CCAC Becomes the First College to Sweep All Three NRHC Honors
Pictured from left to right: Uday Sharma, Jessica Wheeler, Ahimsa Shakti, Professor Srujana Kanjula, Alexander Dowling, Vanessa Alabaso, Sara Perrett, Professor Stephen Wells, Professor Scott Mayberry, Jaquan Brockman. Front row: Hans Mach, Professor Ashleigh Fox.
This is a special report from Dr. Stephen Wells, CCAC professor of English, who was recently named Honors Faculty of the Year by the Northeast Regional Honors Council. He gives a first-hand account of this year's NRHC conference, which was held March 30 to April 2 in Pittsburgh.
The Northeast Regional Honors Council conference took place in Pittsburgh this year. Travel to the conference site at the Sheraton at Station Square was easy for the CCAC contingent, but once we settled in there, activities filled the days from sunup to sunset. We set a new record with eight students presenting at a variety of sessions. The conference theme this year, "Building Resilience from Tragedy: Understanding Hate, Violence, Loss, and Reconciliation," encouraged student presenters to explore the human capacity for resilience in the face of adversity and grief.
"The City as Text" filled the first whole day of the conference, allowing students to explore Pittsburgh. CCAC students started the day by participating in two service opportunities. The Veterans Breakfast Club provided a light breakfast and allowed veterans to share stories of their service. Some were funny, a few horrifying, but all inspiring. At the same time, CCAC students volunteered to staff a table where potential bone marrow and stem cell donors could swab their cheeks and sign up to be part of the Be the Match registry. A blood stem cell donation can be a cure for blood cancer, sickle cell and other deadly diseases.
After breakfast, one group of CCAC students boarded a bus to Oakland for a tour of the Cathedral of Learning on Pitt's campus. They explored the Nationality Rooms representing the diversity of Pittsburgh's many city neighborhoods, and they ascended to the upper floors for a bird's-eye view of Oakland and downtown Pittsburgh. Another group visited the Andy Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory on the Northside.
It was good to stay in the conference hotel on the third day to enjoy a variety of presentations. Of course, CCAC Honors students stood out as the best of the day among their peers from two-year and four-year institutions. Jaquan Brockman shared his eye-catching photographs, and Ahimsa Shakti presented her chapbook, "Transcendence: from Truth to Power to Beauty," in the student art show. Uday Sharma and Vanessa Alabaso displayed a poster in the Idea Exchange detailing the Honors hikes, which began as a way to gather outdoors during the days of COVID distancing. Hans Mach participated in Poster Session 1 with his research on "Dual Language Learners in Early Education: Challenges and Strategies."
Ahimsa Shakti read from her chapbook and provided an overview of its relationship to the conference theme. In a concurrent session, Jessica Wheeler presented her Honors contract project, "Connecting the Past to Our Present: An Early American Literature Lesson Plan," which includes a lesson plan guiding high school classroom study of colonial captivity narratives, including two narratives that took place in the Pittsburgh region. Later that morning, Alexander Dowling detailed his experience visiting a mosque and his conclusions about the positive power of acceptance in "Overcoming Islamophobia through Cultural Immersion."
To open activities on Sunday morning, CCAC's Sara Perrett took part in Poster Session 2, presenting her poster on "Fanfiction: Healing and Community Building." Following the poster session and breakfast with new friends and colleagues, attendees settled in for the presentation of awards.
The final morning of the conference confirmed the quality of CCAC's Honors program as the college picked up three awards, including Jessica Wheeler for Student of the Year, Stephen Wells for Honors Faculty of the Year, and Honors Secretary Renee Shissler for Honors Administrator of the Year. 2023 marked the first year that one institution swept all three awards.
The group gathered in the Sheraton's lobby for a final group picture before dispersing, all tired but inspired by the experience and already looking forward to next year.