Freshmen Research Posters
Della Mamani
Each year, the Gannon Honors Program has the privilege of welcoming their incoming freshmen to the program. They are then required to partake in numerous honors courses throughout their college career, including the Intro to Honors course in their first fall semester. In this course, they learn about a variety of global topics and issues. Their ability to reflect on said subjects is tested in the final project of the class, which is to research a global topic of their own choosing and create a poster on it. Through this project, students are able to expand their own knowledge and inform others about the topics they choose. This year, like every year, there were a variety of subjects shown throughout the freshmen research posters. Here are three freshmen’s summaries of their topics and why they wanted to research them:
“I chose Adolescent Mental Health to research for my poster because mental health is a big challenge for a lot of people, and I'd like to help normalize and educate others about this common struggle. My poster focuses on the factors that can affect mental health in early development, such as the environment you grow up in, the resources you have access to, and the stigma in society or your family. I also touch on the risks of poor, untreated mental health such as risk behaviors like smoking, drinking, and a bad diet, which leads to health conditions in adulthood.”
–Savannah Battleson
“My honors poster is about the mandatory hijab law in Iran and why it should be considered a violation of human rights! I selected this topic because it is an ongoing issue that needs more media publicity.”
—Megan Poser
“I did my project on Finland's Housing First Initiative. In 1987, Finland began to focus on decreasing their homelessness and it decreased from 18,000 in 1987 to 6,700 in 2017. In 2007, Finland launched the housing first initiative wherein they vowed to provide each homeless person with a house unconditionally. Regardless of employment status, sobriety, and family situation, the person is allowed to stay in their government provided house for as long as they need, even if that is their whole life. In addition to providing housing, the government also provides additional resources such as mental health or addiction counseling, financial advising, and additional education or training to help people find jobs. I chose this topic because I believe everyone deserves a house, regardless of their life situation. I found it very hopeful that Finland successfully runs this program.”
—Emily Lynch
