Knowledge flowed from Gorton Quad to the D building, from the student cafeteria to the faculty lounge, as student presenters illuminated City College at the fifth annual Student Project and Research Symposium on May 6.
With over 150 presentations, topics ranged from “The Impact of Anthrax” to “The Recognition of Sexism in the Latin Community,” and took the form of posters, spoken word, PowerPoint, and the performance of various dances and martial arts.
Fine Arts majors toted stretched canvas and easels across the quad. Mats lay on the ground for demonstrating stretches to ease an achey back and spectators drifted in and out of a cardboard maze imparting statistics and factoids on everything you never knew you wanted to know.
“The goal of this, in addition to celebrating student projects and excellence, is to engage the community. City is not a four year institution, but this is where many students start” said Rafael Alverez, Title V Program Activities Manager. “Hopefully, here, with so much to see everyone will find something they’re interested in.”
Peddling the fruits of their year long labor, there was an undeniable pride in the culmination of the knowledge the presenters had accrued and painstakingly organized for the purpose of enlightening students, faculty and the San Diego community.
With a small bag of shiny black amaranth seeds winking from his cupped hand, student presenter Girard Mohr passionately explained the medicinal and environmental benefits of this little known crop to anyone who cared to know.
Mohr, a social work and math major, was introduced to the crop as a child when he used to grow it with his father.
“We’re losing our roots about what it’s like to produce our own food” Mohr explained.
Ben Moore, a fine arts major, showcased a series of paintings in acrylic.
“A lot of people think they’re monsters, but to me they’re just people, really hairy people,” said Moore about the pieces. The large, hairy creatures staring out from Moore’s canvases are depicted in various poses, while wraith like mirror images of them edge out of their bodily confines.
“This is my position on peoples personalities. How they show themselves in public and how they actually are,” Moore explained.
With the sun glaring down and sweat starting to drip, the faculty lounge offered not only an air-conditioned escape to those weary of UV rays, but a theatre like setting where topics like, “Sex in the Media,” and “AIG Bailout Scandal” were presented in PowerPoint to interested parties.
At 2:30 p.m., the research symposium drew to an end. With poster boards stripped back to their skeletal frames, props and table dressings packed and carted away, Gorton Quad returned to her ordinary state and students and faculty meandered off to ponder what issues they might extrapolate for the sixth annual Research Symposium.
