This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Northeast Regional Honors Conference (NRHC) and present my honors thesis on a panel of three people. Though my panel was two hours, there was still a plethora of things I got to experience over the course of four days in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Having the ability to go and present my work at a conference was something I have never been able to do before, and it gave me some really important life skills to use in the future.
My thesis was on my poetry chapbook detailing the journey of injuring my ACL junior year of high school, and all of the feelings attached to it. I presented different aspects of the poems like persona or the editing process, and even read some of the finished poems for the audience. Through the use of a presentation, I showed a group of fifteen people my work, and at the end, I answered any questions people had about my project. This was not only important for my social skills, but it validated the work I was doing as impactful and interesting. Being able to have a conversation with intellectual people about something you’re passionate about is amazing.
Obviously since my presentation was only part of a day, I did many other activities during the conference. Some of these activities included exploring the city of Pittsburgh, going to luncheons and banquet dinners, meeting new people, getting a book signed by an author after his talk, listening to others’ presentations, and attending a gala with fellow honors students. These activities taught me how to navigate a city I wasn’t familiar with, improve my conversational skills, and learn about the ins-and-outs of a conference.
Conferences are super important, and having the chance to go while I was still in college will prepare me for when I attend conferences for a company I work for in the future. I would encourage any student who has the option of attending a conference to take it and learn valuable life skills while meeting a bunch of really awesome people. It definitely helped an introverted student like myself.