The document summarizes the Honors Program seniors' presentations of their research projects. It discusses that the seniors presented their work on April 22, 2015 in Founders Hall, with an opening ceremony in the library. It provides examples of two students' presentations, Cayleigh Boniger on comparing Macbeth to Celtic mythology, and Natalie Bond on pronoun acquisition in transitional kindergarten classrooms. Each presentation session awarded a $500 scholarship.

1. Honors Program Seniors present their collective years of research
By Hannah Gloeckl
Senior Honors
Program students presented
their senior projects
Wednesday April 22, 2015 in
Founders Hall.
Presentations began
with an opening ceremony in
Carlson Library at 6:30 p.m.
The Honors Program
Assistant Student Director,
Eric Zavinski, began by
welcoming the audience and
introducing several speakers
including Brandon Yusko,
president of the Student
Honors Association, and Dr.
Ron Nowaczyk, the provost
and vice president for
Academic Affairs. The
keynote speaker was Dr.
Hallie Savage, former
Honors Program director
and current professor of
Communication Sciences
and Disorders. She is also
currently the executive
director of the National
Collegiate Honors Council
or NCHC.
Junior students Keith
Weible and Nick Rhoades
presented awards in
recognition of service to the
Honors Program to Student
Director Madeline Kopper
and Recruitment
Coordinator Natalie Bond.
Kopper was out of the
country at the time and
could not physically receive
her award. As such, she
hosted one of the two senior
research presentations that
was presented taped
beforehand and via long-
distance phone for
questions.
Dr. Rod Raehsler
concluded the ceremonies
The Clarion Honors Chronicle
Courtesy of the Clarion University
Honors Program
5/5/2015 Edition I, Volume III
Zavinski’s Word
  
On the weekend of
April 9-12, the Northeast
Regional Honors Council
(NRHC) annual conference
was held in Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania.
Five students:
Madeline Kopper, Kirsten
Bare, Erin Lynch, Kate
Hammond and myself
represented Clarion
University with the research
of the three senior girls in
attendance at the conference.
It was very interesting
to see how honors programs
are connected on levels larger
than just individual schools.
We met plenty of other
honors students at both the
presentations in the
Wyndham Hotel and at the
tours of Gettysburg as well.
Hammond and I had
the opportunity to see the old
estate of former President
Dwight D. Eisenhower.

2. by presenting the Honors
Program Seniors and their
faculty advisors to the
audience. All 30 students
received their honors cords
for graduation to close the
opening.
Presentations began in
Founders Hall following the
ceremony. Presenters were
grouped by research topic,
with three to four presenters
in each of the four rooms.
A presenter during the
first of two sessions, Cayleigh
Boniger discussed her topic,
“Through the Druid Stone:
Macbeth from the Celtic
Perspective,” an idea which
stemmed from an earlier
research paper in Dr. Ralph
Leary’s Shakespeare:
Tragedies and Romances
course.
“Dr. Leary mentioned
early on in the semester a
book he had read that made
connections between Macbeth
and the Celtic festival
Samhain,” Boniger said. “My
favorite part of this project
was probably being able to
combine two of the things I
love most, since I’ve long had
an interest in Irish myth, and I
adore Shakespeare.”
Like many of the
presenters, Boniger relied on
her advisor, Dr. Leary, to
guide her through research
and create a strong
presentation. Boniger also
took it upon herself to present
her research at a variety of
conferences while at Clarion.
“Since I had divided
my paper into three sections, I
presented one section, the
section about witches, at the
annual Sigma Tau Delta
convention in Savannah, GA,
and then this year I presented
another section at the
convention in Albuquerque,
NM. I think that has really
helped me in being able to
talk about my research and
get comfortable in front of
people.”
Like Boniger, many
presenters began their
research long before they
were seniors or even juniors
taking Junior Seminar.
Several presentations
involved projects that
students had been working on
since their freshman year at
Clarion.
Another hard worker
and researcher was our very
own Recruitment Coordinator
Natalie Bond. In the speech
pathology group in the
second session in Founders
Room 118, she presented her
work: “Pronoun Acquisition
in a Transitional Kindergarten
Classroom.” Bond advocates
an extra year of schooling
before the normal curriculum
of kindergarten classes in
order to learn the 12 major
pronouns among other things.
Bond argues that if
four-to-five-year-old students
cannot understand what is
being taught to them, they
will be turned off early to
public education. Bond
looked at groups of students
both before and after pronoun
acquisition and saw the
difference between the young
ones who were not familiar
with the elements of language
and the ones who were.
Students in the experimental
group improved their skills
with pronouns due to the
books Bond crafted and
provided, and she hopes to
get her materials published in
the near future.
Each presentation
session awards the France-
Allison scholarship of $500 to
one student. The award is
presented each semester and
is voted on by both faculty
and honors alumni judges.
Award winners for the spring
2015 semester include Derek
Dietz, Brianna Henry, Emilee
Gysegem, Leah Loscar, Kelsey
Slayton, Michael Bauer,
Kirsten Bare and John Owens.

3. Madeline Robinson and David Brooker – Senior Student Spotlight
By Kaitlyn Mulligan
Two Clarion
University senior honors
students will be heading to the
Lake Erie College of Medicine
(LECOM) in the fall.
Madeline Robinson and David
Brooker hope to become
osteopathic doctors in the
future and continue their
successful college careers at
LECOM.
Maddie Robinson is a
pre-medicine concentration
biology major with minors in
both honors and psychology.
She is graduating this May
after four years at Clarion with
a lot to show for it. Robinson
has been extremely involved
in her time here. She has been
in Student Senate for three
years; is on the Varsity tennis
team and was co-captain this
past year; and she is a member
of Phi Eta Sigma, Tri Beta,
and the Sigma Sigma Sigma
National Sorority. Robinson
has also been a part of the
Health Careers Club, Student
Athletic Advisory Committee
(as a freshman and
sophomore), Bios Club,
Translational Research
Medicine club, and intramural
basketball. She is a university
tutor, a biology peer mentor,
Special Olympics volunteer,
and she did undergraduate
research with Dr. Smith and
Dr. Keth. It is no surprise that
this successful student has also
been recognized for her
accomplishments. She was
acknowledged last year for a
Who’s Who in American
Universities competition and
has been a scholar athlete
every semester at Clarion.
Robinson has also
been on the Dean’s list four
out of her seven semesters,
and she has been inducted into
three honoraries for her grades
and service to the university.
Her future career goal is to
own her own pediatric practice
with her degree from
LECOM, but she will always
have a place in her heart for
Clarion. She loves the small
school atmosphere here and
will miss her sorority sisters.
“I'll really miss the friends I
have made at Clarion and the
professors who have helped
shape me into a very
successful student,” Robinson
said.
Another involved
honors student, David Brooker
also hopes to become a
physician with a successful
practice. He will also attend
LECOM for osteopathic
medicine. Brooker is a
molecular biology and
biotechnology major finishing

4. his fourth year at Clarion
University. During his time
here, he has also accomplished
a lot and been a part of many
organizations. He is a member
of Phi Delta Theta: the
Biology Honors Society, Beta
Beta Beta; and Phi Eta Sigma.
In addition, Brooker is part of
the Translational Research
Medicine Club and the Health
Careers Club. He is a Biology
Peer Mentor, an Honors
Program Summer Academy
Coordinator, an Honors
Program Mentor, and he was a
part of a research lab advised
by Dr. Smith. Brooker is
graduating this May Magna
cum laude and was on the
Dean’s list six of his seven
semesters at Clarion
University. Like Robinson, he
says the thing he will miss
most after leaving Clarion is
the friends he has made.
Brooker said, “There have
been so many amazing people
that have helped me over the
years to become the person I
am proud to be today. I don't
know what I would have done
without them.”
Many congratulations
to these two senior honors
students and to all the other
seniors graduating this spring.
Thank you for your
involvement in the Honors
Program and for everything
you have brought to Clarion
University. Good luck with all
of your future endeavors
during this next chapter in
your lives!
Course Feature
By Kaitlynn Sass
Like many honors
courses, Honors 240, a social
sciences class, changes topic
nearly every semester.
Allowing course offerings to
evolve in this way provides
honors students the chance to
have new and exciting
opportunities in the classroom.
This year, Honors 240,
comprised mainly of second-
semester sophomores, focused
on economic theory. Taught
by Dr. Paul Woodburne, the
class aimed to readjust the
distorted view that many
people have of economics.
The class, constructed
based largely on experiences
that Woodburne had in his
own time as a student, begins
by looking at scientific theory
and how that relates to
economics. The class
explores the idea of whether
or not economics should be
considered a branch of
science, and the theories and
ideas underlying this topic. It
then moves into more
economic theory, examining
human behavior and
attempting to explain why
people act in the ways that
they do. Referring to the
distorted view that many
people possess about
economics, Woodburne says,
“Really, economics is how
people behave and to me,

5. that’s some of the most
interesting stuff.”
Woodburne explained
that he understands that
honors students come from
diverse academic backgrounds
and that not everyone is apt to
enjoy economics. One of his
goals for the class is to show
that economics can be
understood by people from
other areas of study and
applied to those areas.
Dr. Woodburne is in
his seventeenth year of
teaching at Clarion University.
He completed his
undergraduate degree at the
University of California at
Riverside, and then moved on
to the University of New
Hampshire where he earned
his Master’s. Finally,
Woodburne returned to
California University at
Riverside to complete his
Doctorate. He enjoys teaching
because of the opportunity to
approach issues differently.
Woodburne explains, “It’s
neat when I can pull up an
issue and make someone think
about something in a way that
they had not thought about it
before.”
He enjoys helping
people to see things in new
ways and explore new ideas,
making him a great fit for
teaching a diverse group of
honors students. Woodburne
appreciates seeing students’
progress throughout an entire
semester and the academic
difference that he has the
ability to make.
SHA Update
By Megan Beary
The month of April
was a busy one for the Student
Honors Association!
The club started the
month off by hosting Food for
Friends at the First United
Methodist Church on Wood
Street. Food for Friends is a
local community service event
that provides a meal to anyone
in need every single
Wednesday of the year. As a
club, we enjoy planning,
purchasing, cooking, and
serving the meal every when
our turn comes around every
April. Although there is
always some craziness in the
kitchen, we enjoy putting our
chef hats on to help our
community!
SHA also participated
in Relay for Life. We were
touched by the various

6. ceremonies at Relay for Life
last year. This inspired us to
work very hard this year to
raise extra funds as a club to
go towards the cause. We
hosted a bake sale in Still
Hall, and we collected
donations outside of Wal-
Mart. Aside from our
individual $10 registration
fees, we are proud to
announce that we raised an
additional $300!
Moving forward, SHA
just recently hosted a semi-
formal Saturday, May 2 from
6:00 - 8:00 p.m. on the lower
level of Eagle Commons (by
Starbucks)! The theme was 'A
Night at the Casino!' We
enjoyed having everyone there
who came out to dance a night
away before finals week!
Mentors
Volunteered! –
Under Eagles’
Wings
By Eric Zavinski
I am proud to
announce that, as of now, we
have 30 members of the
Honors Program volunteered
to be student mentors for the
2015-2016 school year! These
helpful students include: Katie
Hogg, Erica Fries, John
VanSickle, Sarah Minnix,
Shannon Ankney, Sarah
Hrubetz, Kaitlynn Sass, Emma
Carter, Lauren Pellegrino,
Megan Beary, Megan
Blashford, Warren Huey,
Brandon Yusko, Tyler Falk,
Kelly Dungan, Brandon
Nielsen, Corinne Hoopes, Jon
Haycock, Aaron Cooper,
Tyler Hilbert, Clarissa
Potsubay, Keith Weible,
Kinsey Laninga, Christina
Meyer, Peter Long, Taylor
McClay, Kate Hammond,
Brooke Homan, Taylor
Braunagel and myself.
We are now in the
process of sending out letters
to incoming honors students to
get them excited about the
program and ready for our
first mentor/mentee event on
Sunday, August 30 next
semester. We are planning
this to be a welcome cook-out
and outdoor party.
Miscellaneous Informat ion and Help St ill Want ed!
From your Editor in Chief, Eric Zavinski
If you would like to write for The Clarion Honors Chronicle, please
contact me at (814)688-2468 or E.A.Zavinski@eagle.clarion.edu.
You can contact the Honors Office at (814) 393-2585or
honorsprog@clarion.edu. We are located at G-83 in the basement of
Ralston Hall. A student worker will be there to greet you at all times
between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.

7. The Clarion Honors
Chronicle staff thanks
you for reading our first
edition! Look out for
the second next
semester!