This annual gathering, held at a different community college each year, showcases the scholarly work of today’s most outstanding community college students from upstate New York to Virginia.

Students work with faculty mentors to prepare and submit papers that demonstrate rigorous scholarship and originality. At the conference, students present their work, which is judged on originality and quality of research, written work, and oral presentation.
 
This year, students submitted 128 papers for consideration. A panel of three scholars from each of 18 areas selected the three best papers from each category. The student authors of the selected papers will present at Beacon 2005.

A judge for each category will choose an outstanding presenter. Both the winning presenter and the presenter’s faculty mentor will be recognized at the closing session of the conference, and receive a cash award of $100.

Montgomery College students have been extremely successful at past Beacon Conferences. This year, 36 MC students submitted their work, and 12 were selected to present at the conference. The MC student presenters and their faculty mentors are:

• Brent Bridges, “Chemiluminescence—Light Sticks”; Mentor: Nevart N. Tahmazian
• James Coursey, “Nuclear Power: The Future of Energy in the United States?”; Mentor: Rashidul Alam
• Peter Dunne, “American Oil Consumption: A Global Problem with Local Solutions”; Mentor: Rashidul Alam
• Melvina Evereklian, “The Effect of Stressful Life Events on Childhood Rheumatic Diseases”; Mentor:  Barbara Hoberman
• Hannah Freeman, “Lost in Translation: The Original Intent of Chinese Literati and the Western(Mis)interpretation of the Same Techniques”; Mentor: Rachael Wilson
• Abigail Furnish, “What the United Nations Could Learn from Regional Intergovernmental Organizations”; Mentor: Rebecca Cartwright
• Roy Gordon, “Feminization of Fish in the Cacapon and Potomac Rivers”; Mentor: David Kieffer
• Erin Jones, “The Expression of Oppression: Art That Emerged From Apartheid South Africa”; Mentor: Julia Wakeman-Linn
• Mona Lee, “Rousseau, Kierkegaard, Frankl, and Sartre: Shedding Light on the Existential Plight of Tolstoy's Ivan Ilych”; Mentor: Rachael Wilson
• Anna Melyakova, “The Gogolian Russian Fiction”; Mentor: Rachael Wilson
• Alison K. Niska,  “Bilingual Education for the Deaf: Facilitating Learning and Equipping Students to Reach Their Full Potential”; Mentor: Carl N. Schroeder
• Karen Dillon Woolery, “Deaf and Hearing Pre-Schoolers: Bilingualism Through Social Interaction”; Mentor: Kamala Edwards   

Montgomery College Professors Sue Adler, Dedee Aleccia, Tom Anderson, and Roxanne Davidson are co-directors of Beacon 2005. For more information about the conference, call 301-251-7417 or visit www.montgomerycollege.edu/advantage/honors/beacon.html.

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Montgomery College is a public, open admissions community college with campuses in Germantown, Rockville, and Takoma Park, plus workforce development/continuing education centers and off-site programs throughout Montgomery County, Md.  The College serves nearly 50,000 students a year, through both credit and noncredit programs, in more than 100 areas of study.

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