22Spring.pdf

Honors at CCAC ends the spring semester in a flurry of activity. We began with spring Kick - Off Orientation exposing students to all aspects of Honors. Students attended two of the Literary Evening Monday Night Lecture Series – Ayad Akhtar ’ s Homeland Elgies and George Saunders ’ s A Swim in a Pond in the Rain followed by post - lecture discussions via zoom. After two years, students attended the Pittsburgh Opera, Carmen and PNC Broadway, To Kill a Mockingbird in person. Our spring hike at the beautiful Mingo Creek Park immersed our faculty and students in nature.

Professor Juanita Plaskon ’ s Field Trip, Animal Encounter Seminar at the Pittsburgh Zoo, gave our biology students a first - hand look at how the Pittsburgh Zoo cares for animals behind the scenes at two animal exhibits. Students also learned about conservation biology and had the chance to explore the Zoo on their own. North Campus Honors Coordinator, Ashleigh Fox, organized the first ever collaborative undergraduate research conference between Westmoreland County Community College (WCCC) and CCAC where students from both institutions presentedtheir research.

Our Honors Leadership Assistants chose Be the Match for Jax as the spring community service project. At the information panel event, Jax ’ s mother did an excellent presentation on inequities in our healthcare and explained her commitment to diversify the bone marrow pool. Her emotional appeal was deeply touching and inspiring. The LA ’ s organized live drives at all the four CCAC campuses swabbing 100 students for the registry and raising $303. My Honors Leadership class students volunteered at the Oakland Food Pantry apart from distributing about 50 useful kits to the frontline homeless people.

South Campus Honors Coordinator Steve Wells and I accompanied four Honors students to the Northeast Regional Honors Council (NRHC) Annual Conference in Philadelphia. Our students shared their research, and their presentations were outstanding. Students also actively participated in all the conference events making CCAC proud. Ashika Henry - Richardson won the minority scholarship, and Aodhán Ridenour was given the best student participant award. To close a busy and rewarding year, Honors at CCAC celebrated our students and faculty at the annual Honors Forum on April 29. We were honored to have President Dr. Quintin Bullock give opening remarks and present medallions to Honors graduates. Dr. Blacklaw presented service awards recognizing students who made exceptional contributions to service. Also, Honors pins were given to those earning their first credit in Honors, Honors cords and medallions to our graduates, and Honors travel mugs to our Honors faculty. Selected students presented their Honors research projects, and the Honors LAs shared their experiences. I would like to pay tribute to our Allegheny Campus Honors Coordinator, Joe Delphia, who is leaving the Honors Council. Honors at CCAC has benefitted from his insight, creativity, enthusiasm and deep commitment to the program and the students. He organized amazing field trips to Fallingwater and local museums, and traveled to India twice with students. My heartfelt thanks to the Honors community at CCAC for an incredibly enriching year! — Srujana Kanjula Honors Night at the Opera

Jax is a 6 year old, Pittsburgh Native who was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder called IPEX in October 2021. Join us as we search for a 'perfect' bone marrow match for Jax to save him from this life threatening disease. If you would like to join the Be the Match bone marrow registry, please scan the QR code on the right.

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