May 2, 2025
Reception & Presentations 2pm to 5pm
Cal Poly Humboldt Library
Search Presenters & Abstracts
Presenters & Abstracts: Search
Traditional Storytelling
Callista Ruiz
Social Work
Graduate Student
College of Professional Studies
My community project addresses the tradition of oral history through storytelling. There are many families who do not have storytellers within them and can’t pass traditional stories on to their children. I have been working with an individual to create a Native American children’s storybook. I have gathered data through analyzing local transcripts, articles, and books. Traditional stories have a vital role in culture, community, identity, and wellness. Since time immemorial, storytelling has been a form of passing down traditions, values, and history. These stories not only provide education but is a coping mechanism to the changes that have come over the years. (Walter & Gearhart, 2008)
Exploratory Analyses of the Self and Group: Entitativity
Logan Ashworth
Psychology
Graduate Student
Josue Rodriguez
Psychology
Graduate Student
James Peabody
Psychology
Undergraduate Student
Amanda Tarin
Psychology
Undergraduate Student
Stephanie Byers
Psychology
Graduate Student
Bryan Sherburne
Psychology
Graduate Student
Amber Gaffney
Psychology
Faculty
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
We completed an exploratory secondary analysis examining 167 students’ perceptions of their self/group’s warmth, entitativity, and the extent to which they identity with their group. Results indicate that perceptions of self-warmth, group warmth, and entitativity each positively predict group identification. A mismatch of the group variables are indicative of a threatening ingroup (low group warmth and high entitativity). Findings suggest that positive views of the self can act as a protective function against a threatening ingroup and may be related to projecting positive images of the self onto the group.
American Sign Language Coloring Book
Megan Hardman
English 104: First-Year writing program
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
This creative project consists of a coloring book of basic American Sign Language; such as the alphabet, mannerisms, emergency signs, and other signs that I thought would be important to have within the book. Plus a description in the back explaining what American Sign language is and a brief bit of history within the Deaf community.
How Shoelace Conditions Impact Foot Ergonomics
Eon
Ebuna
School of Applied Health
Undergraduate Student
College of Professional Studies
Various lacing methods have been employed to enhance running performance and mitigate the risk of injuries. Runners have experimented with these patterns to identify the optimal configuration for their running form, anatomy, and sport. This research emphasizes the pivotal role of shoelace techniques in the broader context of ergonomics and injury prevention, highlighting the relationship between how the foot is laced within the shoe and its implications for the overall well-being of the runner. Tight laces with additional contact points adhere the foot to the shoe best but must also leave enough room in the shoe for the runner’s anatomy to perform natural anatomical mechanisms such as receiv
Fortuna Firefighting
Robert Johnson
Environmental Studies
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
For my research project, I engaged in volunteer work for the Fortuna Firefighting Department. To fully engage myself into the lens of a firefighter, I signed up for the full academy and will earn fire fighter I status. This entails firefighter ethics and expectations, safety, communications, tools and equipment, water supply and hose lays, fire behavior, building construction, ventilation, loss control, rescue and extrication, and wildland fires. The firefighter code is to save lives, protect the environment, and protect property. With doing so, firefighters continuously adjust to diversity, personal characteristics, personal responsibility, and resistance to change.
Should Democracy be Constrained to Address Climate Change?
Jake Engel
Political Science
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
My research analyzes the implications that climate change has for democracy. Recognizing that climate change presents unique challenges to our political system, I search for a healthy balance between democratic means and necessary, urgent ends. To do so, I compare the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of democracy, i.e., representative versus deliberative, ultimately concluding with the need for more research and collaboration.
Why It's the Thought That Counts: A Rhetorical Study of Greeting Cards
Asha Galindo
English
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Is it true that “It’s the thought that counts”? When we give and receive greeting cards in a variety of situations, we are not only documenting our thoughts towards a person or event but also enacting an internalized sense of human connection and care. This project explores the exigence for greeting cards, especially the pushback against digital versions of cards as impersonal and not as meaningful as handwritten notes, as well as, the different ways that greeting cards embody thoughts and intentions.
Mindfulness at Coastal Grove Charter School
Eva York
Social Work
Graduate Student
College of Professional Studies
Coastal Grove Charter school is a K - 8th Grade school in a rural area in Northern California located on traditional Wiyot Land. Studies find that youth benefit from learning Mindfulness in terms of improved cognitive outcomes, stress reduction, social-emotional skills, and well-being. These benefits may lead to long-term improvements in the life course development. For the Master’s project Eva assisted Coastal Grove Charter School in bringing ten weekly Mindfulness lessons into the second and sixth grade classroom during the 2019 – 2020 school year.
International and Intercultural Collaboration in Experiential Learning: Lessons from Rural Youth Volunteers in India Project
Grace Fillebrown
Child Development
Undergraduate Student
Luke Gauthier
Child Development
Undergraduate Student
College of Professional Studies
In spite of the initial challenges the students from the U.S. and India faced in an international experiential learning program, they reported benefits including cultural and social learning, understanding different perspectives, gaining communication skills, improvement in reflective skills, and improved self-efficacy.
The Importance of Stretching Everyday
Ahmad Shah
Communications
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
For this assignment/project, I wanted to create a poster that information, relatable, and quick. When you see a poster, you kind of have to soak it all in at once. It isn’t moving or talking to give you the bigger picture of what it is. You just have to look and kind of go with it however you like. That is why I wanted something that was grounded to Earth, quick, and knowledgeable. I wanted to do an awareness poster on The Importance of Stretching. The importance of stretching is something that is overlooked in our daily lives because individuals are wrapped up in their everyday busy lives. I cannot blame them, so am I!