As we approach the end of the semester…many
of us are
making endless flashcards, staying up late making the final touches to our papers
before we submit them. Let’s take a minute to de-stress and look back on the
accomplishments we’ve had this year. Seniors, congratulations on graduating and
good luck in your post-undergraduate plans. Juniors, congratulations on winning
Corn! Sophomores, keep up the good work, many of you got inducted into various
honors societies, and received awards on CSA day. Finally, freshwomen, you are
almost done with your very first year at Meredith College! In this last issue for the
school year we focus on some of the accomplishments of our Honors sisters.
Senior Spotlight: Katelyn Smith
MC HONORS
NEWSLETTER
Senior Katelyn Smith is a Spanish and
International Studies double major with minors
in Biology and Religious and Ethical Studies.
This summer, she will work for the Durhambased
nonprofit
Student
Action
with
Farmworkers. In August, she will travel to
Mexico, where she will live and teach English
for nine months as a part of the prestigious
Fulbright Teaching Assistant program run by
the United States Department of State. Katelyn
says “I chose to apply for the Fulbright over
other programs because of their mission to
form bonds peace and understanding between
countries through cultural exchange. I specifically applied for Mexico because I
fell in love with the country after studying abroad in Yucatán, Mexico, the spring
semester of 2015 and I wanted to become more familiar with the rich variety of
cultures in other parts of the country as well.” After returning to the US in 2017,
Katelyn will begin a master's program in Spanish at North Carolina State
University. This will carry her to her ultimate goal of being a Spanish professor.
April/May 2016
Editors: Megan Munson,
Melyssa Minto
[email protected]
Meredith.edu/honors
Students of the S16 Honors
colloquium 'Geometry and the
Divine
Proportion'
proudly
display their 3-dimensional
fractal models (the Sierpinski
Tetrahedron) on the last day of
class. Instructor: Dr Tim Hendrix
(MAT). The students' models are
on display in the Math Commons
Room
(265
SMB),
and
their fractal mobile may be
viewed at the entrance to Cate /
Class discussion was
Park.
scintillating.
(Photo:
Dr
Wolfinger)
Popular Culture Association / American Culture
Association National Conference
Honors sisters Nyssa Tucker and Sidney Shank presented in March at the PCA/ACA
National Conference in Seattle. Nyssa shared her passion for ethics, stating, “Ethics is
a discipline uniquely engaged with the conversation of what it means to be a 'good'
person and, although it varies from person to person, can be said to generally be a
discussion on how it is best to treat another person. This doesn't automatically make
ethicists better at being 'good' people, but they can be trusted to at least have some
argumentation to back up their actions.” She also shared her amazing experience: “At
the conference I discussed my thesis work in a presentation named Finding the
Feminine in Watchmen. I presented on a graphic novel that was written to satirize
classic superheroes like Batman and Superman, presenting the stereotypes in a
variety of lights through multiple characters. It's a great book, and beautifully
illustrated. But the women in Watchmen were few and far between! The ways they
were presented were annoying to me because, true to the genre, they were hypersexualized and their plots were centered around sex. I want to see a kick-ass female
superhero who acts to further her own agenda, not to encourage male
sexuality. Looking at gender within Watchmen has opened my eyes to the issues of
gender, the superhero genre, and to the world of academic discussion on popular
culture. The conference was incredible. I have never felt more invited and engaged in
conversation with strangers than I did at the Seattle PCA conference. The level of
academic discussion was formidable, but in such a way that I felt encouraged to
question and contribute.” In conclusion, Nyssa gave us some advice: “Curiosity and
inquisitiveness are essential to learning and growth. Exercise your interests and allow
yourself to get excited about new ideas, no matter if the subject is in your major or not.
Those ideas that you do not make your bread and butter from are the ones that will
lead to conversations and connections that no amount of networking can fabricate. Get
excited! I know that it isn't cool and feels really uncomfortable, but those ideas that get
you going are the ideas that have the most meaning to you. Figure out what they are,
and keep figuring out the increasingly abstracted meaning for yourself.”