category for her project on counterculture movements, or “hip culture,” in the United States. She also has presented at the Southern Pennsylvania Consortium of Higher Education’s honors conference.

“Winning was very unexpected, especially considering the fact that my poster was up against so many others from across the nation,” said McDaniel. It was even more rewarding just to present to people and see them be so interested in a topic that held my fascination for so long.”

Participation in the NCHC conference has grown recently, according to Helene Klein, director of honors and accelerated programs.

“This says a lot about the high level of scholarship of the honors students at Arcadia,” said Klein. “It also says they are smart enough to recognize NCHC as a great professional opportunity. They all presented with extreme professionalism and made Arcadia proud.”