Senior communication major Madison Chauvin presents her thesis on "Modern Feminism and Millennial Women: Their  Perception and the Communication Involved." The thesis also won the "Outstanding Communication Senior Thesis" award. Brianna Hawkins/The Lion's Roar

Senior communication majors came together to present their theses in front of faculty, friends and family at the 2018 “Senior Colloquium.”

The colloquium was held on Monday, April 30 at 5:00 p.m. in D Vickers Hall.

The ceremony was planned with its usual structure of students, faculty, friends and family eating and mingling before starting presentations.

Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies in Languages and Communication and Professor of Communication Joseph Mirando explained the changes made to this year’s colloquium.

“We had a pinning ceremony in the past with it,” said Mirando. “We put the pinning ceremony on Thursday night so we can have more time for sessions. Seems like there’s a lot more kids in the class than there had been in the past.”

Mirando wanted the sessions to be accessible to everyone so people could stay near each other.

 “I also wanted to keep all the sessions right here on the first floor and not have people going through all our other rooms in the building so they can all stay together here,” said Mirando. “And at the same time too, I wanted these rooms to have back doors, so they can come in and out and go to a lot of different sessions.”

According to Mirando, graduate assistant Taneshia Drake planned most of the event.

“I turned this onto her, like I gave her some basic ideas, but she’s the one that came up with all the configurations, did all the reservations,” said Mirando. “She’s running around trying to direct people, and I’m kinda following her direction. Anything that is said nice about this colloquium, she deserves 99 percent of those compliments.”

Drake explained how she planned the event.

“As a communication major, we go through the event our self,” said Drake. “So, it’s just something that is passed down to the graduate assistants to plan from start to finish just because we know the ropes of it and we know what to expect, what to plan.” 

Senior communication major Mallorie Sanders expressed how she felt about her presentation.

“I feel very prepared,” said Sanders. “We’ve had a lot of preparation throughout the semester with Dr. Mirando and the other faculty that have helped us as mentors, so I’m very excited.”

Senior communication major Allison Davis shared her thoughts on her presentation. 

“I am excited about the presentation,” said Davis. “It’s definitely going to be really neat to see an entire semester’s worth of work kinda bundled up into a 10-minute presentation, but overall, I feel prepared. I’m ready. I’m excited, and I think it’s going to be great.”

Mirando explained the importance of the colloquium.

“When you talk about the importance, you talk about a sense of community,” said Mirando. “We want all those millennial students going through it now to realize they’re a big part of a larger phenomenon.”