The Student Showcase is a cherished, interdisciplinary event coming back to campus for its 14th year in a row. Students from every department across Colorado Mesa University (CMU) and Western Colorado Community College (WCCC) are increasingly applying for the opportunity to present their best academic projects and accomplishments.
“[The Showcase] is a capstone opportunity for students to really get hands-on with something that they’re passionate about, in more depth […] than they might not have occasion to engage in otherwise,” CMU President John Marshall said. “And, they’re getting to do that with faculty advisors, which is a great thing. The second piece of it, is that it’s an opportunity for our top students to show themselves off to the community.”
According to the Student Showcase Committee Chair and Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs for Faculty Success Dr. Chad Middleton, the Showcase began in 2010 with 95 projects and 230 students. During last year’s Showcase, there were 303 projects and 603 students, which is the largest number of projects in the Showcase to date. This growth is a testament to how popular the program is with Mavs.
“It was really cool seeing the different tracks, being under the plaza, getting to talk to people and also being judged,” senior in physics Taylor Guerra said. “It was a really great experience.”
Given the distance between CMU and WCCC, there are few opportunities for its students to connect. Because the Showcase provides Mavs with this chance, it’s no surprise that applicants from WCCC have been on the rise. In fact, the number of WCCC applicants for this year’s Showcase has doubled from last year’s Showcase.
“…It’s such a good thing for WCCC to be involved in the Showcase because it shows cohesion,” WCCC Instructor of Manufacturing Machinery Casey Dry said. “We can all get together under the same CMU umbrella, so we can have a presence on the main campus and not just be isolated over [at WCCC].”
Although the Showcase has been a consistent success, members of the Showcase’s planning committee make it a point to improve the event in any way possible each year. Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Scott Andrews highlights one of these changes in how the Showcase shifted away from focusing entirely on competition.
“This event used to be [designed so that] every track had a competitive nature to it, with judges, and from the best student work would emerge a winner. Because of the inability to have judges, it turned into more of a literal Showcase than a competitive event,” Andrews said. “I think that has its advantages and disadvantages. Some students don’t want to be evaluated in that way. They just want to be proud of the work they’ve done. So, what we’re doing now, is some of the tracks out there will be judged, and some of them will not.”
Andrews elaborated that each academic department is typically divided into multiple tracks so that all of the projects presented together to have a similar theme or genre. Moreover, this allows the participants and faculty to better determine if a certain track would benefit from having judges involved.
In terms of the upcoming Showcase, one of the newest changes that Middleton is most excited about is their collaboration with Career Services to help students network during the event. This collaboration will be called a reverse job fair.
“Career Services is working with the [Showcase] program to identify potential employers, then inviting all of these employers to come to campus, […] and if these employers see some students that they’re impressed with, they can exchange cards,” Middleton said. “Then, at the end of the day, there’s going to be this opportunity where we’re all going to come together, and food and drink will be served. We’re going to give out all the awards and then there’s going to be this opportunity where [students are] going to be able to mingle with these potential employers.”
The Showcase might seem like an intense or intimidating experience, yet the passion that goes into facilitating the event, and the effort students put into it every year, prove it to be a must-attend if Mavs cannot participate themselves.
“I’ve been on this committee the whole time, and I don’t think I would ever give it up, because it’s my connection to the rest of the campus. I need that, and I think we should all celebrate it,” Andrews said. “I [would like to see] more attendants: more friends, more parents, more community members. The rooms fill up, but I’d like to see this day be really bustling.”
Indeed, this urge for their peers to join has been echoed across many Showcase veterans, both students and faculty alike. This year’s Showcase will start at noon on April 28 in the Love Recital Hall of the Moss Performing Arts Center, and it will end around 5 p.m.
“Show off your hard work. You can quite literally do that. You worked hard, you have got to show it,” Guerra said. “I think a big part of college is not just knowing that you can do it, but it’s proving that you can.”
