Presenting for the “Outstanding Student Research Award”
Author: Sydney Ahart | Major: Exercise Science | Semester: Spring 2023
My name is Sydney Ahart, and I am a senior Exercise Science Major. I have a minor in mathematics. For my honors research, I am studying the effects of a previous knee injury on kinematic gait characteristics. I am also looking at how a fatiguing task such as prolonged standing affects gait in the previously injured and non-injured groups. I recently went to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend the Central States American College of Sports Medicine annual conference. Here I was able to attend lectures and sessions on topics in my field of study and learn more about topics that interest me, such as Exercise is Medicine. I also developed relationships with my peers and met new friends and professionals from other schools.
It was a great opportunity for me to see others present their own research. I have never really witnessed other students presenting research before, so it was eye opening to see the work that my peers are accomplishing. I had the opportunity to talk with other students and ask questions about the research they are doing and what their future plans are. I had lots of opportunities to network and meet new people. I had the chance to meet people from other universities and learn about their unique programs and research on their campuses. For example, I met some students from Oral Roberts University who do research on exercise habits and GPA. It was really interesting to learn that ORU gives every student a Fitbit to encourage physical activity and overall mental and physical wellbeing. I also had the chance to grow relationships with students and faculty from my own university. It really opened my eyes to the wide variety of topics in my field.
At this conference, I also had the opportunity to present my research in front of a large group of people. While I was extremely nervous, it was a great experience that taught me a lot. I put a lot of work into developing my presentation and practicing what I would say, and through this process I really gained a better understanding of my research. It was also great practice for speaking in front of people. As a future clinician, I will need great communication skills to help my clients and I think this served as good practice.
One takeaway that stuck out to me is the questions that were asked after each presentation. After every presentation there were always questions from students and professionals asking things like did you think of this or what are you going to do different in the future? This really helped me understand the research process better. There will always be gaps and limitations and a good researcher will consider those in practice.
Overall, this conference was a great experience for me. It was a chance to network and learn new things that I’m not used to seeing in class every day. Going forward, I will continue to work on my honors research and think about all the questions that people may have and how I can answer them. I will also plan on presenting my research in other capacities to share with others what I have learned.