COM Hosts Sixth Annual Academic Symposium
College of the Mainland hosted the sixth annual Gulf Coast Intercollegiate Consortium Academic Symposium on April 20. Winners included (l-r) Fatima Salahuddin, Maizie Fernandes, Madeline Meylor, Morgan Turley, Trekaria D. James and Maria Gelves.

College of the Mainland hosted the sixth annual Gulf Coast Intercollegiate Consortium Academic Symposium on April 20 and two COM students walked away with top honors.

The symposium – Narrating the Human Footprint -  featured 120 participants with more than 25 student presenters. COM student served as hosts and COM faculty and staff were judges and moderators.

Winners were as follows:

First place: "Beauty" by Fatima Salahuddin, College of the Mainland; advisor Professor Dalel Serda. Awarded a $250 Visa gift card.

Second place: “High-Skilled Versus Low-Skilled: The Perception of Immigrants Based on Skill Composition” by Maizie Fernandes, College of the Mainland; advisor Professor Shinya Wakao. Awarded a $200 Visa gift card.

Third place “A Self-Narrative of the Human Footprint: The Evolution of the Selfie” by Madeline Meylor, Brazosport College; advisor Professor Carrie Pritchett. Awarded a $150 Visa gift card.

Fourth place: “Gifted Education: The Label” by Morgan Turley, Clear Falls High School; advisor Professor Elaine Childs. Awarded a $100 Visa gift card.

Honorable Mention:

“Act Like a ‘Lady’: The Consequences of Gender Roles” by Trekaria D. James, College of the Mainland; advisor Professor Dalel Serda, and “Finding One’s Mind in the Cave: Clifford Beers’ Struggle for Personal and Social Enlightenment” by Maria Gelves, Lee College; advisor Professor Georgeann Ward. Each was awarded a $75 Visa gift card.

During the day-long symposium, COM English professor Dr. Elaine Childs served as the lunch speaker discussing “The Language of Memes.” Dr. Nick Castle a post-doctoral fellow at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston was the keynote speaker on “Science and the Art of Storytelling.”