Academic Excellence Symposium

This research explores strategies to enhance learning for Gen Z college students, a generation known for its short attention spans and digital-first habits. Through a mixed-methods approach—including literature reviews, surveys, and design analysis—the study identifies key factors affecting student engagement and retention. Findings highlight that traditional learning formats often fail to capture attention, while interactive, visually engaging, and structured content significantly improves focus and comprehension. It’s also important to focus on different types of learners and what engages those students specifically. Survey responses from 17 Gen Z students reveal a strong preference for in-person learning environments, provided they incorporate active participation, gamification, and real-world applications. Meanwhile, insights from 11 college professors highlight the increasing number of virtual professors and the importance of making an online course as valuable as an in-person course. These findings helped with the development of a study app designed specifically to address Gen Z’s learning needs. AdaptiveLearn uses learning styles, interactive elements, and structured content delivery to create an intuitive and engaging educational experience for everyone individually. Its design prioritizes clarity and accessibility, incorporating features such as personalized dashboards, gamified quizzes, visual learning aids, and progress tracking. This study app highlights the importance of reimagining instructional methods to align with evolving student needs, offering a scalable solution that enhances engagement, retention, and overall academic performance.

For nearly 300 years, labor unions have been a point of contention in the political and economic sphere. I question why their existence is so tumultuous when it would objectively improve the economic security and workforce in our country. From the 1950s to the late 2010s, the number of labor unions has and continues to decrease. Throughout that same time, unemployment rates rose. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 1953, unemployment sat at 2.5%. Fast forward to 2017, unemployment went up to 4.5% with significant increases in 1975, 1983, and 2010 reaching nearly 10%, (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Is the decline of labor unions correlated with the rising unemployment numbers? Has this decline also contributed to the working class’s economic instability? In this project, I will explore the impact of labor unions on economic stability. As part of this research, I will conduct in-person interviews of active labor union board members about their professional experiences as representatives. I will also explore secondary sources to gather more information regarding labor unions’ impact on the economy. I hypothesize that labor unions positively impact the country’s economic security and workforce. I hope to explore policy proposals to broaden access to organized labor unions for all workers.

Within a 20 month period, it has been found that 36.% of unmarried 18-35 year olds experience a break up. With this knowledge, we can look to disenfranchised grief as a response to that relationship loss. My goal for this project was to find out how disenfranchised grief relating to relationship loss is portrayed in popular music. I used Worden’s Tasks of Mourning to determine the different feelings of grief shown, with the thought that Task 2 would be most represented. The Task of Mourning most represented was actually Task 1. I also analyzed how decades and genres expressed grief--which Tasks of Mourning are most prevalent in which genres and eras of musical expression?

According to the American Immigration Council, the state of Wisconsin hosts a population of approximately 32,000 refugees as of 2025. One of the biggest challenges faced by the Wisconsin refugee population is to access sufficient healthcare. Issues such as language barriers, financial concerns, and transportation complicate this task. One organization that aims to mitigate the obstacles faced by Wisconsin refugees is the Hanan Refugees Relief Group in Milwaukee. This study uses both interview testimony and 990 tax-filing research to explain the character of the Hanan Refugees Relief Group, including the programs with which it serves its clients, its budget, its yearly growth, and its sources of revenue. This profile explores the role of Hanan Refugees Relief Group within the greater Milwaukee community, the measurable outcomes of Hanan’s resettlement efforts, as well as Hanan's response to the changes in refugee resettlement policy within recent months.

In children’s literature, the illustrations can be as important as the words; the most effective picture books integrate text and illustrations in a way that both are necessary to tell the complete story. This presentation and analysis of Kevin Henkes’s 1991 classic, Chrysanthemum, addresses the excitement and anxiety of a young child leaving the comfort and safety of home to start school, a rite of passage for both child and parent. Many picture books address this subject, but rarely as effectively as Chrysanthemum. In the story, our young heroine skips into school, confident she will be as loved and valued as she has been at home, only to find her uniqueness (her long and unusual name) is not celebrated but criticized for being too different. Henkes cleverly shows both Chrysanthemum’s struggle for belonging, her dejection, her temptation to subsume herself to fit in with her new peers, and her eventual triumph in being true to herself even in an unfamiliar setting. Parents will both appreciate (and learn from) the witty illustrations thrown in just for them. Henkes is both author and illustrator, and his words and drawings combine to create an unforgettable read aloud experience. An analysis of the illustrations interacting with the text will show the depth of expression and feeling that words alone cannot capture. The individual elements of artistic technique, color, style, tone, word choice, even placement of text relative to drawings are all relevant to the whole. Henkes creates a safe space for his readers to experience Chrysanthemum’s stressful story, reassured that she will be okay, and so will they. Young readers and their adults can bring this message of hope to their own experiences.

This is a holistic examination of the philosophy of education, asking the following question: What is an equitable education? Education is a concept interwoven with nearly all aspects of American life, requiring an approach from several different perspectives. Education has economic and social consequences. Any change to our education system also affects our political system and existing power structures. How do we create an education system that maximizes human flourishing and balance that with the potential for individual achievement?

An analysis into how American superhero comic books can be used to examine the evolution of American culture and cultural values throughout the 20th and 21st century. I will closely examine four different well-known and long-lasting superheroes to determine how they showcase the evolution of cultural values. For each character, I will look at what idea this character represents, how this character has evolved over the course of their run and what the development of their characterization says about the evolution of the concept they embody.

This research explores the challenge of equipping students with thinking skills to be lifelong learners. After researching about learning how to think, I observed that social studies curricula officially integrate some thinking skills. During my teaching experiences, however, I found that the pressure to cover content that students memorize stifles the instructional time needed for students to gain proficiency in thinking. Many students are simply left behind as lifelong learners after their school career ends. Content heavy, coverage approaches fail at teaching students lifelong skills in decision-making or become informed members of society. Research in pedagogy, philosophy, and psychology conclude that thinking skills must be explicitly and methodically taught to students. These cognitively complex skills cannot be acquired by superficial reference during a content heavy class that demands memorization from students. Recent social studies textbooks include activities or reference to thinking skills. Even so, textbooks and lesson plans avoid explicitly instructing students in the methods of thinking. Lecturing about thinking concepts or assigning activities that presume students only practice a skill are insufficient means to transfer these skills. Research concludes teaching skills must be explicitly taught and not be overshadowed by content. Teachers can explicitly instruct students on the methods social scientists use to think. Explicit instruction includes modelling thinking aloud or visually to students, scaffolded activities that provide frameworks for the tools and methods of each skill, and gradual release. By explicit instruction, teachers show students the means to learn how to think. Social studies teachers are ideal educators of the disciplines that align with cognitively complex tasks that go beyond content memorization. Students become lifelong learners when empowered with the tools to think for themselves and make informed decisions.

This paper analyzes Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle, focusing on the integration of text and illustrations to enhance the storytelling experience for young readers. Through its repetitive structure and vibrant, minimalist illustrations, the book engages children in learning colors, animals, and basic patterns. The paper explores how Carle’s use of bold colors and his signature collage technique supports the text, creating a harmonious relationship that not only reinforces early literacy skills but also strengthens visual literacy. By examining the interplay between the text and illustrations, this paper argues that Brown Bear, Brown Bear is a prime example of how children's books can use simple yet effective design elements to support cognitive development and foster engagement in early learning.

This paper would seek to find a connection between the breakdown of unions (de-unionization) and increased economic inequality, alongside the shrinking of the middle class and jobs for the middle class. This shrinking of the middle class and its jobs is also known as job polarization. In the past several decades, the rate of workers in unions has shrunk considerably, even though opinions on unions remain relatively positive. While union rates have gone down, job polarization and economic inequality have grown exponentially. This paper will seek to prove that the breaking down of unions has directly grown job polarization and is one reason why economic inequality is so high. Using a multitude of peer-reviewed secondary sources, this paper will identify and discuss why there has been a wave of de-unionization in the United States, how it has caused economic inequality, and ways in which this process can be reversed.

I am looking to investigate the nature of disability as it relates to economic opportunity in America; how disability corresponds to decreased access to jobs, increases the probability of poverty-traps, and how the country’s current method of socioeconomic arrangement perpetuates this marginalization. I’d like to argue for a more inclusive restructuring of the economy and social safety net that does not enable the same trap at the expense of disabled Americans.

In the current digital age social networking sites and messaging platforms have become fundamental in transforming communication by offering new avenues for people to express themselves and build relationships. Growing body of research highlights the benefits and dangers of social networks regarding the act of sexting, which is the exchange of provocative or sexually explicit content, such as text messages, photos, and/or videos via smartphone, internet, or social networks (Morelli et al., 2016). Previous research examined the act of sexting through a gender-based perspective by looking at the differences and similarities between how women and men engage in this behavior and their motivations behind it. Early research has found that women’s odds of reporting sending a sext was 1.2-1.3 times higher compared to men, whereas the odds of reporting in receiving a sext was 1.1-1.2 times higher for men compared to women (Thorne et al., 2024). There is a need to examine the motivations for sexting as well as the disparity of research surrounding women. The current study examines self-sexualization, the Big 5 personality traits, and sensation seeking. Self-sexualization in relation to sexting could be that individuals choose to sexualize themselves due for various reasons. Big 5 personality traits such as agreeableness and openness to experience may increase the likelihood of sending sexts which can also be in relation to sensation seeking. Our study examines the sending of unsolicited sexts in women and the variables that may contribute to one’s engagement in this behavior. The variables that will be examined include the Big 5 personality traits, sensation seeking, narcissism, self-esteem, and self-sexualization. We are currently collecting data and have 110 participants from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. This is an exploratory study as only one of the two variables (self-esteem and narcissism) have been examined in previous publications.

The assignment, Illustration as a Bridge to Another World required that students analyze a favorite children's book. The criterion of the essay demonstrates how the text and illustrations relate to the appropriate age of the children as readers and observers. The essay is to reflect the effectiveness of the authors’ intent on engaging children in the set age range. The essay needs to provide extensive explanation regarding artistic techniques employed by the illustrator and utilize specific examples of color, style, and placement of pictures. It should also provide explanation on literary elements, such as usage of point of view, and explain how the text and illustration work together. The essay must contain quotes from the text to support evidence. Along with the essay the student is required to create their own illustration and incorporate it into their paper detailing how their illustration could change the effects of the story.