Booths will line the Arts Tunnel Jan. 24 as usual, but a lot of them won’t be selling anything. The Student Project Symposium is setting up shop.

The symposium is an oppurtunity for University of Saskatchewan students to showcase their projects.

Ruvimbo Kanyemba, U of S Students’ Union vice-president of academic affairs, organized the symposium in response to the high demand for experiential learning opportunities on campus over the past couple of years.

“A lot of the conferences that we have at the university are departmentalized. Here is an opportunity to have an interdisciplinary [expo] for students from any college to display their work,” Kanyemba said.

Similar events are held at other Canadian universities.

She said the symposium gives students the rare opportunity to present their work to an outside audience — which in this case includes both current and prospective students as high school students tour campus for the day.

The symposium is open to students from all colleges and it recognizes not only classroom work but also research projects and presentations on travel abroad experiences and internships. It will include submissions from students in education, engineering and business colleges.

Third-year psychology student Trista Neilly jumped at the opportunity to participate in the symposium. She wanted to showcase her research on brain activity and feedback.

The clinic has been working on using this kind of information to treat various mental health conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and has had encouraging results with their research.

She said the symposium is not only a great way to introduce the new treatment to the university, but that it is also an opportunity for her to prepare for the work she will be doing once she graduates.

“It is a great way for students to practice public speaking in a low stress environment and to prepare them for presenting at more prestigious academic conferences,” Neilly wrote.

[box type=”info”]The Student Project Symposium will take place in the Arts Tunnel Jan. 24 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.[/box]

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Photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf