Lone Star College-CyFair Honors students take top honors in this year’s annual Gulf Coast Intercollegiate Consortium (GCIC) Academic Symposium in Texas City with their research presentations.
With a theme of “Embodied Knowledge: Decoding & Recoding the Self”, the College of the Mainland’s 12th GCIC symposium was the largest to date with more than 140 students from local high schools and colleges.
LSC-CyFair’s Olivia Brooks won first place with her “Socialist Cosmonauts and Robots: The Influence of Communism in Soviet Children’s Science Fiction Books” presentation, while Favour Ogbonna’s “The Role of Culture in Peer-Initiated Sexual Abuse Perpetration Among Adolescents: A Cross-Cultural Analysis” presentation received Honorable Mention.
“I could not be more proud of Olivia and Favour for their presentations at the GCIC Academic Symposium. This is their first year in The Honors College at LSC-CyFair, and they have already presented at several undergraduate research conferences. Their dedication and love of research is evident, and I have no doubt they will continue to do great things,” said Aurora Lugo, Director of The Honors College, adding that at last year’s GCIC symposium, LSC-CyFair’s Maddy Snow, one of two LSC students representing Honors and International Education, took third place.
Brooks is an Honors College Presidential Scholar who began at LSC-CyFair as a Dual Credit student. This mechanical engineering major plans to graduate in December with hopes of becoming an aerospace engineer. Her research presentations this past year included topics related to space, rockets, the universe, children’s literature and physics.
“At LSC-CyFair, I learned how to conduct research and gained critical thinking and analytical skills that I will use in my future career,” said Brooks. “I’ve enjoyed seeing where my research led me based on my interests.”
Ogbonna, an LSC Global Scholar who graduated in May, will start LSC-CyFair’s Associate Degree Nursing program this fall. Intrigued by the complexity of the human body and a desire to work with children, she plans to also pursue a bachelor’s degree, then work in pediatrics, earn a post-graduate degree and engage in medical research.
“I have come to see the gaps in healthcare and the need for more people who are willing to give their time and resources to help bridge these gaps,” Ogbonna said. “And stumbling on research while at LSC-CyFair has helped me to see another way I can make an impact by seeking out answers and solutions to these problems.”
The Honors College offers a wide range of opportunities for high achieving students, from incoming freshman seeking to graduate with an Honors AA or Honors AS degree, to pursuing Honors distinction upon graduation, to students simply interested in earning individual honors course credit. Learn more about this program at LoneStar.edu/college-departments/honors and consider applying to the Honors College today.