By Madison Rohn, Lead Editor
Photography from AEC’s Instagram and McKendree’s Online Photo Albums
Last Thursday was McKendree’s eleventh annual Academic Excellence Celebration (AEC), a day for students to celebrate their hard work and show off their achievements. With classes canceled for the day, students were encouraged to watch their peers who were involved in presentations, performances, and honor society inductions.
The day began with the poster session. All around Holman Library, students stood by poster boards displaying highlights from their research or projects. Those walking through the library that morning could see posters representing majors such as psychology, political science, history, English, sociology, and more. Attendees were encouraged to ask students questions about their posters and learn what inspired them to choose their topics.
Later in the morning, AEC attendees headed to the Piper Academic Center (PAC) for presentations. From ten in the morning until noon, attendees could choose different twenty-minute sessions in which either individual students or whole classes would present their work. With honors theses, research projects, crisis simulations, and monologues from the speech and debate team, there were a ton of fascinating events to watch.
Some events, like the annual Catalyst literary magazine reading, were standing-room only as students, faculty, and parents filled the classroom to listen to the published students read their poetry.
Out in the PAC lobby, members of McK Radio live-broadcasted interviews with presenters about their experiences. There was also a photo booth and lots of fun props for people to capture the excitement of the day.
Senior communication major Maclayne Taylor presented during two of the PAC sessions. She shared her research on “sharenting” during the “Navigating Technology and Relationships” session, and she presented her Gender Communication project during the “Shedding Light, Giving Voice: Exploring Gendered Communication” session. Maclayne said, “I enjoyed both of these presentations, but my favorite one was probably the ‘Shedding Light, Giving Voice’ presentation. I liked being able to share my teammates and their experiences with others and essentially ‘giving them a voice’ that is often not appreciated or misunderstood by most people.”
AEC also celebrated artistic achievements throughout the day. The McKendree Gallery of Art was open for most of the day, hosting a collection of original pieces made by art students. In the afternoon, the Chamber Choir held a brief concert in the choir room, performing songs they had prepared over the semester. Then in the evening, the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, and Percussion Ensemble had a concert in the Hett, one of their last performances of the year.
In addition to the choir concert, the afternoon was also filled with ceremonies for prestigious honor societies. The honor societies of Phi Eta Sigma (first-year students), Tau Sigma (transfer students), and Phi Kappa Phi (juniors and seniors) held their annual induction ceremony in the Hett. Other honor societies for various majors and programs were held over campus. These ceremonies welcomed new members, gave out awards, and recognized new officers.
After her presentations, Maclayne Taylor was also inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi and Mu Gamma Kappa honor societies, and during the latter, she even received an award honoring her academic success in the communication program. Maclayne said her favorite part of AEC is, “I like that everyone is so supportive of each other’s success in their academics. It is a great opportunity to check out and showcase all of the hard work that was put into our academics. We have the opportunity all of the time to appreciate sports at McKendree, but AEC allows for people to appreciate academics and the time and effort put into this side of the student.”
After the induction ceremonies, a reception was held in 1828 to congratulate all those who were recognized that day. Students, faculty, guests, and even Bogey snacked on desserts and celebrated the AEC participants.
Maclayne encourages students to attend AEC events every year to both be supportive and learn. “Students should watch AEC events to support their peers, learn something new, and feel inspired. Events like AEC only occur once a year, so you should try and take advantage of that one day by being there and celebrating each and every individual.”
Thanks and congratulations to everyone involved in making this AEC a fun day of achievement and celebration!
