Fall 2022 Senior Research Best Overall Projects
December 16, 2022The Senior Research Fall 2022 students presented their projects this week. Students conducted research, wrote papers, and presented their research to a group of judges. Judges awarded best overall projects in their respective categories.
Languages, Literature, & Culture
Best Overall Project | Brooke Cardozo | Challenges and Benefits of Parenting a Child Diagnosed with a Disability
Brooke Cardozo researched the impacts, experiences, and hardships faced by parents who take on the new adaptations of raising a child with a disability. In her paper, she wrote, “These adaptations include the responses of immediate family, the countless financial hardships, and the adversity throughout the child’s schooling experience.” Brooke dove into detail and took significant consideration when looking into these adaptations as she wrote. She elucidated her inspiration behind this research came from her volunteer work over the summer at Camp Crystal Lake, where she received the opportunity to work with a child who had a disability.
Natural and Physical Sciences
Best Overall Project | So’Unique High | Health Disparities in Minority Communities in the United States
So´Unique High presented a senior project on the Health Disparities of minorities in the United states. This project gave the attendees a clear, in-depth view of the sad reality of healthcare mistreatment for minorities. Her presentation highlighted the causes and effects of improper healthcare which can result in higher death rates, little to no economic gain, and even a reduction in social life and status. The purpose of her project was to educate all people on how to always ensure that they are getting the care that they need and deserve. After graduation, she will continue her education at FAMU where she will study Health administration in hopes to own her own hospital or clinic to give all people equal opportunities for healthcare and enforce some of her own findings to reduce these statistics.
Social Sciences
Best Overall Project | Sophia Rodriguez | To what extent did the COVID-19 pandemic impact automobile sales?
For her senior research project, Sophia knew she wanted her topic to surround automobiles. She grew up going to car shows with her family and had her own car buying experience in 2021. When entering dealerships, salesmen would ask if they were aware of the car chip shortage. Her car buying experience led her to research more about the extent Covid-19 impacted automobile company’s sales. Through her research, she learned about the effect the chip shortage had on the production line. Less new cars were being made. The demand for a new car was high as chips were a big factor in building a car. With fewer new cars being made, the demand for used vehicles increased prices. Additionally, people did not want to use public transportation which led to more cars being bought. Covid relief checks and forgiveness loans were being used for car payments. Dealerships had to adapt to the shut down and convert to online. It is said that dealerships made more sales than before. The new car buying experience made it easy to buy a car from home. As many car and car parts come from China, dealerships had a low inventory. A car salesman would do a dealership trade to keep their customer but would add fees. Sophia’s subject matter expert, Heidi Jones, the owner of Continental Imports, said for her auto repair business ordering car parts has become more difficult. For Heidi Jones, the beginning of shut down made business slow but soon got extremely busy. Through her research, Sophia determined that the shut down for covid affected many aspects of the automobile industry.
Technical Trades & Armed Forces
Best Overall Project | Mark Deaderick | To what extent will Fiberglass Boat Building expand as an industry?
Mark’s research project was about fiberglass boat building and how it has affected the overall boating economy in the United States. His hypothesis was that it has grown the overall boating economy. It was proven to be correct due to three reasons – fiberglass boats provide another option for boat buyers; fiberglass boats are cheaper to manufacture compared to wooden boats; and fiberglass boats are cheap for the buyers. Mark found that fiberglass boat building has not only grown the boating economy but will continue to grow the boating economy.