McKendree’s 10th annual Academic Excellence Celebration was held on Thursday, April 27th of 2023. Academic Excellence Celebration (AEC) is for students to present their scholarly and creative work to the McKendree community. No classes were held in honor of AEC, instead, students were expected to attend events. First, students presented their research in Holman Library. Next, there were student presentations that took place in Piper Academic Center (PAC). Following the presentations, many honors society inductions took place around campus. Lastly, on this day of excellence, there were musical performances for the community.
Poster presentations took place from 8:30 A.M. to 9:45 A.M. on the second floor of Holman Library. Students worked hard individually and collaboratively to demonstrate their ability to apply knowledge gained from their classes.
For the rest of the morning, 30 minute sessions of presentations were held in PAC. Those on campus could listen to students presenting their senior projects, honors theses, class projects, and more. McKendree’s literary and art magazine, Catalyst, also had a session in which the editors and writers read poems from this year’s newly published issue.
The speech and debate team had three sessions to showcase the variety of events that the teams competed and qualified for in national tournaments. Junior English secondary education major Jayden Touchette is a member of the speech team who performed during two of the sessions at AEC. She performed three pieces, including an impromptu speech about a quote that she randomly chose from quotes submitted by the audience. Using the quote “Big dogs gotta eat,” she delivered a five minute speech about taking failure and turning it into success.
Jayden expressed that she appreciates the speech and debate teams being able to present multiple types of events to the campus: “I think it’s important to showcase a variety of events, specifically in the speech and debate community because so much of it gets lumped together … And it’s sort of like track that you can say you’re on the track team, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you run. There are other events that happen. And so I feel like speech is the same way, and I think it’s important to showcase that, so people can see what it’s really like.”
Jayden also mentioned many benefits that students can receive by attending AEC. She said, “AEC is a way for students to expose themselves to things they wouldn’t have thought about before. Not only would it help them have different understandings or see different viewpoints, it would also help them discover some interests. So if you see a presentation about a topic in psychology, but you’re not a psychology major, but it really interests you, that might be something you want to pursue, like pick up a major or minor in psychology if you find that it interests you. And I think the only way you can do that is by finding those things, going and seeing them, and actively participating in some capacity.”
Later in the afternoon, honors societies held their induction ceremonies for new members and newly elected officers. The Hettenhausen Center for the Arts (the Hett) held the joint induction ceremony for the honors societies of Phi Eta Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, and Tau Sigma. Other inductions were held throughout campus, and some of them gave out awards and scholarships to exceptional students. Many of the honors societies were for specific majors or programs, such as the Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Society for political science and the Mu Kappa Gamma Honor Society for the School of Business. Other honors societies focus on a specific year or type of student, such as Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society for first-year students and Tau Sigma Honor Society for transfer students.
Senior Viola Cipriani was awarded the 2023 McKendree University Top School of Business Overall Student Award of Excellence during the Mu Kappa Gamma Honor Society ceremony. Viola stated, “I am honored to receive this award, and I thank McKendree and all my professors who helped me grow as a person and a student.”
After the induction ceremonies, a reception was held in 1828 for those inducted and their visiting family and friends. Even Bogey stopped by!
The day’s activities highlighted not only McKendree’s present and future, but also the past. Throughout the day, the McKendree Museum held an exhibit in the Chapel to showcase McKendree archives.
AEC also showcased the arts on campus. The McKendree Concert Choir and Chamber Choir performed a Mini Choral Concert in the lobby of the Hett, conducted by Dr. John McDonald. Later that evening, the McKendree Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, and Percussion Ensemble performed in honor of Academic Excellence Day. In addition, the art gallery located at 305 Stanton Street displayed the creative talents of students.
The tenth annual AEC was a success, giving students a chance to proudly show their hard work to the community. AEC will continue to be a time-honored tradition for McKendree in the years to come.
