Every Tuesday at 11 a.m., Bluffton hosts a forum for students, faculty and community members where speakers from a variety of backgrounds present on a variety of topics. Occasionally, however, students themselves host forums. How does a student end up leading a forum, and what is it like to prepare for them?
Becky Boban, a senior art and writing major, presented her forum in September of last year. Boban said the forum was about her experiences at a writing workshop and poetry retreat, experiences funded by grants provided by Bluffton.
“For the grants, they say ‘Oh, as in return for this grant, you might be asked to present your research or your experience to people,” said Boban. “And so I signed a thing, so I was aware that I would have to, you know, say what I did with the money and my time.”
Jarod Siekman, a junior math education major, presented his forum Feb. 5. Siekman said the forum itself was about his project in Mayan mathematics, research he previously presented at the Miami Math Conference last semester.
“I was working with Professor Steve Harnish to try to find a topic for the Miami conference,” said Siekman. “And when I was doing my semester abroad in Guatemala, we had a opportunity to study any topic we wanted, to present it, and I chose Mayan mathematics.”
Jena O’Brien, a senior public relations major, will present her forum April 9. O’Brien said the forum will be over her senior honors project about Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse at Michigan State University and how how the university’s public relations responded to the abuse allegations.
“As a PR major, crisis communication is something I’m very interested in,” said O’Brien. “It’s a way to connect my major and my previous campus job as a PR student worker.”
As for how each student ended up leading a forum, Boban said she received an email from Professor of Communication and Forum Coordinator Gerald Mast, and she then began preparing for the forum.
“Because I had in the back of my mind that I had to do some sort of presentation, over the summer I made sure I took notes,” said Boban. “It was kind of like writing a research paper, but research on my experience.”
In Siekman’s case, Mast inquired about scheduling a forum to present his research after reading an article about his presentation at the Miami conference.
“Thankfully, I had a PowerPoint presentation from my Miami conference,” said Siekman. “So I just changed up the PowerPoint and practiced.”
While serving on O’Brien’s honors project committee, Mast “seemed very excited” about the project and the potential of presenting it on campus, according to O’Brien. She later agreed to do the forum.
“My project isn’t due until March,” said O’Brien. “But after the project’s done, it’s kind of going through it once again, looking over my research and deciding what’s the most important thing to tell the audience.”
O’Brien’s forum will be at 11 a.m. April 9 in the Musselman Library Reading Room.
While O’Brien has yet to present her forum, both Boban and Siekman said the experience of presenting their forums was a positive one一despite some mild stage fright.
“I was confident in what I had to say, but I was nervous to present it,” said Boban. “By this time, I’d read my speech several times. Then, when I actually got up there, I was still nervous, but I think I was kind of able to focus on what I was reading.”
“It was nerve-wracking, not going to lie,” said Siekman. “It was a little bit more nerve-wracking than presenting in Miami, because here, during the forum, I was presenting to my peers.”
College is a place to encourage independent thought. As such, student-led forums are an important part of accomplishing that mission.
