FERRUM, VA, November 17, 2023 – Ferrum College junior Kayla Fedison, senior Sarah Crawford, and Boone Honors assistant director Dr. Ed Hally attended the National Collegiate Honor Council’s annual conference from November 8-12 in Chicago, Illinois.
The National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) is the national organization that represents honors programs/colleges throughout the United States. Each year, they have an annual conference that draws faculty, students, and administrators from 900+ honors programs throughout the country. Attendees are welcome to present their research in honors education or attend panels to learn more about what others in the community are doing.
Fedison applied to the conference last spring and was accepted to present her research titled “The Effect of Motor Mental Imagery on a Multi-Muscular Sequential Movement.” Her study explored two questions: does mental imagery result in minor activation in the relevant musculature and are the agonist to antagonist ratios different in actual and imagined movement.
“The results of the study showed there is a minute activation of relevant musculature that is significantly less than that of actual movement, and the agonist to antagonist ratio is not different between actual and imagined movement. In simpler terms, I looked at muscle activity in the leg during real and imagined movements to see if the signals the brain sent to the leg were different,” Fedison explained. Overall, she enjoyed presenting and had a great time. “Attending the conference allowed me to build my resume, practice my presentation skills, and explore a new place,” she said.
Dr. Hally also presented his Fall 2022 research at the NCHC conference. The study took place in HON-100, a class for incoming Boone Honors freshman that places an emphasis on learning about leadership. “I tied this into my research projects from the last few years – learning about the effect of games and simulations in the classroom. In this case, I specifically wanted to know if games could motivate leadership behavior in honors students. Over the course of the semester, students in HON 100 played 8 – 10 games in which each student takes a leadership role approximately twice. These games range from physical challenges to role playing games to strategy games. Overall, the students really enjoy the active learning component of these games and my research demonstrated that students do improve some leadership abilities after experiencing in-class games,” Hally shared.
Fedison is the third Ferrum College Boone Honors member to present research at NCHC, which is a rare opportunity. The first two were Rachel Belcher Wells ’16 and Kate Anderson ’19.
Although Crawford did not present research, she had a wonderful time and enjoyed the learning experience. “A lot of the research on pedagogy and education interested me as I am majoring in elementary education. One of the things I saw that was especially interesting was how colonial America affected gender roles. Already knowing a little bit of this thanks to Dr. Greer-Golda, I loved hearing a little bit more,” she said.
While attending the conference, the group also took part in a program named “City as Text”. They explored the historic Chicago neighborhood of Chinatown, indulging in delectable food, admiring the beautiful architecture, and discovering interesting shops and neighborhoods. Additionally, they had the opportunity to visit the Skydeck at the top of Willis Tower.
