UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT OMAHA HONORS PROGRAM FALL NEWSLETTER Honors Student Association Madison Larimore, Co-editor Harim Won, PR Officer September 2015 Issue Message from the President: Emily Pachunka Well, it is finally here! Fall semester always seems to be a time filled with excitement, enthusiasm, and a readiness to dive right in. As you all hopefully remember, last spring we worked hard as an Honors student body to initiate changes within our student organization. Finally, we are ready to see this new group in action: the Honors Student Association (HSA). As all University Honors Program students are automatically members of the HSA, you are invited to attend meetings, plan events, and partake in all of the “honor-ific” events we have going on. One goal of the HSA this year is to create more opportunity for the Honors community to gather together and engage in thought-provoking conversation. We are planning to host debates for the Honors students to discuss current issues, take sides, and defend their perspectives. We want to organize movie nights in the Pep Bowl to watch films that not only entertain, but also ignite dialogue regarding the controversial or societal concerns of that time. The HSA is hoping to challenge ourselves to participate in more community outreach and service over the next year as well. But to achieve all of these goals, we need your help! We ask you to be an active member of the HSA and keep your excitement and enthusiasm through the next two semesters. If you have questions or new ideas for the HSA, feel free to contact me at [email protected]! Have a great year and go Mavericks! 1 Summer Vacation Updates Where in the World was Justin Korth? Justin Korth, HSA Treasurer [email protected] As well as the treasurer of the Honors Student Association, I am a junior accounting, finance, investment science, and banking major. My summer was filled with traveling and attending career-oriented conferences. It kicked off with a 5-week trip to Europe, where I visited Greece, Italy, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Spain, with my favorite place being the Austrian Alps and my favorite city being Prague in the Czech Republic. Upon returning to the United States in July, I started two internships: one as an audit intern at Seim Johnson, a regional CPA firm; and another one as an investment analyst intern for Nebraska Angels, a venture capital group. I also attended three accounting and finance conferences in Omaha; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Houston, Texas. Finally, for work, I traveled to western Nebraska and rural Iowa. After visiting many places and learning many new things, I am excited to bring my experiences back to UNO and help other students succeed. As some advice to younger students, truly cherish your time while in college. Being enrolled in senior-level classes, interning, and attending numerous conferences, I don’t find much time to enjoy the normal college experiences. Spend your freshman and sophomore years getting to know as many people as possible and having fun, because your life will soon become very busy. Cultivating and keeping personal and professional relationships will pay dividends down the road as you approach your professional career post-college. Summer Medical & Dental Education Program 2015 Harim Won, HSA Public Relations Officer [email protected] This summer, I had the privilege of spending six weeks attending classes at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and living in Scott Hall for the Summer Medical and Dental Program (SMDEP). Established by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the program was started to give aspiring premedical and predental students exposure to the challenges and lifestyle of medical and dental students. UNMC is honored to be one of twelve other program sites of SMDEP, including such institutions as Duke, Yale, and UCLA. As a little bit of background, I came to UNO as a freshman student knowing that I wanted to become a med- ical doctor. However, the more I became involved in undergraduate research, the more I thought that a career in research might better suit me. I decided that I would attend the program and gain a better understanding of what medicine is truly like. In February, I was ecstatic to find out that I had been accepted at UNMC and looked forward to spending my summer there. 2 Summer Vacation Updates (cont.) During the program, we attended classes that supplemented courses we take as undergraduates while also pre- senting them from a medical/dental perspective. In addition to classes, the premedical students spent Fridays in the gross anatomy lab at UNMC, and the predental students drove down to the College of Dentistry in Lincoln. Perhaps one of the best things about SMDEP was being surrounded by students who have demonstrated dedi- cation to their life goals in the same way that I have. Even though the group was the most diverse I have ever experienced (students from all different states, races, ethnicities, religions, family and social backgrounds), it was easy to build camaraderie with my fellow scholars because of the common goals for success that we shared. If you are a freshman or sophomore premedical or predental student interested in learning more about the program, please feel free to contact me! UNMC Munroe Meyer Institute Internship Reflection Claire Cunningham As my sophomore year came to a close, I realized that I had to begin thinking about which area of psychology I might be interested in as a future career. I was interested in finding an internship that would combine my two interests—language and psychology—in this one potential career. I spent the final months of my sophomore year going to psychology conferences and research talks, researching majors and graduate programs, all while trying to successfully balance my current coursework. One conference in particular, the University of Nebraska at Omaha hosted Early Childhood Psychology confer- ence, piqued my interested. At the conference I was connected with an internship opportunity through UNMC at the Munroe Meyer Institute’s Autism Care for Toddlers (ACT) Clinic. This summer I was a therapist for two different children with autism. The two children I worked with made remarkable strides this summer. The therapists, supervisors, parents, and other helpers made all their progress possible. I cannot disclose specific information regarding their programs and specific ages because of confidentiality protection, but they both did improve quite a bit.They are at very different places developmentally, with one able to speak many more words than the other. This is mostly because of the age difference. I will continue working with one of the children for the next year, and I am very 3 Summer Vacation Updates (cont.) excited to see the progress that she will continue to make during the transition to preschool! The other child that I worked with this summer has a different therapist for the next year, but will continue to be in the ACT clinic. This internship has opened my eyes not only to a completely different world of psychology, but also to a deeper and more accurate understanding of autism. I had absolutely no idea what autism entailed, or how amazingly strong those diagnosed with it are. The children that I worked with at the clinic are all extremely hard working. At just a few years old they are working more than twice as hard as other children their age to bridge the gap. They are not any less intelligent, they just learn in a different way. Working with children with autism is a very rewarding field. Working with a child for weeks and months on a skill, such as saying their name, and then to have them say it is such an inexplicably great feeling. There are lots of hours of work, tears of frustration, and giggles that go into each moment of triumph. The progress that one child can have in a matter of months is truly amazing. The parents and guardians of the children are equally great. Most of the parents and guardians of the children we work with in clinic are very devoted to their child’s wellbeing and therapy, and their love for their child is shown through this commitment. The parents don’t simply drop their children off, and the hard work doesn’t only occurs in the clinic. These parents and guardians continue the hard work at home, guided by the clinic’s parent training. Also, when a development happens outside of clinic, the parents come in the next day with videos and notes, excitedly chronicling the triumph. It is very encouraging to see children with this type of committed guardian, knowing that they are in the best possible atmosphere to help them succeed in life. I will continue to work at the clinic for the next year, and plan to learn much more! I am very grateful to have had this opportunity to explore this wonderful new area of psychology. The ACT clinic is doing great things, and it has been a privilege to work and learn there. Shane’s Travels through Europe and Israel Shane Cavlovic, Honors Program Student Worker To further my studies in Medieval history and archaeology, I ob- tained a FUSE Grant and spent the beginning part of the summer conducting archaeological surveys in County Roscommon, Ireland, in what is known as a medieval “high-status Gaelic lordly site.” Since so many of these types of sites in this area are severely under researched, they have been lost to the landscape – making worthwhile excavations nearly impossible. However, in conjunction with NUI Galway and Western Aerial Sur- vey, we were able to carry out aerial drone surveys, gradiometry scans, and resistivity measurements to deter- mine accurately where excavations should take place.