For many students, The Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression, also known as SOURCE, was an opportunity to present their work to the community in a meaningful way.

The symposium was held on April 19 in the Ragsdale Center. The participants all came together to share their findings and their art at SOURCE, featuring everything from original research to poetry and plays.

A University symposium provides an opportunity for the general public, as well as for faculty and staff, to see what their students are doing, but according to sophomore English Literature major Jaqueline Schicker, SOURCE is especially exciting because most symposiums are not open to students at an undergraduate level.

There were poster presentations as well as oral presentations across all disciplines, and the academic research behind the projects will be published in the SOURCE journal next fall.

Jaqueline chose to submit a play she wrote in Stage and Screenwriting with professor Alan Altimont.

“I really liked the script I was working on, so I decided to present it,” Schicker said. To her, being a part of SOURCE meant contributing to the conversation within the university community.

Even students working on research outside of their major are encouraged to present. Dillon Schuh says he got involved because his ethics professor Zack Fisher advised him to enter his term paper into the contest.

“It’s extremely exciting,” Schuh said, “and also an honor to participate in the SOURCE symposium. The process has been intimidating because it’s much more nerve-wracking to give a speech to an audience than a classroom. Despite the intimidation, it’s still very exciting to have a chance to present an ethics paper of mine to an audience.”

Biology Pre-Med major Cristina Alvarado, who gave a presentation on ways to understand and reduce plaque in the arteries, says the science department always really encourages students to present their research.

“I wanted the chance to give someone a piece of what I had done as a research student without having to go through all the jargon,” she said.

According to Cristina, the biggest challenge after doing all the research and ensuring the validity of her project was figuring out how to present her research in a very short period of time to an audience outside of her discipline while still giving them something valuable to take away from it.

When asked about her experience presenting in SOURCE, Cristina said, “It’s wonderful to see something you worked so hard on come together.”

Each year, the judges for SOURCE make an effort to include a diverse array of topics. This year’s showcase was full of variety, and many participants were proud to present their findings and ideas.