Olivia Lepore, a fourth-year human development and family studies major, presented on her internship at Family Support Line, a children’s advocacy center in Delaware County. She said that presenting at the expo meant a lot to her because she was able to share what she’s learned since the start of the semester.
“I’ve learned so much, and now is my time to share that. I’ve learned so much since January, not only about the organization but about myself as a professional,” she said. “While at the expo, I’m able to talk to people who have also been interning and who are looking for an internship. I was able to give someone advice on looking for an internship, which was great.”
Over 300 people were in attendance, including fellow Brandywine students, faculty, staff and family members.
Shams Zia, a third-year business major, presented on the work he’s done this year with Multilingual and International Student Programs.
“I joined Multilingual and International Student Programs because I’m an international student. My goal for joining the organization was to do for other international students what I would have liked to see done for me,” he said. “Being here today, I want to encourage and motivate other international students to do the same.”
Luna Yang, assistant professor of business, was a judge at the student engagement expo. She mentioned how inspired she was by all the work she saw.
“Serving as a judge and faculty adviser for students participating in the expo is an incredibly inspiring experience. I was thrilled to witness the wide range of innovative and scholarly endeavors across academic units that support students in exploring their intellectual curiosity,” she said.
“Students passionately articulated their ideas and findings while learning from one another, making the experience both energizing and meaningful for everyone involved.”
Janeen Madison, lecturer of mathematics and STEM lab coordinator, was the lead in organizing the student engagement expo, from contacting students to submit their posters to creating the event set up. She noted how grateful she was for the campus-wide support she received while putting the event together.
“I could not have pulled this together without the support of the campus. I could not have done this without Heather Shank (administrative assistant for Academic Affairs), the many staff and faculty volunteers, maintenance, second-year student Stephen Terry who created the floor plan, organized the registrations, and put into place suggestions from last spring’s EDSGN 100 class – including aisle signage, spacing for larger groups – and the amazing digital/interactive program that students Paul May, Blake Bailey, Jayden Wootson and Dakari Burton designed,” she said.
The following students were given awards for the work they presented:
- Best Internship Award: Yukami Guandulain-Lopez
- Best Club/Organization Award: Student Workers of Brandywine ITS
- Best in Class Award: ESDGN 100 students taught by Megann Hedgecock (lecturer of engineering)
- Best Scholarly Work Award: Jacob DiTrolio, Zachary Finley and Olayinka Itabiyi
The following students won awards in EURECA:
- Social Sciences, Humanities and Business Category
- First Place: Bandy Khoury
- Second Place: Jackson Gentzel
- Third Place: Samma Zahran
- Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics Category
- First Place: Marylynn Saba
- Second Place: DJ Woodward
- Third Place: Iman Shaikh
- Honorable Mention: Gracy Aggroia