Capstone Research Presentation Event

This past Tuesday, April 29th, I was able to see many intellectual individuals present their extensive, and often highly personal, research. Like this class, I originally intended on doing what I had to for the event (show up for maybe 20 minutes) and call it quits after the bare minimum. Like this class (which convinced me to pursue a minor), I kept staying for more. I came in the middle of a presentation on potential community garden systems, planned on staying through one more presentation, and found myself staying through the end out of sheer curiosity. I sat through four presentations and what was left of the community garden one I walked in on, all of which were highly thought provoking. Part of my enjoyment was seeing how engaged and invested these people were in their research, and how much more equipped they were to educate myself due to their own passion. I had a sense of how much these people have put into their research, and how much they have gotten out of it as well. A particularly moving presentation was that of a young African American woman who was raped and how her community did not pursue their beloved football star who was destined for greatness with his collegiate athletic scholarship. This woman read through her paper (which I imagine is an incredibly painful and personal thing to recount) positively flawlessly without any emotional lapse. Her power and strength completely took me back. According to her writing, her community said a woman needed to be strong, often implying self sacrifice for the community (in reality meaning men and children). She said that she did not view this extensive self sacrifice as strong, the confidence and power she displayed while recounting such an incredibly traumatic experience was the greatest amount of strength I have ever seen. The first woman presented valid issues and ideas to community gardens and starvation, pointing out how knowledgeable female gardeners are often ignored. The second presenter I saw was the young woman who was raped which I have already talked about more extensively due to the bravery displayed by her to share such a thing with me and everyone else in the room. The third was none other than Kurt from our own class. Kurt talked about the communication gap between charity givers and receivers. One such point was that a wealthy person may consider nice clothes as a nice priveledge, whereas an impoverished person recognizes nice clothes as a necessity to become employed and move up in life. This lack of understanding leads to ineffective help despite various efforts. The last two discussed issues with foster care and the value placed on the knowledge of women. The topics touched on were unique and non-obvious, educated me, and showed how much understanding of society may be provided to someone who digs for it.