Mount Hood

Throwback Thursday: Social Support of Single Older Adults (AES 2018)

Mandie Kondash, Dr. Margaret Manoogian, and Hannah Wehr after their 2018 gerontology presentation
Mandie Kondash, Dr. Margaret Manoogian, and Hannah Wehr after Kondash and Wehr’s 2018 gerontology presentation

As we continue to reflect on PURE and AES’s history, we will share presentations, photos, and histories connected to students, staff, and faculty.

This presentation took place in 2018. Here is their abstract!

 

Mandie Kondash, Hannah Wehr Social Support of Single Older Adults (2018, AES)

Older adults may be at risk for loneliness and social isolation due to life course transitions and changing health contexts. This presentation highlights a qualitative study conducted by students focusing on the social support systems of widowed or single older adults through assessing social isolation, grandparenthood and parent-child relationship quality. Results demonstrated how familial relationships change over time, the importance of maintaining social support systems, and that gender plays a significant role in intergenerational ties.

Why do students volunteer at AES?

Why do people volunteer at AES?

For the love! Also:

  • It’s a chance to help at a campus event, get some good experience.
  • It’s an opportunity to help your fellow students thrive through their academic research.
  • Additionally, it’s a non-academic way to participate in one of campus’ largest events.
  • You get to be a part of a great all campus event, but you don’t have all the stress of having to prepare a presentation or stand in front of dozens of people.

 

What do volunteers get?

Depends on how much they help out. It ranges from a letter of thanks to some sweet swag!

 

What do volunteers have to do?

Moving furniture, flipping signs, handing out tickets, helping with directions, getting a hold of tech experts if there’s a bump.

 

What usually surprises volunteers?

That they don’t have to do huge amounts of work—it’s not a very stressful experience.

 

Authors: Chloe, gz

Image Information: Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

Why do students like performing at AES? Three reasons!

Why do students like performing at AES?

  1. It’s a direct exhibition of all the hard work that students have been doing; you get a chance to perform for a real audience,
  2. It’s a professional setting, so you get the experience of time restraints—it’s not the usual audience because it’s mixed with many people who might not normally choose to come see your art, music, or performance .
  3. It’s a challenge, too, because you are performing outside of our normal setting—and that’s kind of cool but also a bit unsettling.

 

Authored by: Chloe, gz

Image information: Performance by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

Designing conference posters: Tip for student presenters

If you are not sure about how to design a great poster for AES, then you’ll want to do several things:

  1. Talk to your mentor to see what they suggest.
  2. Look at some good examples.
  3. Review what other experts have to say.

This post addresses #3: looking what other people have to say. Colin Purrington has some good advice about how and why to present posters. Just as good, he has multiple downloadable poster templates! There’s a lot of great material on this site–it’s the kind of advice you want to go back and review as you are drafting your poster.

If you’re thinking about presenting a poster, try skimming this resource and you’ll have a much better idea of how to prepare.

Thanks to Dr. Ava Howard for sharing this resource with us!

Introducing Chloe, PURE Student Representative

Chloe Miller – Sophomore

History Major – Dance Minor

Working for Academic Excellence Showcase for the past year and a half has been a learning curve that I needed in order to better myself. This job has provided me with opportunity for many new skills, has encouraged my growth as a human and made me more confident in my abilities. My work primarily consists of Outreach work with the focus on students, but I also coordinate Volunteers and write content among other odd jobs.

Outside of my AES work, I am singing in multiple music groups on campus, The West of Us Acapella and The Western Oregon Voices Jazz ensemble.  I am a member of the Wellness Advocacy Group (WAG) as well and I am also participating in a project on campus that archives former Professor Thomas Gentle’s papers. I love to stay busy and I love to bring the campus community together in my various activities.

Author: Chloe Miller

Introducing Kranti, PURE Student Representative

Kranti speaking at microphone

I’m Kranti Budhathoki, student representative for PURE and AES 2019.  I’m a business major and a Senior at Western Oregon University.

       As an international student, AES has played a major role in my academic career. It allowed me to gain experience at a professional conference, inspire others and helped me to study and research a concept of my focus in more depth. Also, as an attendee, I got inspired, gained knowledge and was exposed to various academic programs. According to my experience, I believe AES is not only powerful for students because I remember the happiness in the faculty’s face and how thrilled they were and delighted to have their students present which reflected the students’ hard work and effort to make that happen.  I also hope many students will get enlightened by the projects and the presentations they experience through this event.

Author: Kranti Budhathoki