Concordia Students Prepare for Research Symposium

By Paige Uzzell

Concordia’s Academic and Research Symposium helps students get the research they need for graduate school. Students from every major are welcome to present their research or experience that includes a high level of academic prowess.

Many students have just begun their work for their research, while many others have already finished. There have been many ups and downs throughout their studies

“The most difficult part so far has been trying to get students to participate in the study,” senior Nathan Matters said. “It helps a lot that professors offer extra credit to anyone who participates, but without that incentive, most students would not be willing to give up their time to participate.”

Matters is not the only person struggling to get student participation in student-based research.

“The hardest part about research so far has been collecting and interpreting my data with such a small number of recipients to my survey,” senior McKayla Besel said. “The population of Concordia does not quite fit the population of athletes that I was hoping to reach.”

The responses have been rewarding even though  there were some trying times while researchers gathered information.

“My favorite part so far is seeing the responses that come in from my survey,” Besel said. “There is such a vast population of athletes at Concordia who come from diverse backgrounds, and they all have different reasons for why they did or did not specialize in sports and the way those decisions impacted their lives.”

The work involved with the Research Symposium can be both enjoyable and difficult, but in the end, it is still work and takes a lot of time out of students’ schedules.

For Matters, the work began in January, and since he started, both he and his class have averaged four to seven hours a week preparing.

There are many benefits to conducting research and presenting it for the Research Symposium.

“I think the symposium will benefit me, and other students, after graduating from Concordia by having the experience of conducting one’s own research before,” Matters said. “Graduate school has a lot to do with that, so having prior experience can be very beneficial to students.”

Concordia’s Academic and Research Symposium will take place Wednesday, April 24 in the Thom Leadership Education Center.