2:00 PM
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Keynote address by Lina Grillon, Colombian-born educator, interpreter, and translator
and BCC Alum.
The Undergraduate Scholars Conference Welcome and Keynote Passcode: 931935
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Lina Grillon is a Colombian-born educator, interpreter, and translator who is passionate
about working with English learners and their families due to her own immigrant experience.
She started her higher education journey at Berkshire Community College, having earned
her Associate in Fine Arts with concentrations in both Music and Theater Arts. She
went on to earn her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Westfield State
University and is currently working toward a master’s degree in English as a Second
Language Education at Bay Path University. She has worked as an English as a Second
Language teacher in the Pittsfield Public Schools since 2016. She lives in Pittsfield
with her husband, Benjamin.
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Time Block
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Session A |
Session B |
Session C |
2:30 PM
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LGBTQIA+ Spotlight Glossary
Alex Green & Jennifer Marcel
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Marginalized identities, experiences, and ethos are just that: marginalized. Yet in
these margins exists a history unto itself that always has and always will be an important
part of the human experience. This collaborative glossary project endeavors to call
content from LQBTQIA+ experiences out of the margins and into the forefront of our
minds and hearts. All entries were created by students enrolled in Honors LGBT Literature
in the 2021 fall semester. The topics were chosen by the students and served to supplement
the course’s material. This collage assembles these mini-research projects into an
eclectic visual representation of the diverse people, places, and concepts that comprise
the LGBTQIA+ experience. Many of the entries inform one another as they create a conversation
of cross references. Seen together, this glossary spotlights the abundance and depth
of life off the heteronormative highway.
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Design And Fabrication Of An Automated Rainfall Collection Device For Pollution Monitoring
James Dolle & Rosa Lopez Moritz
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BEAT is a non-profit organization that centers their efforts in protecting and healing
the environment in the Berkshires area. The aim of this project was to design and
build a low-cost prototype device that can collect rainwater samples with the goal
of measuring pollutants from runoff flowing into our local rivers, all according to
BEAT’s requirements. A key feature requirement of this device is the ability for the
samples to be collected immediately after precipitation since rainfall events expand
the surface runoff area increasing the flow and level of local streams temporarily.
This presentation will describe the product development stages of our prototype device,
including flow and storage requirements, design software utilized, and the electronic
components selected for automating the collection process. No technical background
is required from the audience; the presentation will explain the concepts and tools
employed on the project. Emphasis will be given to Arduino technology, a simple to
use hobbyist automation platform. Additionally, we will highlight how we quickly went
from concept to fabrication thanks to 3d printing technology present on campus. Project
funded by STEM Starter Academy.
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Harm Reduction and Its Opportunities
Liuba Kurtyn
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This presentation compares the US approach to harm reduction to other countries. Harm
reduction is an umbrella term for interventions aiming to reduce the problematic effects
of harmful behaviors. Harm reduction practices now often include alcohol interventions
for both youth and adults, nicotine replacement, opioid substitution, needle exchanges,
and safe injection sites for intravenous drug users.
Dozens of peer-reviewed controlled trial publications provide support regarding the
effectiveness of harm reduction. The results may be worthy of our attention, especially
now, when the sharp rise in substance abuse has become one of the unfortunate side-effects
of the COVID-19 pandemic. In other countries, we have seen the harm reduction approach
become a government policy, supported by the medical community, law-enforcement, and
by government funds.
Studies on nicotine replacement have shown an increase in cessation rates by 1.5 to
2 times compared with placebo or no additional aid, and our country has accepted the
value of this type of harm reduction. Similar to nicotine replacement, opioid substitution
therapies have been developed for drugs such as heroin, oxycodone, oxycontin, and
morphine. The therapies were identified to provide a less harmful opioid (e.g. methadone,
suboxone) under medical supervision. Several reviews have identified opioid substitution
therapy as effective in reducing illicit opioid use, HIV and Hepatitis C risk behaviors,
criminal activity, and opioid-related death. However, this harm reduction approach
remains controversial and under strict government regulation, limiting accessibility.
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3:00 PM
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Northampton State Hospital: Remembering the Forgotten
Cora Lyons
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Northampton State Hospital, originally known as Northampton Lunatic Asylum, was home
for 135 years to patients with mental illness. Such “insane asylums” earned a bad
reputation for their poor living conditions and abuse of patients. Less well-known
is what happened to patients who died there. If a patient passed away and a relative
did not claim the body, they were buried on Cemetery Hill, where today no gravestones
or names can be found. With many challenges along the way, it was discovered that
vital records give hints to those who may have been laid to rest on Cemetery Hill.
Those who were forgotten are once again brought back into memory.
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The Creative Classroom
Cheyenne Crennan
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In an early childhood classroom, creativity fills the landscape. Teachers bring their
ideas and expression which allows passion to fill the walls and minds of young learners.
Creativity comes in a multitude of forms, from art to dramatic play and beyond. Every
area of the classroom offers an opportunity for a child to use their natural expression
of thoughts and feelings that fosters learning through their eyes. Often, we are flooded
with new opportunities to design a curriculum that both meets all the state standards
and continues to grow the love children have for learning. During the Creative Curriculum
course offered at Berkshire Community College, I created a free, expandable website
that I named The Creative Classroom. Here you will find ideas that I have used throughout
my career as a preschool and pre-kindergarten teacher. Each blog post addresses the
necessary standards of learning that a curriculum uses for success, along with the
activity. I give my insight on related children’s literature and my honest opinion
of the activity’s success considering the classroom, and how I would alter it for
different classroom demographics. While searching for new activities, I find myself
scrolling Pinterest, seeing all these great ideas, yet having to dig back through
textbooks and websites to plug in all the necessary standards. The Creative Classroom
website guides the reader through activities with clear explanation, easy access to
materials, and addresses the learning standards that a preschool curriculum is expected
to cover.
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26 April 1905
Audrey Bartzsch
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Human beings find it incredibly difficult to comprehend time. We know that it passes;
we see it on our faces, on our children’s faces, in the places we live. Time wears
down stones. We cannot escape it. Instead of accepting this for what it is, we have
made time into a prison. It has become an excuse to harm others, harming ourselves
in the process. In Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams, the writer explores the human relationship with time, dreaming of various realities
in which time exists and plays different roles in people’s lives. My project, ‘26
April 1905’, explores a chapter of Einstein’s Dreams by the same name. I have applied
several film, art and music concepts discussed in Prof. Berman’s ‘Film Notes’ and
Aaron Copland’s ‘What to Listen for In Music’ to this chapter to direct a film which
emphasizes the human relationship with time. This chapter also has a more sub-textual
commentary on the class system, which I have brought closer to the forefront through
visual cues and animation.
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3:30 PM
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“I’m Listening, I Promise”
Ashton Bird
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This is a presentation on an essay dealing with the common miscommunications caused
between neurodivergent and disabled people with neurotypical and abled people; specifically,
with how many of them are due to the standard of ‘active listening’ imposed upon most
people as children. It discusses how disabled and neurodivergent people are often
unable to meet this standard without extreme difficulty, and as a result, are labeled
with poor moral attributions, lack of respect, and an inability to function ‘normally.’
It continues to speak on how this societal expectation can cost many people their
jobs, their school functioning, and their mental health due to trying or failing to
meet these expectations.
It elaborates that listening styles between neurodivergent and neurotypical people
are not wrong or right, or normal and abnormal, just different from each other. One
study that was cited speaks on how neurodivergent people communicate with other neurodivergent
people similar to how neurotypical people communicate with other neurotypicals.
It touches on how certain therapies such as ABA can be harmful to the neurodiverse
because it teaches them to repress and force themselves to act a certain way to cater
to the comfort of the neurotypical. The issue doesn’t come with learning skills to
pass by in a world not built for them, but for the enforcement of using these skills
in private life as well. It also raises the issue that autistic people are actively
against the therapy, while neurotypical people are not, and the only opinion being
listened to is that of the neurotypicals.
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Using Coverboards to Survey Small Animals
Alex Green
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Most animal species are not often seen and less often appreciated, which unfortunately
can affect efforts for their conservation. As an aspiring naturalist, I want to familiarize
myself with organisms of all ecosystems; I believe that appreciation is fundamental
to learning about the natural world, disregarding preconceived notions of some creatures
being ‘creepy crawly’ or pests. When designing this project for Professor Tyning’s
Conservation I class, I emphasized the lack of a target species. My goal was to try
to identify any species I found, and in the process, gain a better understanding of
the animal diversity found on my own property. Coverboards are a survey method used
by field scientists to sample the presence of small animals. They can provide cover
for a wide range of invertebrates, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. I set up two
groups of coverboards, located next to my garden and in my woods. I checked them weekly,
recording my observations and compiling the data into a spreadsheet. Using citizen
science projects iNaturalist and bugguide.net, I was able to identify 8 out of 19
and 11 out of 36 observed taxa to the species level for the woods and garden boards
respectively
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4:00 PM
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The Undergraduate Scholars Conference Wrap Up
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