Camille Pfister
Editor-in-chief
Spring at Sewanee is filled with so many traditions, events, and opportunities for students, faculty, and staff alike. From comprehensive examinations, to SOP trips, to Easter and Sparty, to just celebrating the warmer weather and taking study breaks with your friends, the spring semester brings much to enjoy. One of these beloved traditions is Scholarship Sewanee.
Scholarship Sewanee began in 1994 as “Scientific Sewanee”, a half-day poster session at the end of the spring semester. In its original form, approximately 40 posters were displayed, all affiliated with the sciences. Since its inception, Scholarship Sewanee has grown to incorporate all departments on campus, like religious studies, anthropology, the languages, and the arts. It has also grown to include oral presentations in addition to research posters. This year, the all-day event will be held on April 26, featuring 134 posters and 66 oral presentations.
“I’m excited for everyone to see what I’ve created,” Emma Lively (C ’25) said. “I have two posters, so I’m a little nervous about being able to stay upbeat and energetic throughout all the presentations, but we can handle that.” Lively has never participated in Scholarship Sewanee prior to this year and is excited about what is to come.
Scholarship Sewanee is a key part of Sewnaee’s Undergraduate Research Initiative, providing an outlet for students to share their hard work with a larger academic community in an open, supportive, environment. The mission statement for the Undergraduate Research Initiative reads as follows: “To enhance student engagement, critical thinking, and problem-solving through meaningful intellectual student-faculty interaction, every student and faculty member will have the opportunity to engage in collaborative research or creative work in a vibrant and encouraging environment supported by the University as a whole.” One of the most important pieces of scholarly work is sharing that work with others, hence why this day is such an important one for the Sewanee community at large.
Máté Gerai (C ’24) has presented at Scholarship Sewanee since his sophomore year and is presenting again this year, with multiple projects. “It’s one of my favorite events at Sewanee,” Gerai said. “I love seeing what my peers are up to in their professional lives. I love seeing their passion for complex problems and how they solve them. And I love to share my research.”
Undergraduate students usually spend four years here on the Mountain and, during that time, they have the opportunity, not only to learn from their peers and mentors but to learn how to share their own hard work and knowledge with their community. Scholarship Sewanee is a great opportunity for students to learn what it’s like to present their research in a smaller room, so if they attend conferences or graduate school, they’ve already done the process a few times.
“It felt like a really big thing,” Gerai said. “It’s your first scientific presentation, even though it’s in-house, it feels very official. It taught me a lot about what to do at a bigger scientific convention.”
Students also have the opportunity to explore multiple topics. One of Lively’s two entries is a poster for her religious studies course, Cult Controversies, alongside fellow classmate Rachel Williams (C ‘25), on the Public Universal Friend. The other is research surrounding student satisfaction with University housing conditions for her psychology class. One of Gerai’s three posters is on the role of DEI initiatives in STEM education at Sewanee, with classmate Tuyen Lee (C ‘24).
In addition, some students’ entries might be for a course, like Lively, while others may be for their own senior thesis work, or in preparation for graduate school. Gerai’s other poster, focusing on the design and construction of a low cost raman microscope, comes out of Gerai building a raman microscope for Sewnaee’s physics department.
“It’s my senior seminar presentation,” Gerai said. “It’s about building a raman system for the physics department, which is an instrument we did not have before. So I built one, and then I presented my seminar on it, so that’s what my poster is going to be on.”
Students who haven’t participated in Scholarship Sewanee before might see it as intimidating, but your professors, and fellow students are there to stand by you and make sure you feel confident about the work you are doing.
“If you’re gonna do a poster or a presentation, make sure you’re really passionate about it, because you do have to dedicate a lot of time to it,” Lively said. “I chose two topics that I’m passionate about, which has made it so much easier, and less of a chore, and more exciting.”
If you aren’t participating this year but have ideas for future years (or want to know more about the process), Gerai has advice. “Practice is really important,” Gerai said. “Have a lot of fun with it, don’t be afraid to be nerdy. Be passionate. Even if the people you are talking to don’t understand a word, they will understand the passion, and they will enjoy it.”
At the end of the day, Scholarship Sewanee is for students to feel proud about their accomplishments, for their classmates to support them, and maybe learn about something they didn’t know anything about. We only get so many class opportunities here, so if there is something you’ve never learned about, maybe Scholarship Sewanee can light a spark of passion, or at least teach you something new. So, if you miss it this year, be sure to check out next year’s Scholarship Sewanee.
“Come support everyone at Scholarship Sewanee,” Lively said. “Maybe you’ll be inspired for next year.”