(Left to right, top row) Seniors Zekiel Krejci-Hyde, Dani Avalos, Tori Tucker, Anabelle Daugherty, Kylie Hughes, Professor Kari Gentzler, (second row) Maci McCarter, Emma Woods and Abby Haught present their final presentation.
Doane’s Honors Program held a showcase for its seniors in the program. The class is the senior capstone of the Honors program and was taught by Sociology Professor Kari Gentzler. The students who presented at the showcase were seniors Anabelle Daugherty, Dani Avalos, Maci McCarter, Emma Woods, Zekiel Krejci-Hyde, Kylie Hughes, Abby Haught and Tori Tucker.
All eight seniors worked on one project titled, “Folklore And Fear: A Social, Psychological and Economic Examination of Fear” and they all gave their findings on the presentation topic.
“It was extremely rewarding to facilitate the Honors Program senior capstone course. Being able to watch the students develop an interesting and socially relevant research project from the ground up by capitalizing on their unique academic strengths was a highlight of my semester,” Gentzler said. “I was especially pleased to work with this group to complete their capstone since I taught their first course in the program four years ago. It was a full-circle moment for me, and they are delightful human beings.”
The presentation was about how fear is a response by folklore, a commonality across cultures as this presentation postulates. They also discussed how folklore has changed from oratory passage to mainstream mediums, like social media and movies, and how that has had an impact on the modern consumption of horror as a genre.
“The spring banquet and honors presentation is the annual gathering that brings together the entire honors community as well as campus administrators,” Gentzler said.
The seniors presented their capstone research to an audience of their peers, former Honors Program professors and Doane administration, including President Roger Hughes.
“It is a chance for the senior students, who also presented their research at MindExpo, to share the product of their semester of hard work with other engaged members of the community,” Gentzler said.