A First Year Nursing Major’s Perspective on USJ’s 2023 Symposium Day

Written by Brooke Stevenson

‘Twas the night before Symposium Day, and all through the campus, students were filled with anxiety. McGovern was aflutter with students, each making sure that their posters were hung with care. They twiddled about in anticipation of what was to come: The day that their hard work would be judged by all who passed by. I was among those anxiety-ridden students. As a first-year seminar (FYS) student, I was obligated to present our class’s findings for a half-hour. This would be my first Symposium Day, and I had to present without any background knowledge, experience, or expectations.

I had scoped out my designated area the night before, and arrived for my 9:30 am time slot. I had to traverse the sardine-packed room all the way to the other side in order to sign in and grab my name tag. I tried and failed to push through the unwavering crowd. In the end, I had to scurry behind the presentation posters along the wall in order to reach the other side. I quickly grabbed my name tag and raffle ticket (don’t want to forget that) and made my way back to my poster at the other end. While it was a little awkward and intimidating to present to the roaming audience at first, my classmates and I quickly got into a comfortable rhythm of presenting.

Once my half-hour of presenting was up, I wanted to wander off and see other students’ work. However, presenters in McGovern started to take down their posters, and clear the easels for the next wave of posters and presenters. But I was in luck: the first session of oral presentations was about to begin. I quickly grabbed a symposium day schedule and looked for something interesting to go to.

I really wanted to go to the 10:10 a.m. presentation, “Men’s Mental Health, Physician Health, and Help Seeking,” presented by Dhimitra Hatika and moderated by Kristen Cistulli, but I was too late. Fortunately, the two other presentations I wanted to go to were in the same location. I thoroughly enjoyed Julia Martocchio’s presentation, “Impact of Disability Status and Classroom Environment on Social Satisfaction for Special Education Students in Connecticut,” and Daemian Debidart’s presentation, “An Exploration of Effective Writing Through Fiction”. Martocchio’s slides had a clean and straightforward design that made them easy to read. She also expertly utilized visual aids, such as images and graphs. I could tell Martocchio was very knowledgeable about her findings. She relayed information and gracefully answered questions about her research. In addition, I liked how she ended her time telling the audience about her bias going into starting her research, and how it changed due to her findings. It was enlightening and served as a connecting point that the audience could relate to. Debidart had a flare to his presentation. His body language and presentation style kept the audience engaged. For example, as he was talking about avoiding using Purple Prose – writing that is overly elaborated or uses “fancy words” that draws too much attention to the diction rather than the story – he made the audience chuckle as he said this is something he needs to work on as his writing is “firmly lavender.” Debidart’s perspective on nonfiction and fiction writing and how the two relate was quite enlightening. He went on to say, “there is a science to this art,” meaning if someone wanted to build suspense in a thriller, they have a preconceived formula to follow to engage the audience and provide dramatic irony. He demonstrated this by using an excerpt from his own writing, “Things Below, Things Beyond,” which was a thriller set in the freezing North Pole. He connected the use of dramatic irony to scientific writing, where the introduction or summary describes bits and pieces, but the audience must read everything in order to understand the result.

As the first session of oral presentations came to an end, I headed to the Lunchtime Poster Session in McGovern Hall. I also viewed the Afternoon Poster Session, which is where I found my favorite poster: “Issues Within the Birthing System in the United States,” presented by Kassidy Thompson with Monika Costa as the faculty advisor. As a nursing student interested in going into the field of women’s health, this poster presentation was extremely interesting as it highlighted one of the most pressing issues in women’s health right now. Moreover, I was delighted to find out that Professor Costa was looking into creating an elective nursing class about women’s health, especially since USJ doesn’t have a specific women’s health minor, only a women’s studies minor. I was delighted that each presentation I attended was given in a clear and understandable way that was not overwhelming. For example, I really appreciated them using more general, less clinical, words as I don’t necessarily know all the acronyms or specific word definitions related to their research and discipline.

The day was very educational and eye-opening. I can’t wait to attend next year now that I know what to expect. I recommend grabbing a Symposium Day schedule upon arrival and marking off what you want to see. It can be overwhelming with the amount of audience members and presenters. Also, setting a timer on your phone is a great way to stay on schedule as, from personal experience, you may get pulled into the mesmerizing rabbit hole of research surrounding you. I also found that the Wellness Room was an exceptional place to decompress if you get overwhelmed by large events. While the day is yours to do what you want, I recommend going to this event as it was an amazing experience, and it will help when the time comes for you to come up with your own project to present.

Featured Photograph: Brooke Stevenson