By Taylor Choquette, intern, WSU ’18
WESTFIELD – On Friday May 4, in Scanlon Banquet Hall, students gathered to present at Westfield State University’s third annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (CURCA).
For three hours, students presented their research and creative projects they had been working on throughout the semester. While some projects were class requirements, a lot of students were presenting research about issues important to them on their own time.
Josh Martinez explains how Gossip Girl portrays affluent white women. (Photo by Taylor Choquette)
Josh Martinez, a senior Communication major, presented his directed study titled ‘Gossip Girl: Visual Representation of Conspicuous Consumption.’ For one college credit, he met with a professor from his department once every two weeks, and researched how white affluent people, especially women, are portrayed in the CW show ‘Gossip Girl.’
“In today’s political climate, it’s important to see how media influences us,” Martinez explained why he chose to focus on this topic for his project.
Aleixa Gagnon presents her research on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Photo by Taylor Choquette)
Aleixa Gagnon, a senior, also presented about a television show. She chose to research existentialism in her favorite show ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ Her project, which she spent a couple weeks working on, was titled ‘Lie to Me: the Thematic Existentialism Morality of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ Gagnon focused on one episode of the supernatural series and explored the indifference the universe feels towards people, as portrayed in the particular episode. “If nothing we do matters, then what matters is what we do,” Gagnon summed up her research.
“Being able to present your own research will help you in the future,” said Gagnon about her excitement about presenting at CURCA for the second time.
On the more creative side of CURCA, English major Bridget Higgins presented her poem ‘Reflections of a Shitty Love Story’ on the Wall of Words. Higgins, along with her fellow classmates, were presenting work from their Chapbook class, offered through the English department. The goal of the class is for each student to make a book of poetry and send it out for publication.
The poem she presented is one of about twenty-five in her chapbook ‘Lilacs in Subzero.’ “It’s about going through grief and relationships in my life and how they’re simultaneously overlapping,” said Higgins. She is currently looking for publishers that will be able to showcase her poems the best.
CURCA allows for students to showcase their hard work they put in to both classroom projects and passion projects alike. WSU will host another CURCA at the end of the fall semester.
